Chinese and Indian troops have been stationed in an area known as the Doklam plateau – or Donglang in Chinese. The location is a key tri-junction point, connecting the two countries and Bhutan.
What sparked the stand-off?
On 18 June 2017 Chinese troops begun construction to extend a road through a plateau in the Doklam territory.
India says China was building a road on Bhutanese soil. Bhutan doesn't have diplomatic relations with Beijing, but communicates with China through Delhi.
Beijing says the land, according to an 1890 treaty with the British, is Chinese.
“The border is clear enough,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang at a press conference in early July 2017.
“The Indian border guards illegally trespassed the boundary into Chinese territory.”
India security fears
India sees China's roadwork as a security threat to their so-called 'chicken's neck', a strategic transport corridor which links Delhi to the country’s remote northeastern states.
Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraq told India’s parliament in early July 2017 that China’s construction threatens India’s security.
“If China unilaterally changes the status-quo of the tri-junction point, then our security gets directly challenged,” said Ms Swaraq.
Both India and China have reinforced troops nearby should all out fighting break out. In late July China conducted live-fire drills on the freezing hills of the Himalayas nearby.
Uncompromising China
India's foreign minister Ms Swaraq says both sides must withdraw their troops, then engage in dialogue. But Beijing says talks are off the table unless India withdraws its soldiers first.
Liu Zhiqin is a researcher at Beijing’s Renmin University. In late July 2017 he told SBS that India has no right to interfere in the issue as the territory does not belong to India.
“China has full right to build anything in territory that belongs to China," Mr Liu said.
"There's no reason to discuss with other countries what we should do because this is within our sovereignty, our territory.”
An editorial published in Chinese government controlled media ‘The Global Times’ on July 4 2017 said "India will surely lose" if military action is sparked.
Not the first fight
It's not the first border skirmish between the two regional powers. Thousands were killed when fighting broke out in 1962 in what became known as the Sino-Indian War. The conflict followed the 1959 Tibetian uprising, where India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama.
The Sino-Indian War, involving approximately 10,000-20,000 Indian troops and 80,000 Chinese troops, lasted about a month and ended in November 1962.
China won the war, and since then a deep mistrust and a strong sense of rivalry between the two sides has persisted in what has been described as a “cold peace.”
Diplomatic rift
Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, skipped their usual bilateral meeting at the G20 in Germany in early July 2017.
The rift is threatening to overshadow the upcoming BRICS summit, involving India and hosted by China, during the first week of September 2017.
Hurling stones
A scuffle between Indian and Chinese troops broke out on the 15th of August 2017, India’s Independence day, on the shores of Pangong Lake, a popular tourist attraction on the Tibetan plateau.
A video circulating online shows the soldiers throwing stones at each other. At least one soldier is seen lying on the ground after the short clash.
Days later India’s Ministry of External Affairs said Friday that the scuffle was not in the interest of either side.
Hua Chunying, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told journalists that the scuffle begun after “the Indian side took some violent actions.”
"What India did went against the two countries' relevant consensus to keep the peace on the border and it endangered the situation of the western section of China-India border, China is extremely dissatisfied with this and has lodged solemn representations through border-related channels," said Ms Hua.
Racist video
On August 16 2017 China’s official mouthpiece, Xinhua news, released a video mocking India titled the ‘7 Sins of India.’
The video features a Chinese actor wearing a fake beard and turban, putting on an Indian accent, and a female presenter telling him to "get out of my house."
