In summary, China gave the Indians the old 2 steps forward 1 step back routine and the Indians are focused solely on the 1 step back
I have doubts China cares about this LAC at all. It has no energy, no raw materials of value or usefulness, no freshwater, no strategic value except for being a danger to CPEC routes in case India plans to make military disruptions there. Indian analysts realised early on that China's surprisingly aggressive response to India's LAC provocations in 2018 to 2019, was aimed at showing India some resolve in keeping this border dispute inert well into the future where the gap between China and India becomes ever more pronounced.
No, that is a wrong conclusion based on biased and false western propaganda narratives with racist undertones that state China only cares about material or strategic gains and have no deeper principles or motivations.
The LAC, and even much, if not all of the entire areas in dispute dispute, have much in the way of intrinsic or strategic value to China. That is why Zhoenlai proposed both sides just keep what they hold and end the dispute altogether.
The Indian media keeps harping on about one road in disputed territory like China’s entire hold on both Xinjiang and Tibet depends on it, when it’s nothing of the sort. To China, it’s just a road that saves some travel time. Loosing it would cause delays but not cut any major parts of China off from the rest, and China could easily build a replacement high way outside of disputed territory if it wanted to.
The disputed areas are of no threat to CPEC due to geography. It might be close as the crow flies, but good luck trying to launch and sustain an offensive military campaign against China and Pakistan from it. There are so many natural choke points and barriers you will be easily bottled up and destroyed if you were so foolish.
No, the real reason China reacts so strongly to Indian salami tactics is because of history and principles. Because of history, upon its founding, the PRC made itself and the Chinese people a vow that no foreign power will ever again take an inch of Chinese territory through force of arms. For China, this isn’t a matter of material or tactical gain, but one of principles and national dignity. The flip side is that China does not want to be the one to impose its territorial claims on others through military force, as it knows what its like to be on the receiving end, but at the end of the day, that is a nicety, and not a principle. .
It is because India fundamentally misunderstands the very nature of its dispute with China (again thanks largely to western propaganda) that its entire strategy and approach is fundamentally and fatally flawed.
Because India thinks this is a dispute about material gain, it thinks that if it can raise the costs enough that it will shift China’s cost benefit analysis such that China will somehow decide its not worth the costs to maintaining its claim.
When you shift your point of view to look at the issue from that prospective, a lot of India’s irrational moves start to make a little more sense.
The increasingly aggressive patrolling by the Indians; the general increase in tensions; the deployment of ever more forces to the boarder regions; the increasingly frequency of major incidents and stand-offs; even the app bans and mini-trade war etc. All of it is designed to increase the monetary cost of maintaining its claim for China because they mistakenly think this is about money for China.
That is why Indian strategies are at best doom to fail, and worst case, could wear out Beijing’s patience and cause Beijing to decide to throw niceties out the window and just resolve the issue militarily once and for all.
