The May-June standoff in Ladakh between the Indian Army and the Chinese PLA caught not just India, but the world by surprise as everyone`s attention was on tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

Why did China choose this moment to become an aggressor militarily? What are the lingering disputes between these Asian giants, who would soon become the top two economies in the world?

Is India`s claim to Aksai Chin based only on the security needs of colonial India? Or did Indian control over these areas go back in history?

What has been the historical links with these areas with the Indian mainland?

What is the geostrategic importance of Ladakh?

Did internal tensions within the Chinese Communist Party cause relations with India to break down?

Has India internalised the lessons of 1962, and how is it placed militarily in Ladakh?

Has India fundamentally misunderstood China?

Did the Wuhan Spirit and the Chennai Connect serve any purpose?

Are there other critical dimensions to the India-China relations where the latter may be at a disadvantage?

This book addresses these, and many such questions in detail.

Shakti Sinha is the Honorary Director of the Vadodara-based think tank, the Atal Bihari Institute of Policy Research & International Studies (MS University) and is the Honorary Director of the Delhi School of Public Policy & Governance, an Institute of Eminence established by the Delhi University. He is also a Distinguished Fellow at the India Foundation, New Delhi. Earlier, he was the Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, New Delhi. He has edited seven books, the most recent one being an authoritative account of Sardar Patel, the thinker and doer.