WSJ: China, India Border Stoke Rivalry
Interesting time for this very
compelling story in the Wall Street Journal as we were just having this discussion in the past 2 weeks in one of our comment threads - the potential friction between India and China as they "grow up". As Americans conflict is a great thing for us, as one of the last great export markets we still dominate is weapons. About a month ago I read a piece where US weapon sales were 60%+ of the entire market in 2008 - go Team USA! As long as world peace does not break out in the coming decades we'll still have one niche thriving.
Since India and China are obviously going to be very important investment themes in the decades to come, a story worth your time.
- In the brewing discord between two giant, ambitious nations, even a remote meadow in the Himalayas is worth fighting over. Some two-dozen Chinese soldiers converged earlier this year on a family of nomads who wouldn't budge from a winter grazing ground that locals say Indian herders had used for generations. China claims the pasture is part of Tibet, not northern India. The soldiers tore up the family's tent and tried to push them back toward the Indian border town of Demchok, Indian authorities say.
- Chering Dorjay, the chairman of India's Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, says he arrived on the scene with a new tent and Indian intelligence officers and urged the herders to stay put. "The Chinese, it seems, are gradually taking our territory," he says. "We will feel very insecure unless India strengthens its defenses."
- Dueling territorial claims along this heavily militarized mountain border, coupled with economic tensions between the two nations, are kindling a 21st-century rivalry. The budding distrust has created a dilemma for the U.S. about how to court one nation without angering the other.
- China and India cooperate occasionally.
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