China Vs India

• China's defense spending at 10.7% of its budget is $150 billion, is five times of what India spends @1.5% of its GDP - the lowest since 1950-51.
• Our armed forces lack strategic reconnaissance to peer 300 km deep into China or Pakistan and detect mobilizations.
• India doesn't even have a full time defense minister since 5 months.
• China's military is undergoing modernization, where as India failed to implement long debated modernization plan and is saddled with outdated equipment.
• Our howitzer ammunition is adequate only for 10 days of intense warfare against prescribed 40 days. 
• Any sign of exhibiting weakness here by China, could boost its rivals.
• Doklam is a narrow plateau lying in the tri-junction region of Bhutan, China and India. Doklam is a disputed territory and Bhutan has a written agreement with China that pending the final resolution of the boundary issue, peace and tranquility should be maintained in the area. This is not really an issue between China and India. New Delhi sees this as an opportunity to drive a wedge between China and Bhutan and maintain its control of Thimphu.
• Both Bhutanese and Chinese herdsmen have grazed there for generations, as claimed by both the countries.
• The Chinese perspective is that Doklam area belongs to China, it therefore follows that the construction of a road is a normal activity in this own territory. The present standoff between is reflection of India’s deep distrust and strategic anxiety towards China. The tussle at the tri-junction goes beyond the 89 square kilometres of territory to the larger issues.
• Rising nationalist sentiment since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took power has only worsened ties between the two sides, as evidenced by the rhetoric by Indian officials since the standoff began.
• The Chinese economy is slowing. It has an ageing population, an ecologically ravaged landscape and mounting debt that is 250 per cent of GDP. China also remains a brittle and opaque polity. 
• In China, internal circumstances might have driven military to adopt hard line posture, both political and domestic, and the need to rally public support for the military.
• China's adventurism at Doklam, if successful, brings it closer to our 27 km Siliguri corridor (chicken's neck) the vital land connection to North Eastern states. Doklam is a significant ­security challenge for India.
• Our military modernization with combat readiness will be ready by 2020 only; IAF's dip in combat aircraft with 32 of 39 sanctioned planes is perilous; Navy is short of both submarines and anti submarine warfare helicopters.
• Along the LAC all weather roads and strategic railway lines to rush troops and supplies are either incomplete or paper bound. China in contrast have completed most of such things.
• China is in no mood for compromise in Doklam. The message is very clear. Unless India withdraws troops there is no scope for deescalation or talks, while India is saying let both sides withdraw troops and then talk. The deadlock and tensions are likely to remain for some more time.
• Yet the conflict will be disastrous for China mainly due to terrain being favorable to India. China might suffer greater causalities than India in case of assault at Doklam. 
• Any assault at Doklam will seriously hurt China's self image as emerging Global  power and Asian hegemon.
• Since China is not sure of a decisive victory against India, its aggressive & hard line rhetoric, its military superiority, border infrastructure, massive mobilization of troops along side border and drills are aimed at winning the war without fighting.
• It would be absurd for China to start a war over its own actions and that too with a small & tiny nation, Bhutan, which had security relationship with India.
• In the event of war, it would be limited to army air strikes. India would have greater strike power due to air bases located in plains where as China's airbase in Tibet is at higher altitude which restricts its pay load carrying capability. Neither can advance into other's territory without suffering heavy causalities. Hence Doklam might not trigger conventional full scale war.
• The fallout could be China, may in future, openly support Pakistan in all its border disputes with India.
• "It may difficult to shake a mountain, but it is even more difficult to shake PLA" said a Chinese military officer "India is truly different than that it was in 1962. We really don't want to engage in a war against India." indicating Beijing's awareness that a war with India would be disastrous. Its loud rhetoric doesn't mean action.

There is no instance of a nation benefiting from prolonged warfare ... Sun Tzu

Read also India-China border standoff

My View:
Chinese muscle flexing over Doklam is probably aimed at reducing its own stresses and uncertainties due to its massive military overhaul to be completed by 2020 and domestic political considerations for rallying public support for military ahead of PLA's 90th anniversary. However, our military deficiencies arising out of Modi's wrong priorities and meager budget allocations especially over the past three years could prove costly for him as well as India. On economic front, Indo-China war could prove catastrophic for both the nations especially India going back in time line by over a decade. Finally, there is substitute for dialogues and war solves no problems.