SINO INDIAN WAR 1962

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.