EN
In the summer of 2017, the armies of the two most populous nations of the world stood eye-to-eye, seemingly without any preceding cause, on the Doklam plateau, the ownership of which is disputed by both Bhutan and China. The aim of this paper is to place this episode in the context of Sino-Indian relations, assessing its repercussions for their shared future as two neighbouring nuclear powers, as well as for their past, keeping in mind the lasting scars and consequences of the Sino-Indian War of 1962, which was caused by similar reasons. We will search for the answers to the following questions: how was this border dispute similar or different than the one 55 years before? What effect did the then-approaching 19th Party Congress have on the decisions of Beijing and Xi Jinping ? What was the reason of the sudden assertiveness of the Indian side ? What did Bhutan, the third party, think about the dispute, stuck between the two Asian giants? And meanwhile, where was the United States of America ?