US sharing of intelligence with India in border clash with China seen as pivotal in partnership

As Sino-India tensions rise in the inhospitable stretches of the Himalayas and some experts warn that future clashes could escalate into a full-fledged war between the nuclear-armed giants, the US is refocusing on the decades-old border dispute – including a more active role in sharing intelligence – as part of its Indo-Pacific strategy to check Chinese activity in the region.

Real-time intelligence provided by the US about Chinese positions along the loosely marked 2,000-mile (3,200km) frontier prepared India to successfully ward off a potential Chinese military “incursion” last year, according to a report in March.