Today China is among the strongest military powers in the world. Even America would not lightly enter a war with China for fear of being defeated. However, China has not always had a strong armed forces. In fact, many times in China’s history it has lost wars.
In order to understand where China has come from, and why the country focuses on becoming a military superpower, we’ve put together a short history of seven wars that China has lost.
1. First Opium War (1839 – 42)
The First Opium War was fought between China and Great Britain between 1839 and 1842. The series of military engagements ended with a defeat for China.
The cause of the war was the British demand that China end a ban on the opium trade. Britain was committed to the ideals of free trade and, after the Qing dynasty’s introduction of laws banning opium and the death penalty for opium traders, Britain sent a military force to defeat the Chinese and make them accept opium sales.
Britain defeated China using superior naval power. The British Royal Navy had much more advanced technology than China could deploy. Following the defeat of Chinese ships, Britain landed troops near to Dinghai, south of Shanghai. These were able to win battles against Chinese forces in several campaigns.
Estimates are that up 4,000 Chinese were lost in the First Opium War, compared to 69 British soldiers killed in battle. It’s clear the war was a decisive victory for the British and a major defeat for the Chinese.
The First Opium War ended with China succeeding Hong Kong to Britain and the trade in opium resuming.
2. Second Opium War (1856 – 60)
The Second Opium War took place between 1856 to 1860 between China and forces from Britain, America, and France. The conflict was also fought over the right for Western countries to continue the importation of opium to China. The Second Opium War was also a defeat for China.
The defeat in the Second Opium War was a national humiliation for China. The war ended with British forces burning the Qing emperors summer palace in Beijing. The Second Opium War resulted in China being forced to concede to the demands made by Western powers and signified another major war lost by China.
Following Britain’s taking of Hong Kong in 1842 after winning the First Opium War, in 1860 Britain took control of the Kowloon peninsula after defeating China in the Second Opium War.
Around 2,800 Chinese people were killed during the Second Opium War. This compares to 134 British, 25 French and 11 American’s. China decisively lost the Second Opium War.
China losing the Second Opium War continued what is known as the Century of Humiliation that began with the First Opium War. China was forced to agree to unfavourable terms in treaties with Western countries as it lost many conflicts from the 1840 onwards.
3. First Sino-Japanese War (1894 – 95)
The First Sino-Japanese War was a conflict fought between Qing dynasty China and the Empire of Japan at the end of the 19th Century. The war was fought over domination of the Korean peninsula and was a significant defeat for China.
China had traditionally held influence over Korea for a long period before the First Sino-Japanese War. However, as Japan opened-up economically and undertook widespread political reforms and military modernisations from the 1860s onwards, their power over Korea grew. These competing needs to dominate the Korean peninsula led to conflict between China and Japan which resulted in China losing the war and led to the eventual Japanese occupation of Korea.
The First Sino-Japanese War was a decisive defeat for the Chinese. It showed the world that the Qing dynasty’s attempts to modernise its armed forces had failed. The conflict also showed the superiority of Japanese forces and marked the arrival on the world stage of Japan as a major power.
China lost 35,000 people during the First Sino-Japanese War. The Japanese, by comparison, lost only around 13,000. However, estimates are that most Japanese soldiers died of disease, and combat deaths may have been as low as 1,300. This shows the scale to which China lost the First Sino-Japanese War.
4. Boxer War (1899 – 1901)
The Boxer War began as an internal uprising within China that saw militia’s rebel against colonial interference, foreign entities, and Christian institutions within the country. Initially a rebellion against foreigners in China and the Chinese state, following the intervention of forces led by Britain, France, Japan, and America, the Qing dynasty government aligned itself with the Boxer militias against the foreign powers. The Boxer War was another defeat for China.
As militias within China – known as Boxers, began attacking foreigner in November 1899, Western countries and Japan began sending forces to protect their civilians and bolster their defences around their enclaves in China. Sieges were laid against foreign legations in Beijing.
As the conflict spread and more foreign forces landed in China, the Empress Dowager Cixi aligned her government with the Boxer militias. However, this ultimately resulted in the defeat of the Boxer and Chinese troops in September 1901.
Up to 100,000 Chinese people are thought to have died in the Boxer War. It is another example of a conflict lost by China to foreign powers in the 19th and early 20th Century.
5. Sino-Indian War (1962)
In 1962 China fought a short border war with India. Chinese forces were unable to capture the ground they claimed and therefore this conflict can be seen as a defeat for China.
Tensions between China and India had been growing since March 1959 when India granted asylum to the Tibetan leader the Dali Lama following the Chinese invasion of Tibet. Skirmishes along the border occurred in 1960. India reinforced its positions along the Himalayan border with China as a response to these skirmishes. In 1962, a full conflict broke-out between the two countries. China lost this war as it was unable to secure additional ground or inflict a significant defeat on Indian forces.
The border between India and Tibet was established in the 1820s when India was under British rule. When China took control of Tibet, it disputed this border and rectifying the border between the two countries was a major drive of the conflict in 1962.
Casualty numbers for the Sino-Indian War of 1962 are disputed. However, it is likely that around 1,300 solders were killed on each side. Although India did not defeat the Chinese forces completely, they did retain control along much of the border and so the war is often seen as a defeat for China.
6. Sino-Soviet Border Conflict (1969)
In 1949, the Chinese Communist Party seized power. Initially, good relations were had with the Soviet Union. However, following Stalin’s death in 1953, Beijing began to move away from the Soviet Union. In 1969, the two countries fought a brief conflict along the border around Zhenbao Island. This conflict was lost by China.
The tensions that arose between the Soviet Union and China from the mid-1950s onwards is known as the Sino-Soviet Split. Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong saw the anti-Stalinist measures implemented by Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev following Stalin’s death as revisionist. China also began to compete with the Soviets to become the dominate communist state globally. The Sino-Soviet Border conflict of 1969 is a key event within the Sino-Soviet Split. It is also another example of a conflict China did not win.
There had long been a border dispute between China and Russia dating back to the 1930s. When a localised conflict broke-out between Chinese and Soviet forces in 1969, China aimed to capture the disputed territory from Russia. However, they were unable to do this, and the war ended with a return to the status quo. China did not win the Sino-Soviet Border Conflict of 1969.
7. Sino-Vietnamese War (1979)
In 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and dislodged the Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge was allied to communist China. In support of the Pol Pot regime, China invaded Vietnam in February 1979. Although China claimed victory, historians see the Sino-Vietnamese War as a defeat for China.
The Sino-Vietnamese War was lost by China firstly because they failed in their objective to support the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia and to prevent the Vietnamese from removing the regime. The conflict was also a military defeat for China. Vietnamese forces fought more successfully than Chinese – recent combat experience in the Vietnam War and military equipment provided by the Soviet Union gave them a significant advantage. These factors were key to the Vietnamese defeat of Chinese forces.
Estimates of casualties in the Sino-Vietnamese War vary. However, up to 62,000 Chinese soldiers could have been killed. China claims similar casualties on the Vietnamese side and some historians do believe around the same number of lives were lost on both sides.
Although not a total defeat. it is clear that China did not win the Sino-Vietnamese War. China was unable to achieve its objective in the war and also could not deliver a significant defeat to Vietnamese forces. The Sino-Vietnamese War is another example of a war that wasn’t won by China.