Indian and Chinese forces engaged in a primeval brawl in the summer of 2020 in the Galwan Valley, with the two sides using stones and nail-studded clubs, but no firearms [1] . This clash claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers and four People’s Liberation Army (PLA) personnel. While the Indian commander was killed, his Chinese counterpart got away with serious injuries. It was the most serious incident on the India-China border since 1975. The leveraging of loopholes in the traditional notions of warfare to limit the potential of escalation to conventional conflict is reflective of the Chinese strategy of relying on coercion and the manipulation of risk to achieve its territorial objectives [2] . The Chinese model falls into what can be referred to as Gray Zone activities where it preys upon ambiguities in international law.
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