The India-China Border Conflict

The Himalayan border region is a long-disputed region of the India-China border. Shifts in lake depth, river flow, and ice formations physically change the borderline altering the division between the two countries. This uncertainty has led to violent confrontations between the Indian and Chinese armies. 

In the Galway Valley on the night of June 15th, 2020 the Indian Army clashed with China’s People’s Liberation Army in an unusually brutal manner. An agreement signed in 1996 prohibited the use of firearms and explosives on the border which led them to use alternative weapons such as rocks and clubs. The darkness of the night and below zero temperature meant the wounded had little hope for survival in the battle. By the end of the skirmish, 20 Indian soldiers died, while China did not make an official report on their casualties. 

Four months later in October, a city-wide outage swept the Indian city of Mumbai. 20 million citizens lost power, hospitals housing COVID-19 patients used generators, and the stock market shut down. The blackout lasted 12 hours. 

A recent ongoing study uncovered that these events may be connected. Investigations indicate that the outage in Mumbai could have been a Chinese-sponsored cyber attack on India’s power grid with the message to warn India from pushing its borders into Chinese claimed territory. 

Indian officials have pushed the narrative that China sponsored the cyberattack while China denies its involvement. Indian minister Anil Deshmukh stated in a news conference that, “The preliminary report was handed over to the power ministry. We will investigate it further.” 

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin claimed, “speculation & fabrication have no role to play on the issue of cyberattacks. Highly irresponsible to accuse a particular party with no sufficient evidence around."

Recent talks have relieved tension between the two superpowers, but no long-term agreement was reached for handling these sorts of disputes in the future.