I have spent 13 years in the area and am currently/mostly in China's south-western area bordering Myanmar (very close to the disputed region in far north-eastern India). I am very lazily writing a history on the area, purely out of personal interest.

It's probaly worth pointing out that all of the borders in this area are essentially modern / historically largely irrelevant, dating basically from colonial times, and falling arbitrarily across significant ethnographic and cultural boundaries. In addition, the proxy economic/diplomatic conflict in Myanmar (nicely summarized at http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/03/china-didnt...) is a serious concern for all parties at present, and entirely excluded from the article.

The US is deeply involved there, and not for the first time, having operated a dangerous, famous and still well remembered and locally celebrated air route over the Himalayan foothills from eastern India known as 'The Hump' in support of Chinese resistance against the Japanese. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hump

Still earlier, the Americans were also to be chief suppliers of the ultimately failed English Myanmar-China train project much discussed in early 20th century English parliament (they were pretty jiffed the French beat them to it from Northern Vietnam). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunnan-Burma_Railway (I snapped the pic there!)

I don't see India projecting any influence in this part of China, really. There are few Indian businesses, commercial envoys or students (unlike Bangladeshi, Burmese, Korean, Thai, etc.). Of late the eastern Indian area (Brahmaputra valley) at which the northern section exists the greater disputed area has been mostly opened to tourists for the first time. Most of the 'Burmese' present here are actually Bangladeshi Muslim traders who have acquired Burmese documentation. Buddhists are few and far between.

My understanding is that local governors of that part of India are keen to trade with China and re-open the (American-army-corps engineered, but largely local labourer-built) Stillwell Road ("Burma Road"), and there have been India/China discussions to that effect for many years now. No action though, and the proxy political conflict in Burma is probably going to result in further delays. Though plans have been announced for railways to Myanmar from China (and early political posturing for onward links to Bangladesh), nothing seems to have moved and recent politicking probably means long delays on any concrete development.

This is all further complicated by Chinese relations with the Kachin, Wa and Shan armies along Myanmar's northern periphery, their not insignificant presence on the Chinese side of the border (especially the Wa and Shan/Dai/Tai), the presence of opium, the China government's widely assumed and somewhat evidenced involvement in its large-scale trans-shipment, the historical presence of nationalist (Taiwanese) anti-communist warlords in the region.

NB. Earlier in my career I had some experience dealing with the Indian Military. Lots of posturing culminated in untold swathes of military officials listening to technical presentations for which they obviously had no competency (asking irrelevant questions, etc.)