Indo-Pacific strategy and making it a key partner in the Belt and Road Initiative) and its Neighborhood Strategy (of securing a China-centered regional order with Beijing as the sole leader or rule-maker in the region). While situating the ongoing border crisis within the overarching framework of Chinese foreign policy and global strategy, this paper makes two key arguments: first, the border standoff in Ladakh is likely the outcome of an intensifying conflict between two Chinese strategies towards India- its Major Power Diplomacy (of wooing India to hedge against the U.S. However, a closer look at China’s domestic debates and discussions on India in the years preceding the Galwan clash and thereafter provides a clear and comprehensive understanding of the circumstances that might have led to the border crisis and also offers clues on the way forward. Much of the existing discourse is unable to provide a complete picture of or explanation for the development. Almost two years into the standoff, there is still little clarity on its fundamental cause. A deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, which was the worst fighting in over four decades and resulted in casualties on both sides, has come to define the crisis. The China-India border standoff that began in May 2020 continues to date at various friction points in the mountainous terrain of Ladakh in the Himalayas. New Delhi should recognize its prominence in Chinese strategic debates and better leverage its position to shape Beijing’s behavior and extract benefits from it. But on the other hand, China is anxious about the impact of the current crisis on its regional and global geostrategic objectives. Beijing wants to effectively check a rising New Delhi by asserting its strength and psychological advantage in bilateral ties. The standoff reveals China’s policy dilemma over India. This analysis also offers clues on the way forward. However, a close analysis of China’s domestic debates on India in the years preceding the Galwan clash and thereafter provides a clear understanding of the Chinese perceptions that underlay the border crisis. A deadly clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in June 2020, which was the worst fighting in over four decades and resulted in fatalities on both sides, has come to define the crisis.
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