That cannot be determined until events take their course.
If both sides are reasonable, it will turn out to have been a deterrent.
If any one side is not reasonable, or both sides are not reasonable, the buildup will have been real.
Only the future will tell.
I have put these questions to Chinese nationals in another thread in this forum . No one respo nded.
@joe Sh rear - please give your responses..
a) If (big IF) china goes back to pre-april / may status quo, what did China achieve with all this?
b) Does Chinese think that they messed-up relations with India, when India is indulging them (trade deficits etc etc)?
c) India will have to deal with 2-front situation? Don't you think that China will also have to deal with 2-front situation from now on?
d) If China can push India, then what will the smaller nations conclude? My impression - they cannot be neutral anymore. It is has to be China camp or opposite camp. No neutrality anymore. Do you agree?
e) 1962 war woke-up Indians from delusions of Peace (problem with us Indians) etc and make them allocate better resources to war machine. This latest situation will further speed up the military-industrial complex in India. Is that in China's interests?
f) If there is no 1962 war, our great Nehru would have lived for 100 or more years and would have committed blunder after blunder........
g) Please tell me about the latest situation from Chinese perspective? (1) If China intend to keep the lands that China marched into, it will create lot of angst in India (similar to the angst the Pak feel about India. Pak nation is so convinced that Kashmir belongs to them.). Is that in China's interests?....(2) If you vacate those lands and go back to pre-april status quo, what did China achieve other than pushing India into the other camp?