List of wars involving the People's Republic of China

This is a list of wars involving the People's Republic of China (PRC). The PRC last fought a war in 1979 (the Sino-Vietnamese War) and has fought only in relatively minor engagements since.^[1]: 72

Wars involving the People's Republic of China

  PRC military victory

  Indecisive or unclear outcome^[a]

  Civil War or internal conflict

  PRC military defeat

War	People's Republic of China and allies	Opponents	Result
Chinese Civil War (1927–1949)[b]	Chinese Communist Party	Republic of China	Civil War Formation of the People's Republic of China Nationalist government retreats to Taiwan
Battle of Chamdo (1950)	People's Republic of China	Tibet	Victory People's Republic of China annexes Tibet
Korean War (1950–1953)	North Korea  China  Soviet Union	South Korea  United States  United Kingdom  Canada  Turkey  Australia  Philippines  New Zealand  Thailand  Ethiopia  Greece  France  Colombia  Belgium  South Africa  Netherlands  Luxembourg	Ceasefire North Korean invasion of South Korea repelled UN invasion of North Korea repelled Chinese-North Korean invasion of South Korea repelled DMZ established, little territorial change at the 38th parallel border, essentially uti possidetis
First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954–1955)	PRC	ROC  United States	Ceasefire PRC withdrawal, status quo ante bellum.
China–Burma border campaign (1960–1961)	China  Burma	Republic of China	Victory Kuomintang expelled from Burma
Sino-Indian War (1962)	China	India	Victory Status quo ante bellum
Nathu La and Cho La clashes (1967)	China	India	Defeat PRC withdrawal from Nathu La and Cho La
Sino-Soviet Border Conflict (1969)	China	Soviet Union	Defeat Status quo ante bellum
Vietnam War (1965–1969)	North Vietnam Viet Cong Pathet Lao Khmer Rouge  China  Soviet Union  North Korea	South Vietnam  United States  South Korea  Australia  New Zealand  Laos Cambodia Khmer Republic  Thailand	Withdrawal Withdrawal of American-led forces from Indochina Communist governments take power in South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia China took over Paracel Islands from South Vietnam South Vietnam is annexed by North Vietnam Breakdown in Sino-Vietnamese relations leading to the Sino-Vietnamese War
Sino-Vietnamese War (1979)	China	Vietnam	Status quo antebellum, both sides claim victory Chinese withdrawal from Vietnam Continued Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia until 1989 Sino-Vietnamese conflicts (1979–1991)

Other conflicts

• Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958)
• Battle of the Paracel Islands (1974)
• Johnson South Reef Skirmish (1988)
• Third Taiwan Strait Crisis (1995)
• Scarborough Shoal standoff (2012)
• 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes

See also

• List of Chinese wars and battles
• Outline of the Chinese Civil War
• Outline of the military history of the People's Republic of China

References

Notes

Citations

Further reading

• Boland-Crewe, Tara and David Lea. (2005) [2002]. The Territories of the People's Republic of China. London: Europa Productions, Taylor & Francis. 1-85743-149-9.
• China. Encyclopædia Britannica.
• Economic Times Bureau. (December 20, 2009). "Wars that People's Republic of China fought". The Economic Times.
• Jun, Niu. (August 10, 2012). The birth of the People's Republic of China and the road to the Korean War. Origins. Eds. Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge Histories Online. Cambridge University Press. DOI:10.1017/CHOL9780521837194.012
• Li, Dr. Xiaobing. (2012). China at War: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. excerpt
• Lynch, Michael. (2010). The Chinese Civil War 1945–49. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-671-3.
• MacKerras, Colin and Donald Hugh McMillen, Andrew Watson. (editors). (2001) [1998]. Dictionary of the Politics of the People's Republic of China. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-15450-2.
• Military Power of the People’s Republic of China, 2007. Department of Defense: Annual Report.
• Zhu, Zhiqun. (editor). (2011). The People's Republic of China Today: Internal and External Challenges. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing. ISBN 981-4313-50-5.