Global Impact newsletter: China-India brawl hits relationship

Neighbours China and India had been drawing closer for years, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping meeting at least 18 times since Modi came to power in 2014, most recently at an informal bilateral summit in October last year. Modi had visited China five times, the most by an Indian prime minister in over 70 years.

But the carefully crafted improvement in relations was torn to shreds on the night of June 15, when Indian and Chinese troops staged a tooth-and-nail battle on the border between their two countries in the high Himalayas. The scene was straight out of a medieval war movie, with swords and battle axes replaced by fists, stones and clubs spiked with nails and wrapped in barbed wire. No guns or other modern weapons, this was a bar brawl at high altitude.

In the end, 20 Indian and at least one Chinese soldier were dead in the worst confrontation since the two nations fought a war over the disputed border in 1962. Each side blamed the other. And significant damage was done to their relationship on all levels.

Much of the Indian population was outraged, with the 20 dead soldiers instantly anointed by the vocal and often hyper-nationalist Indian press as martyrs defending their country. Consumers pledged to start a boycott of Chinese-made goods. The Indian government banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including the popular Tik Tok and WeChat. Chinese imports were held up at the border.

While the Chinese official press strongly defended its soldiers, and there was a lot of chatter on Chinese social media, Beijing played down the incident and there has been relatively little reaction among the Chinese public.

Modi has tried to keep a lid on reactions in India, too, but severe damage has already been done. Half of India’s population – half a billion people – is under the age of 26 and many now have a negative view of China that could influence their decisions when they take leadership positions in the country in coming years.

And the international impact is just beginning to be felt, with India pushing away from China and embracing better relations with other countries, particularly the US, though it is still wary of getting in the middle of escalating US-China disputes.

China now has one more international relationship problem to worry about in addition to its deteriorating relationships with the United States, Australia, Canada and Britain.