If China is really peace-loving, why are there so many border disputes and aggression going on?
Because Modern-day China is a very young phenomenon. Only 100 years ago, the idea of “China” did not exist in the same way it exists now. For many ordinary people, it’s just a place with some emperors or warlords ruling at the top, a civilizational system called Tianxia.
An “imagined reality” (as defined by Harari) of “China” did not yet exist.
It took a long string of chaos, pains, and wars to shape this imagined reality. The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), costing close to 10 million Chinese lives, finally jolted “China” into being and made everybody realize that we are a people. We are a nation-state. We are a country.
Suddenly, unambiguous and clearly delineated national borders became a thing. The vagueness of sovereignty was no longer allowed.
Throughout the years, one by one, China fixed border issues with its neighbors. But it’s a long and complicated process. (It’s a process that took Europe a few centuries to more or less complete, by the way.) To this date, China has resolved border disputes with 10 neighbors. The most notable one is the 1991 border treaty with Russia, to whom China lost millions of square meters of territories pre-PRC era. But China gave that up. Now, apart from occasional shouts from ultra-nationalists, we mostly shut up on the issue.
And yes, China still has border disputes with India, Japan, and in the South China Sea. But that is just that, a border dispute, and we are looking for ways to resolve them. (For example, with Vietnam). It is not about aggression and military conquest. It is surely not a foreboding for even more incursions beyond the disputed borders.
The issue with Taiwan is a separate topic, as China always sees this as a domestic issue, as unresolved vestiges of a civil war. But, the bottom line here has always been clear: peaceful reunification always is the preferred choice, but not giving up the use of force if provoked. But again, it’s only about Taiwan. There is no talk and no willingness to go further beyond Taiwan.
"peaceful reunification always is the preferred choice, but not giving up the use of force if provoked." Provoked how? Don't be coy. You mean to say if the people of Taiwan invoke their right to self-determination or dare utter 独立这两个字, then China will have to murder them and their children. But yes, peace-loving. Never mind the "peaceful" methods China has used to retain its Qing Dynasty conquests and staunchly resist any sort of decolonization of its own. How magnanimous of the PRC to retain its huge empire and not desire any more conquests! (apart from the ones you say are already yours, because taking your own territory could never be conquest, right? isn't that a nice trick?)
"But that is just that, a border dispute, and we are looking for ways to resolve them. (For example, with Vietnam). It is not about aggression and military conquest." Tell that to the Filipino fisherman or the soldiers at the Galwan River Valley.
Yes 1962 is correct. I am curious as to how China is looking at settling the border issue with India. We have around 60,000 troops locked in Himalayan areas which are inhospitable really. It would be understandable if India were pro US and was just toeing the American line. If anything, the opposite is true. India has resisted all pressure to impose sanctions on Russia. It even prioritised its relations with China despite the Pakistan angle. There was tremendous momentum and I only have to look back a few years when I would read about Chinese investors in Bangalore looking to invest in startups. In fact Shanghai and Bangalore flights were quite packed always. It was almost like flying within India or perhaps even more traffic than that. Why the sudden change at the border from China? To me it makes very little sense.