In mid-June 2020, China’s People’s Liberation Army and Indian troops engaged in a massive physical brawl in the Galwan Valley, located in the far-western Ladakh region along the China-India border. The clash, which followed a series of standoffs beginning in early May along multiple sectors of the border, led to at least 20 Indian deaths and an unconfirmed number of Chinese casualties. The skirmish marks the first time since 1975 that soldiers from either side had lost their lives on the border and has led to the most severe crisis in the bilateral relationship in decades.
The following issue brief provides an overview of the June 2020 skirmish and a chronology of other major clashes along the Sino-Indian border since 1962, the last time the two countries fought a war.