Who has the upper hand in the India-China border dispute?

In 2020, relations between India and China fell to their lowest point in several decades after a deadly clash in a disputed border region in northwestern India and China’s southwest. The two Asian powers clashed over the Line of Actual Control (LAC). One of the most hotly disputed border zones in the world, the LAC demarcates Indian-controlled territory and Chinese-held areas. There is also bilateral friction in several other border areas, most notably in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. China’s annual defence budget of US$261 billion is more than triple India’s US$71 billion, but is China’s war chest big enough for Beijing to ensure it would inflict a knockout blow in a full-blown conflict?