No incident can better explain China 's permanent belligerant stance towards India than what happened on the Sikkim border in 1965.An interesting exchange of letters between the two countries reveals that China accused Indian troops of stealing a flock of 800 sheep and 59 yaks from Tibetan herdsmen near the Sikkim border. China demanded the animals back from India, warning it of dire consequences.To protest against this ludicrous allegation, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee , who was then just a Member of Parliament, drove a herd of sheep to the Chinese embassy in Delhi. They protestors said China would start a world war over sheep and yaks. They carried placards, saying, "Eat me but save the world."China got incensed that its bullying had come out in the open with the protest. It shot off an angry letter to the Indian embassy in China, complaining that Vajpayee's protest was actually backed by the Indian government. The letter also accused Indian troops of incursion into and building military structures in the Chinese territory.The Indian government replied in a note to the Chinese embassy in Delhi: "About the four Tibetan inhabitants allegedly kidnapped by Indian troops, an adequate reply has been given in the Indian notes of September 17 and 21. Like other Tibetan refugees these four people had come into India on their own volition and without our permission and taken refuge in India. They are free to go back to Tibet at any time if they desire to do so. A propos the 800 sheep and 59 yaks the Government of India have already given a reply in the clearest terms possible. We know nothing of the yaks and as regards the sheep it is up to the two herdsmen concerned to take them to Tibet if and when they choose to go back to their homeland."On Vajpayee's 'sheep protest', India wrote: "In its note of September 26, China has protested against the peaceful demonstration which was held near the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on September 24 when some of the citizens of Delhi took in procession about 800 sheeps. The Government of India had nothing to do with this demonstration. It was a spontaneous, peaceful and good-humoured expression of the resentment of the citizens of Delhi against the Chinese ultimatum and the threat of war against India on trumped-up and trivial issues."It was clear that China was itching for a fight and inventing flimsy reasons for it. These allegation by China were part of a campaign that finally led to the Sikkim border conflict between India and China in 1967. India emerged a winner in this conflict. India lost nearly 80 Indian soldiers while 300 to 400 Chinese soldiers were killed.