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  • On this episode of China Uncensored,

  • between China and India,

  • who won the border dispute?

  • Welcome back to China Uncensored,

  • I'm Chris Chappell

  • and I've got some bad news.

  • I won't be able to make a name for myself

  • as a reporter covering the war

  • between China and India.

  • I had it all planned out, too!

  • After the war was over,

  • I'd sell the rights to my story

  • and see it turned into a Bollywood sensation.

  • Or a nationalistic Chinese thriller.

  • Which movie I'd do

  • would depend on who won the war, obviously.

  • But unfortunately for my movie

  • peace has won the day.

  • On Monday, India's Ministry of External Affairs

  • posted this notice,

  • saying both sides have been talking to each other,

  • and there would be an

  • "expeditious disengagement of border

  • at the face-off site at Doklam."

  • And now you'll never get to see

  • my sick dance moves/fighting skills.

  • Anyway, for those of you somehow new to the issue,

  • Indian and Chinese troops have been facing off

  • for the past two

  • It's in an area called the Doklam Plateau,

  • on the awkward three-way border

  • between India, China, and Bhutan.

  • Chinese soldiers were building a road

  • in their own territory.

  • Except Bhutan was like,

  • "Excuse me, that's OUR

  • not China's."

  • And so Indian troops came to Bhutan's aid

  • to help enforce that border.

  • Not so much out of friendship;

  • more because a Chinese road

  • would be a security threat to India.

  • So the conflict got pretty heated.

  • Like when Indian and Chinese troops

  • chest-butted each other like drunk frat boys.

  • And when Chinese state-run media

  • was one step short of inciting war.

  • And who could forget the time Chinese leader

  • Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Modi

  • faced off on a dragon and a tiger,

  • and it looked like Xi was going to win,

  • until Modi, who, by the power of Grayskull,

  • was able to overpower Xi Jinping and his dragon,

  • which it turns out wasn't all that great

  • because it was made in China.

  • I just want to say:

  • India's TV news is way more entertaining

  • than America's.

  • Anyway, as that animation

  • India was the clear winner in the border dispute.

  • "Big diplomatic victory for the Indian government..."

  • "India and China have agreed to begin disengagement

  • of troops at Doklam."

  • Yeah, hashtag #ModiTamesDragon!

  • The most popular hashtag since...

  • Oh.

  • Hang on a second.

  • What's that, Shelley?

  • Ok, this just in from Chinese state-run media:

  • "China said Monday it had made on-site checks

  • of India's withdrawal of personnel and equipment

  • from Donglang, also known as Doklam,

  • after over two months of military standoff."

  • Wait a second.

  • That Chinese host makes it sound like

  • Indian troops withdrew first.

  • So...both sides are claiming victory now?

  • C'mon!

  • They can't both be winners!

  • This isn't kindergarten tee-ball.

  • Maybe it was a mutual withdrawal,

  • but both sides' media just reported it

  • in a biased way to play to their audiences.

  • I've never heard of any media

  • doing that before,

  • but I suppose it's possible.

  • I mean, the wording used

  • by India's Ministry of External Affairs,

  • "expeditious disengagement," seems to be intentionally vague.

  • As one expert told the Washington Post,

  • "Clarity is the enemy of face-saving."

  • So anyway,

  • India can claim it got China

  • to back off from construction,

  • and China can can talk about how

  • it's a responsible big country.

  • But I would say overall,

  • India handled it masterfully

  • by refusing to give in until China backed down,

  • while not being provoked by the rhetoric

  • from the CCP.

  • And this is a good lesson

  • for other countries dealing with

  • an aggressive Chinese regime.

  • The Chinese regime was pushing its claims

  • further than it should have.

  • China kept claiming it had historical rights

  • to the area,

  • as per an agreement from the year 1890

  • between the UK and China's Qing Dynasty.

  • Now there's nothing necessarily wrong

  • with following an old treaty--

  • except in this case,

  • it's disputed,

  • and China knew that Bhutan

  • didn't recognize China's claim.

  • And more importantly,

  • the Chinese regime conveniently "forgot"

  • that as recently as 1998

  • they'd agreed to "maintain peace and tranquility

  • until a final settlement is reached

  • on the boundary"--

  • which they didn't follow.

  • So when the People's Liberation Army

  • started building a road,

  • India came to Bhutan's aid

  • and refused to back down.

  • Then the CCP brought up the 1890 treaty,

  • and India brought up the 1998 treaty--

  • and refused to back down.

  • Then the CCP directed its state-run media

  • to threaten war with India.

  • The idea, according to this article,

  • was for the CCP to use

  • "ambiguity, risk manipulation

  • and controlling the narrative

  • to win without fighting."

  • But India still refused to back down.

  • And that was was a brave and risky move--

  • considering that if even a single soldier

  • from either side had accidentally fired a shot,

  • it could have instantly triggered

  • a very serious conflict.

  • But India understood the political game.

  • leader Xi Jinping didn't really want a war.

  • That's because if if the PLA didn't immediately

  • win a decisive victory,

  • it would hurt Xi Jinping's reputation

  • ahead of the 19th Party Congress later this year.

  • And also, the Indian Prime Minister

  • did something smart.

  • He met with Xi Jinping on the sidelines

  • of the G20 Summit in July.

  • They didn't agree on the border dispute,

  • but they agreed to at least have their people

  • call their people and talk about it.

  • So for the last month or so,

  • they've had backchannel discussions aimed

  • at resolving the conflict--

  • even as the media kept blowing the story up.

  • So how did it get resolved?

  • Indian troops withdrew from the region

  • on August 25th,

  • and Chinese troops announced

  • they'd stopped building that road,

  • at least for now--

  • claiming that "weather was a factor."

  • It's the international relations version of,

  • "I would have kicked his butt,

  • but I didn't want to get his blood all over my new shirt."

  • So even though there's no clear winner or loser,

  • both sides get to save face.

  • And in the end,

  • isn't that the important thing?

  • Besides avoiding war, I mean.

  • So is this the end to border disputes

  • between India and China?

  • Let's see what India's army chief has to say.

  • "The recent standoff in the Doklam plateau

  • by the Chinese side attempting to change

  • the status quo are issues which we need to be wary about,

  • and I think such kind of incidents are likely to increase in the future."

  • Wait, such kind of incidents are

  • "likely to increase in the future"?

  • That's terrible!

  • Or is it?

  • And coming up after the break,

  • the most dangerous job in China.

  • And it's not what you think.

  • Click bait!

  • Well, you might have to wait for my Bollywood adventure,

  • but you don't have to wait for China Uncensored.

  • Every Friday, we upload full half hour episodes

  • of China Uncensored for free

  • to our website ChinaUncensored.tv!

  • You could have seen this segment

  • and much more if you had visited ChinaUncensored.tv.

  • But history doesn't have to repeat itself.

  • Check out ChinaUncensored.tv now.

On this episode of China Uncensored,

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