, Columnist
India and China Turn Down the Heat
Asia's giants may be figuring out how to live together.
Chinese and Indian troops are destined to clash again.
Photographer: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
As summer reached the high Himalayas this past June, one corner of the mountains turned hotter than expected. On a small plateau called Doklam, close to where the India-China border meets the tiny kingdom of Bhutan, two of the largest armies in the world faced off against each other. Chinese soldiers, convinced they were on Chinese territory, had brought equipment to extend a road; Indian soldiers, who viewed the land as disputed, blocked the earth-movers. For three months, the armies camped just meters away from each other, the Indians on the higher ground and the Chinese in a little valley. Neither government seemed to know how to back down.