China’s problem is the “pampered boy” mentality.
In India, there are several children that can take care of the family if a son-soldier dies.
China, on the other hand, due to the one-child policy, has created a bunch of men that are the only support to parents and do not trust the government to care for them if they die. China’s researched the problem and found that it could be an issue if blood starts to flow.
Compare and contrast with WWII-era Japan, which encouraged mothers to have a lot of babies.
Very true. This is perhaps the single largest restraint on China’s willingness to begin large scale military actions. However there is incredible pressure among the Generals and hierarchy of the Communist Party to not only reunify with Hong Kong but to now move against Taiwan. China wants to bloody and humiliate India in a limited war much the way Russia hurt and impressed Japan in their 1939 Manchurian war. Japan never opened a second front against Russia and China wants India to know that its best to remain silent when they engage Taiwan.
China does have a *lot* of excess male population that they need to get rid of, though...