China’s recent outreach towards India, marked by disengagement along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and a renewed diplomatic push, is less about reconciliation and more about strategic recalibration. That is the clear assessment of the United States Department of Defence in its 2025 Annual Report to Congress on China’s military and security developments.
The Pentagon report acknowledges the October 2024 disengagement between Indian and Chinese forces at remaining friction points along the LAC — a significant step after nearly four years of sustained military tension following the Galwan clash. The disengagement paved the way for renewed diplomatic engagement, including high-level meetings, resumption of flights, and discussions on visas and exchanges.
But Washington’s assessment is blunt: New Delhi remains deeply sceptical of Beijing’s intentions.
What Could Be China’s Intention Behind The Calm At LAC?
According to the report, China’s easing of border tensions appears to be a tactical move, not a strategic reset. The PLA’s posture, infrastructure build-up, and long-term objectives along India’s frontier remain unchanged. The calm, the Pentagon suggests, may be designed to buy time and manage optics rather than resolve the underlying dispute.
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More importantly, the report highlights China’s larger geopolitical calculation. Beijing views India’s growing strategic proximity to the United States as a long-term challenge. By lowering the temperature on the border, China may be seeking to slow or complicate the deepening India-US strategic partnership, particularly in defence, intelligence sharing, and Indo-Pacific security frameworks.
How India Is Viewing China
This assessment aligns with India’s own cautious approach. While disengagement has reduced immediate risks, Indian policymakers continue to view China through the prism of mutual distrust, shaped by repeated transgressions, stalled boundary negotiations, and Beijing’s refusal to restore the pre-2020 status quo in totality.
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Territorial Issues Remain China’s Core Policy Towards India, Suggest Pentagon
The Pentagon report also underlines that territorial claims remain at the core of China’s India policy. Arunachal Pradesh, referred to repeatedly by Beijing as “South Tibet,” is listed among China’s “core interests,” placing India’s northeastern state in the same strategic category as Taiwan in Chinese thinking. This framing reinforces concerns in New Delhi that border calm does not equate to a dilution of China’s claims.
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Adding to India’s security anxieties is China’s parallel deepening of military cooperation with Pakistan. The report and associated assessments note Beijing’s continued defence ties, joint exercises, and strategic coordination with Islamabad — a dual-track approach that allows China to maintain pressure on India even while projecting diplomatic moderation.
For Washington, the message is clear: China is attempting to manage its India front while focusing military resources on its primary theatre — the Western Pacific and Taiwan. For New Delhi, the takeaway is more sobering. Tactical calm may reduce the risk of immediate escalation, but China’s long-term strategic intent towards India remains fundamentally unchanged.
As the Pentagon report concludes, the current phase should be seen not as a thaw, but as a pause shaped by China’s wider strategic priorities. India, it suggests, would be prudent to engage — but without illusions.
