I see 50 odd years of pseudo-Western political thought has not disrupted the ancient Chinese logic, despite attempts culturally purge it. ;-) Funny you didnt add Traid involvement in Opium Wars and subsequent role in Koumintang. Please inform Overlord of their critical role on Opium trade, past and present... it might actually help your case for a united China! Also inform Overlord on the geographic location of opium fields, Burma, Malaya, SW China, NE India Golden Triangle: Part of the British Indian Empire but none of those people are INDIAN (atleast as per you claim on NE INDIANS). So tell him to go smoke himself...

I just noticed that we have completely ignored the issue of sides, except for the hate-monger "OverLARD" To answer you question is India likely to join up with the Japanese... probably for technology transfer, but Not as Fighting Allies. Two notable historical problems with Indians working with Japanese... (1) Indians are intinsically Inclusionists and Japanese quite Exclusionists; they will dis-agree on every attack-planing scenario, and if we fight on the defensive Japan lacks strategic depth (geographical or cultural) to stand up to a Chinese attack on the islands. India can afford to go back a bit... If Chinese ever invade India full-on they will find themselves greeted first with bandit-states (where they will be robbed blind) and then feverent Communist states (who will out Mao, Mao): not much achievement really + hazard of resurgent Maoism flowing back to China and destroying their ill-gotten infrastructure. ;-) - Believe me, some Indians truly belive in Marxism and Maoist theories, probably because they never had to face the holocost that goes with it. - (2) Japanese move with speed (in all matters, military or otherwise), Indians move with a lot of delibration and second-guessing, something that will drive Japanese insane. (It happened with some British-Indian defectors during WWII, and they are still not happy with it) plus if there is even a pico-gram of truth to your diatribe against Indian racists, Japanese are the same to them as Chinese, eh? So what's the big logic in co-operating with the distant Japanese vs. more idealogically and culturally similar Chinese? PS:... what with India haters and poisonous deposits in brain: HeavyMetal, OverLard???

Actually you will find our mutual friends, Mongols, wanting to turn China into one hell'uva pasture land for their horses in 13th Century And Japanese wanting to turn China into a "Resource Zone" for resources and slave-labor. ...comapared to this Opium wars were pretty tame. Even then there were lots of Tories back home who would have been glad to carve up China nice and pretty as Eternal Middle Kingdom: i.e. between the rear-cheeks... however it was CHINA's good luck that its otherwise.

"China esp. is an ancient country first unified in 3rd century B.C.-- they've very patient and so no need to make such precipitous moves." ... ChinCom is a very new phenom. and will act as rationally as it can see. And only thing it sees in "Ancient China" is insecurity and chaos -- maybe unified chaos but chaos nonetheless. Ancientness only makes things more urgent... only the lethargy and weakness of old age makes things slow. And if we follow ancientness to its logical conclusion even the forefathers of Chinese passed through India in theie migration out of Africa; and from what our little wisdom we have gleaned from them is that... As for Chinese being patient, they ARE patient with their BETTERS... but NOT with their EQUALS, especially if they see a way of gaining an upper hand (or strategic heightsin this case)!

"1962 was an aberration in most respects (destruction of British Empire left a power vacuum at the border) and even then was a very, very limited Sino-Indian War." ... actually you will find the exact opposite if you look at the diplomatic rather than just the military exchanges. British Empire was still an existant force and the Great Game was still going on... It was largely an Anglo-American presssure on New Delhi that prevented India from retaliating with Air Force, in which it had a significant advantage. In a sense it can be said that the 1962 war finished the British on Indian sub-continent forever... the major player was now US, and Britain was less than weak, it was seen as a subordinate --> and being subordinate of a subordinate made no sense and India drifted towards USSR. Also the irrationality of British imperialists convinced Indians that when a toss came between India and China, Britain would always choose China. It was a trend that had started in 19th C. and continues to this day: Imperial tyranny was a fact of life for most Asians, and they lived with it. But Britain seemed to be only nation that punished its allies and rewarded its enemies... something Chinese made full use of and Indians comprehended too late -> Even our forced labor produce like opium seem to haunt us (as pointed out by that bigot OverLard), but the millions who perished in the manmade famines forgotten. IMHO if Indians had either won or lost a full fight in 1962 things could have been more secure for the generations... now with both nations nuclear armed and the isse not really settled the stakes are higher. British influence still persists in a perverted sense on the border i.e. the Pakistani border... India can never claim back its lost lands (kashmir or NE) in the current state of things b/c of fear of a two-fron war.

I'm not Indian.

Speaking of sides... wont the war be fought in others' lands? Wonder if Vietnam and Taiwan will offer passage to Indian Special Forces; Vietnam into Southern Chinese economic heartland, and Taiwan into coastal centers... Pakistan and Myannmar will probably be battle-grounds for them too, but more favorable to Chinese politically (though Indians can pull off aggressive covert ops, better being closer ethnically to those ppl)... Nepal is basically considered bi-polar: Half Indian - Half Maoist... so its another fighting ground. Rest of South-East Asia purports to be both anti-China and anti-Indian, so they will probably try to say neutral... though China can buy some over, and regional fractures will ensure others go to India - That might either ease India's manufacturing weakness, or add more responsibilities.

There is no real way for China to invade India. 1) India is 'fortified' by the vast mountains on it's border with China, meaning China would suffer alot of casualties at the start of the campaign. 2) If they get past the Mountains intact, they still have to get by tons of crappy villages with no infrastructure. 3) India has a very good military, so fighting would be tough for them anyway. 4) Chinese supply lines would be vastly overstretched, meaning they would be sitting ducks for the very good Indian Spec Ops 5) India has 1.1 billion people, and alot of poor farmers, meaning that guerrilla warfare would be very bloody for the Chinese, and very hard to stabilize 6) Who would control the air? India's airforce is better trained than China's, but they are a smaller force, so if India controls the air, China's supply lines are gone, their troops are constantly going to be harrassed, and China's command and control could be gone. If China controls the air, then India's troops are harrassed, and their C&C could be gone. Throw in the fact that India's troops are better trained, they are fighting for their homeland, and they have much more combat experience, and China is in for the fight of their lives. Not to mention the nuclear element, which is a good enough deterrent. I say India wins, but NO MATTER WHAT, it is very bloody.

India showed it meant buissness in 1980's by airlifting an entire brigade to Chinese border when china acted funny....as for what will happen? well first the border forces will slow PLA down...next troops of SFF a special anti chinese tibetian force would para drop in tibet and attack vital installation ...never heard of it? no problem!!! search the net for SFF, india tibet or visit then click special forces...then the airforces will jump in and next ...to stop a nuclear war the world would ...that is most likely chronology

HAHAHA.........well here is another 'versus' thread. I haven't read the whole thread but I would like to say this: Money is on India......I'll be back to make a more meaningful post ^_^