India-China Border Tensions Are Likely to Continue

Originally Published as Jacob T. Jacob. 2025. India-China Border Tensions Are Likely to Continue. The Japan Institute of International Affairs. 10 April.

At the end of January, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited China in the latest step in an unfolding thaw in the relationship between the two countries. The thaw had begun in October last year with the conclusion of a bilateral agreement on the disengagement of troops from two points at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which represents the disputed boundary between the two countries. Tensions had started in 2020 when the Chinese simultaneously intruded across seven points on the LAC. According to New Delhi, the agreement in October dealt with the last two remaining points where troops were in a standoff and signified "a resolution of the issues that had arisen in 2020".

The October announcement was followed quickly by a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Communist Party of China (CPC) General Secretary and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS leaders' summit at Kazan in Russia the same month. The two Special Representatives on the boundary issue - Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and CPC Politburo Member and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi - then met in December.

These agreements and meetings do not, however, signify that India-China relations are back to normal. 

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