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	Victory 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

Peacekeeping/Anti-terrorism

References

Notes

^ A treaty or peace with an indecisive, inconclusive result, or resulting in status quo ante bellum.
^
Although main fighting ceased in 1949, warfare with the Republic of China continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s with the
- Kuomintang Islamic insurgency in China (1950–1958)
- First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954–1955)
- Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958)
- Campaign at the China–Burma Border (1960–1961)

Citations

^ Garlick, Jeremy (2024). Advantage China: Agent of Change in an Era of Global Disruption. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-350-25231-8.

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.

[2] A treaty or peace with an indecisive, inconclusive result, or resulting in status quo ante bellum.

[3] Although main fighting ceased in 1949, warfare with the Republic of China continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s with the
Kuomintang Islamic insurgency in China (1950–1958)

First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954–1955)

Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958)

Campaign at the China–Burma Border (1960–1961)

[3] Kuomintang Islamic insurgency in China (1950–1958)

[4] First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954–1955)

[5] Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958)

[6] Campaign at the China–Burma Border (1960–1961)

[:13-1] Garlick, Jeremy (2024). Advantage China: Agent of Change in an Era of Global Disruption. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-350-25231-8.

[1]

[a]

[b]

v t e Lists of wars involving Asian countries
Sovereign states	Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Cambodia China Cyprus East Timor (Timor-Leste) Egypt Georgia India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Myanmar Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia Northern Cyprus Palestine South Ossetia Taiwan
Dependencies and other territories	British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Hong Kong Macau
Category Asia portal