Let’s get the basics right first before crystal-ball gazing into the future. Firstly, the problem between China & India regarding the LAC is political, and therefore cannot be resolved militarily by EITHER side. China realised this way back in 1962 and accordingly crafted its limited offensives into Indian territory and has since held on what it considers of absolute strategic importance—Aksai Chin—whilst unilaterally withdrawing from NEFA/AP. China’s demand is a simple & elementary one, which most Indian citizens are not exposed to: redefine the LAC in eastern Ladakh on a mutually acceptable & just basis (i.e. a win-win situation for both sides) and stop hosting the Tibetan Govt-in-Exile & Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile at Dharamsala, which is a legitimate demand of Beijing that’s consistent with the Panchsheel Agreement inked by India at Bandung in 1955. China has no grouse with the Dalai Lama residing in India as a religious/spiritual refugee, but it rightly views India’s hosting of the Tibetan Govt-in-Exile & Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile at Dharamsala since 1960 as a gross violation of international law. While on one hand India officially and endlessly recognise the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) as being an inseparable part of China, she then contradicts herself by hosting the Tibetan Govt-in-Exile & Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. This was the first cardinal error committed by Jawaharlal Nehru & V K Krishna Menon since 1960. Had this not been done, then there would have been no limited border war between the two countries in 1962. After all, more than secular India, it should have been the two countries where Buddhism is the state religion—Sri Lanka & Thailand—that should have hosted the Tibetan Govt-in-Exile & Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, but they both chose not to. Therefore, it is high time India faced up to reality and questioned the existence within India of the Tibetan Govt-in-Exile & Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile when no one else in the world even recognises these bodies. If India wakes up and takes the right decisions consistent with international law, then 90% of the Sino-Indian animosities will quickly disappear. If India fails to take such logical decisions, then I’m afraid she would only be exacerbating matters and will be forced into a corner from which, even militarily, she won’t be able to extricate herself, since the might of India’s military-industrial infrastructure cannot match that of the PRC even over the next 30 years. As far as Aksai China goes, I don’t foresee China letting it slip from its hands under any circumstances & Beijing will go all-out to defend what it has held on to since the mid-1950s. Therefore, I for one will prefer not to be drawn into dreaming up unrealistic scenarios about a future round of China-India military hostilities. Both Jawaharlal Nehru & V K Krishna Menon had dared to make such grossly erroneous conclusions in the late 1950s/early 1960s when they brazenly ‘ordered’ the Indian Army to ‘throw out’ the PLA from Indian territory while not realising that the incipient Indian Army was being asked to dislodge an Army that had singlehandedly taken the entire combined might of the UN in Korea and pushed down the UN military forces from the banks of the Yalu River up north right down to the DMZ in a matter of months.