The national flag of China flutters behind a fence of the headquarters of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in Beijing, in this July 12, 2013
The national flag of China flutters behind a fence of the headquarters of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in Beijing, in this July 12, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/Files

While Chinese President Xi Jinping was attending a summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chinese and Indian troops were on a standoff inside Kashmir's Chumar and Demchok in Ladakh region in the Himalayas, a disputed boundary.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the incident was caused by Indian soldiers confronting Chinese troops who were building a road that China and India are disputing. It's the latest in Chinese territorial battles with its Asian neighbours even as Beijing is in territorial disputes with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines over some islands in the region.

The two Asian giants with populations over 1 billion have a common border that they are disputing in some parts such as the Arunachai Pradesh in India which is the same area that Chinese maps names as South Tibet and another boundary territory beside the Kashmir area administered by India.

Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Center of Policy Research in New Delhi, calls China's strategy of slowly infiltrating and taking control of a disputed area through small maneouvres as salami slicing. Such a method makes it difficult for the targeted nation of China's expansionist movement to craft options such as counter actions that would stop Beijing's moves.

Because that single action is unsufficient reason for targeted nations to declare a war against the Asian giant, China is expanding further its territories but allows it to maintain "a measure of deniability."

While the two Asian giants continue to boost their ties through summits, the distrust with each other remains due to its long history of border dispute such as their 1962 border war and India's playing host since 1959 to the Tibetan government in exile.

China's territorial aggression has led Han Xudong, professor at the PLA National Defense University, to warn in an editorial at Global Times that the further development of military forces by China, particularly air and sea forces, is a red flag for World War III.

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