China's India Gambit

The Aksai Chin area of Ladakh is under Chinese control since a war between India and China in 1962 - but claimed by India.

In the meantime, India has procured the Russian S-400 air defense system that it intends to install in Ladakh.

So why is China resorting to bullying tactics against India at this time?

First, China is giving India a warning not to tilt too closely toward the United States.

India is interested in acquiring from the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones, Boeing's Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, other aircraft for intelligence purposes, and an air defense system made in partnership by Raytheon Technologies Corporation and Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS of Norway.

Of late, and contemporaneous with the standoff in Ladakh, the USS Nimitz carrier strike group conducted exercises with the Indian Navy in the Indian Ocean, where both India and China have strategic interests to maintain the oil sea lanes.

Second, while the U.S. and India in particular are devastated by COVID-19, believed to have originated from a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan, China is leveraging an opportunity to advance its hegemony while the world is in chaos.

https://spectator.org/china-india-gambit/