India adopted a policy of friendship
towards China from the very beginning. The Congress had been sympathetic to
China’s struggle against imperialism and had sent a medical mission to China in
the thirties as well as given a call for boycott of Japanese goods in protest
against Japanese occupation of China. India was the first to recognize the new
People’s Republic of China on January 1, 1950.
Nehru had great hopes that the two countries with their common
experience of suffering at the hands of colonial powers and common problems of
poverty and underdevelopment would join hands to give Asia its due place in the
world. Nehru pressed for representation of Communist China in the UN Security
Council, did not support the US position in the Korean War, and tried his best
to bring about a settlement in Korea.
In 1950 when China occupied Tibet, India
was unhappy that it had not been taken into confidence, but did not question
China’s rights over Tibet since at many times in Chinese history Tibet had been
subjugated by China.
In 1954, India and China signed a treaty in which India
recognized China’s rights over Tibet and the two countries agreed to be
governed in their mutual relations by the principles of Panch Sheel.
Differences over border delineation were discussed at the time but China
maintained that it had not yet studied the old Kuomintang maps and these could
be sorted out later.
Relations continued to be close and
Nehru went to great lengths to project China and Chou-en-Lai at the Bandung
Conference.
In 1959, however, there was a big revolt in Tibet and the Dalai
Lama fled Tibet along with thousands of refugees. He was given asylum in India
but not allowed to set up a government in exile and dissuaded from carrying on
political activities. Nevertheless, the Chinese were unhappy. Soon after, in
October 1959, Chinese opened fire on an Indian patrol near the Kongka Pass in
Ladakh, killing five Indian policemen and capturing a dozen others. Letters
were exchanged between the two governments, but a common ground did not emerge.
Then Chou-en-Lai was invited for talks to Delhi in April 1960, but not much
headway could be made and it was decided to let officials sort out the details
first.
On September 8, 1962, Chinese forces
attacked the Thagla ridge and dislodged Indian troops, but this was taken as a
minor incident. Nehru went off to London for a conference and after returning
home once again left for Colombo on October 12.
A week later, the Chinese army
launched a massive attack and over ran Indian posts in the eastern sector in
NEFA or what was later Arunachal Pradesh. The Indian army commander in NEFA
fled without any effort at resistance leaving the door wide open for China to
walk in. In the western sector, on October 20, thirteen forward posts were
captured by the Chinese in the Galwan Valley and the Chushul airstrip threatened.
There was a great outcry in the country and a feeling of panic about Chinese
intentions. It was thought that the Chinese would come rushing in to the plains
and occupy Assam and perhaps other parts as well. Nehru wrote two letters to
President Kennedy on November 9, describing the situation as ‘really desperate’
and asking for wide-ranging military help. He also sought Britain’s assistance.
Twenty-four hours later, the Chinese declared a unilateral withdrawal and as
unpredictably as it had appeared, the Chinese dragon disappeared from sight,
leaving behind a heart-broken friend and a confused and disoriented people.
Despite the strong memories of the short
border war in 1962, India has sought, largely successfully in recent years, to
develop relations with China on a friendly and pragmatic basis. Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi’s visit to Beijing in 1986 brought about the first thaw in the
cold relations between the two countries for over two decades.
Positive
progress was made in Sino-Indian relations in resolving the decades-old
boundary disputes between the two nations. China and India tacitly recognized
each other’s respective sovereignty over Tibet and Sikkim and appointed
representative to explore solutions to their border dispute.
The opening of the
Nathu-La pass in 2007, for direct trade between India and China was a positive
step in this direction.
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