China and India: From War to Friendship

China and India agreed on August 23 to increase military cooperation. This was the result of the first visit by a Chinese military leader to India since their border dispute last year.

In the summer of 2017, major newspapers published headlines such as: “The China-India Clash That Could Lead to Nuclear War” (Sydney Morning Herald), “China and India Are Reportedly Preparing for Full-scale War Over a Himalayan Border Dispute” (South China Morning Post) and “China Wants War With India, Make No Mistake” (the DailyO).

After last week’s meeting between India’s defense minister and her Chinese counterpart, the two nations announced that they would increase their military coordination by expanding “the engagement between their armed forces relating to training, joint exercises and other professional interactions.”

“This visit … will deepen our bilateral military exchanges and cooperation on security, enhance mutual trust, and push forward the new development of our military ties to protect peace on the border,” Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the “thousands of years of friendship” between the two nations.

Last year’s tension arose during a 73-day military face-off in the disputed Himalayan border region, the most threatening confrontation between the world’s two most populous nations since 1962.

They confronted each other on a barren stretch of land claimed by both China and Bhutan, India’s neighbor and ally. China planned to build a road through the region, but India opposed it. With hundreds of troops massing on the border, neither side would back down.

Fears grew that the conflict could spiral rapidly out of control. It wasn’t until the tension had increased to the point of fearing an all-out war that the situation was eventually diffused and both sides agreed to withdraw their troops.

The Trumpet has been watching the India-China relationship for decades. Last summer, at the height of the tension, we wrote that China and India would not become involved in an all-out war. Our views are based on Bible prophecy.

Herbert W. Armstrong repeatedly wrote about a prophesied Asian power bloc, led by Russia and China. In his flagship magazine, the Plain Truth, he wrote: “However it happens, Russian and Asian neighbors will ultimately find themselves in some degree joining forces out of necessity” (February-March 1985; emphasis added). We added to that, writing in our booklet Russia and China in Prophecy: “India—with its population of more than 1.2 billion people—is almost certain to join the Asian bloc that is prophesied to congeal in the end time.” Based on what the Bible says, we knew that the border dispute would not end in war.

A strong relationship between these two nations is prophesied in the Holy Bible. But that doesn’t mean the world will have peace. Prophecy shows that as these two nations draw closer together, they will form part of an Asian superpower that will eventually go to war on a scale far larger than news analysts feared last summer. To understand more about these prophecies, please request our free booklet Russia and China in Prophecy.