The china–India rivalry began in the 1950s and deepened with the 1962 border war. Despite several rounds of negotiations, no end to this rivalry is in sight and intermittent militarised flare-ups persist, most recently seen in the 2017 Doklam standoff. The china–India rivalry in the globalisation era takes a critical look at relations between the two countries and asks: what explains the peculiar contours of this rivalry? Why is it different from the India–Pakistan rivalry in terms of intensity? What influence does intensified globalisation have on this rivalry and what is the impact of the US–China competition and China’s expanding reach into the South China sea and the Indian Ocean?