Welcome to the inquiry on the BBC World Service. I'm Tanya Beckett.

Each week one question, four expert witnesses and an answer.

Reminiscent of a battle scene. answer.

Reminiscent of a battle scene from the Middle Ages, two groups of soldiers fighting hand-to-hand over territory in the high mountains. They brawl with rocks, fists and sticks encrusted with

nails. Some die of their injuries in the freezing cold and others perish in the waters of a nearby river.

The death toll on one side was reported as 20 and on the other remains unknown.

But this was not a conflict thrashed out in the squaller of a medieval battlefield.

It happened this year between two of the world's greatest nations 4,000 meters above sea level in the Himalayas.

A border clash between India and China in the middle of 2020.

The two had agreed not to use guns at the boundary,

but that didn't stop the fighting or prevent the deaths.

Soon after, China's leader, she Jing Ping, downplayed the incident. But in a televised

address, India's Prime Minister Nerendra Modi said,

India wants peace, but when provoked,

India is capable of giving a fitting reply,

be it any kind of situation. Economic sanctions followed.

These two countries have the largest populations in the world. By the end of the century they'll probably be the two largest

economies. So in this week's inquiry we're asking is China versus India the most

important rivalry of the 21st century?

Part 1, stalemate. Stalemate. in a senior

expert witness is Chris Doherty, a senior fellow with the defense program

at the Center for New American Securities.

...