between China and India,

who won the border dispute?

Welcome back to China Uncensored,

I'm Chris Chappell

and I've got some bad news.

I won't be able to make a name for myself

as a reporter covering the war

between China and India.

I had it all planned out, too!

After the war was over,

I'd sell the rights to my story

and see it turned into a Bollywood sensation.

Or a nationalistic Chinese thriller.

Which movie I'd do

would depend on who won the war, obviously.

But unfortunately for my movie

peace has won the day.

On Monday, India's Ministry of External Affairs

posted this notice,

saying both sides have been talking to each other,

and there would be an

"expeditious disengagement of border

at the face-off site at Doklam."

And now you'll never get to see

my sick dance moves/fighting skills.

Anyway, for those of you somehow new to the issue,

Indian and Chinese troops have been facing off

for the past two

It's in an area called the Doklam Plateau,

on the awkward three-way border

between India, China, and Bhutan.

Chinese soldiers were building a road

in their own territory.

Except Bhutan was like,

"Excuse me, that's OUR

not China's."

And so Indian troops came to Bhutan's aid

to help enforce that border.

Not so much out of friendship;

more because a Chinese road

would be a security threat to India.

So the conflict got pretty heated.

Like when Indian and Chinese troops

chest-butted each other like drunk frat boys.

And when Chinese state-run media

was one step short of inciting war.

And who could forget the time Chinese leader

Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Modi

faced off on a dragon and a tiger,

and it looked like Xi was going to win,

until Modi, who, by the power of Grayskull,

was able to overpower Xi Jinping and his dragon,

which it turns out wasn't all that great

because it was made in China.

I just want to say:

India's TV news is way more entertaining

than America's.

Anyway, as that animation

India was the clear winner in the border dispute.

"Big diplomatic victory for the Indian government..."

"India and China have agreed to begin disengagement

of troops at Doklam."

Yeah, hashtag #ModiTamesDragon!

The most popular hashtag since...

Oh.

Hang on a second.

What's that, Shelley?

Ok, this just in from Chinese state-run media:

"China said Monday it had made on-site checks

of India's withdrawal of personnel and equipment

from Donglang, also known as Doklam,

after over two months of military standoff."

Wait a second.

That Chinese host makes it sound like

Indian troops withdrew first.

So...both sides are claiming victory now?

C'mon!

They can't both be winners!

This isn't kindergarten tee-ball.

Maybe it was a mutual withdrawal,

but both sides' media just reported it

in a biased way to play to their audiences.

I've never heard of any media

doing that before,

but I suppose it's possible.

I mean, the wording used

by India's Ministry of External Affairs,

"expeditious disengagement," seems to be intentionally vague.

As one expert told the Washington Post,

"Clarity is the enemy of face-saving."

So anyway,

India can claim it got China

to back off from construction,

and China can can talk about how

it's a responsible big country.

But I would say overall,

India handled it masterfully

by refusing to give in until China backed down,

while not being provoked by the rhetoric

from the CCP.

And this is a good lesson

for other countries dealing with

an aggressive Chinese regime.

The Chinese regime was pushing its claims

further than it should have.

China kept claiming it had historical rights

to the area,

as per an agreement from the year 1890

between the UK and China's Qing Dynasty.

Now there's nothing necessarily wrong

with following an old treaty--

except in this case,

it's disputed,

and China knew that Bhutan

didn't recognize China's claim.

And more importantly,

the Chinese regime conveniently "forgot"

that as recently as 1998

they'd agreed to "maintain peace and tranquility

until a final settlement is reached

on the boundary"--

which they didn't follow.

So when the People's Liberation Army

started building a road,

India came to Bhutan's aid

and refused to back down.

Then the CCP brought up the 1890 treaty,

and India brought up the 1998 treaty--

and refused to back down.

Then the CCP directed its state-run media

to threaten war with India.

The idea, according to this article,

was for the CCP to use

"ambiguity, risk manipulation

and controlling the narrative

to win without fighting."

But India still refused to back down.

And that was was a brave and risky move--

considering that if even a single soldier

from either side had accidentally fired a shot,

it could have instantly triggered

a very serious conflict.

But India understood the political game.

leader Xi Jinping didn't really want a war.

That's because if if the PLA didn't immediately

win a decisive victory,

it would hurt Xi Jinping's reputation

ahead of the 19th Party Congress later this year.

And also, the Indian Prime Minister

did something smart.

He met with Xi Jinping on the sidelines

of the G20 Summit in July.

They didn't agree on the border dispute,

but they agreed to at least have their people

call their people and talk about it.

So for the last month or so,

they've had backchannel discussions aimed

at resolving the conflict--

even as the media kept blowing the story up.

So how did it get resolved?

Indian troops withdrew from the region

on August 25th,

and Chinese troops announced

they'd stopped building that road,

at least for now--

claiming that "weather was a factor."

It's the international relations version of,

"I would have kicked his butt,

but I didn't want to get his blood all over my new shirt."

So even though there's no clear winner or loser,

both sides get to save face.

And in the end,

isn't that the important thing?

Besides avoiding war, I mean.

So is this the end to border disputes

between India and China?

Let's see what India's army chief has to say.

"The recent standoff in the Doklam plateau

by the Chinese side attempting to change

the status quo are issues which we need to be wary about,

and I think such kind of incidents are likely to increase in the future."

Wait, such kind of incidents are

"likely to increase in the future"?

That's terrible!

Or is it?

And coming up after the break,

the most dangerous job in China.

And it's not what you think.

Click bait!

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