1962 War and Its Implications For
Sino-India Relations
Wang Hongwei
40 years have already passed since the 1962 war, but
the shadow of that war still influences Sino-India relations developing in
depth.
China and India, having a long history of friendly
interactions and a fine tradition of learning from each other, both suffered
from imperialist and colonialist aggression, oppression and exploitation. After
achieving their independence and liberation respectively in the late 40’s of 20
century, they should had supported each other and learnt from each other, in
the construction work of their own country, in order to make peoples of both countries leading
a happy life. But it was deplorable that due to the misperceptions and mistaken
policies of a few political leaders, the development of Sino-India relations took
up a winding way.
As regard the genesis of 1962 war, many eminent
scholars across the world, such as Neville Maxwell, Karunakar
Gupta, Steven Hoffmann and others, have made studies in depth,
it is not pertinent for me to dwell on it here. But it should be noted that,
the Nehru government not only took over the legacy of British imperialist
strategic perceptions of security, interfered many times in the Tibet affairs of China, but demonstrated even more arrogant and
un-rational on boundary issues than the British Raj.
The British imperialists did draw an illegal “MacMahon
Line”, but they dared not to occupy in actual deeds the territories of China to the south of that line, whereas the
Nehru government did it. Evidence indicated that, in the early years after
independence, Jawaharlal Nehru himself instructed privately Mullik,
head of the Intelligence Bureau, to count China as an enemy. It was under his approval,
Indian armed border police drove away the Tibetan administers and occupied Sela by force in 1948,.and later,
occupied further Tawang and other Chinese territories
to the south of “MacMahon Line” by force in 1952. But
Nehru government did not stop here, it sought to decide for itself where India’s borders with China should lie and then impose the alignments
it had chosen on China. In 1960, the Nehru government not only refused to negotiate with
Zhou Enlai who made a special trip to New Delhi in order to seek a friendly settlement of
Sino-Indian boundary question, but refused any standstill agreement. In the
following year, it ordered to carry out the forward policy. According this
policy, the Indian army attacked unceasingly the PLA’s
posts along the whole border areas and killed many Chinese soldiers, in an
attempt to extrude Chinese army out of all the Chinese territory it claimed.
This aggressive and provocative policy not only interrupted the status quo, but
also made breach of the peace and tranquility along the whole border areas.
Developing up to October, 1962, Nehru ordered the Indian army to take the offensive., and he made a statement about it on 12th
of the same mouth.. His statement shocked the whole world. The New
York Herald Tribune published an editorial titled “Neheru Declare A War Against China” the
following day.
All honest and sober-minded people could see that the
1962 war was imposed on China by the Neheru
government. China had no other way out but lunched counter-attack and adopted an preventive action then. The purposes of it were: (1) To
defend peace and tranquility along the whole border areas; (2) To make the Neheru government to return back to the negotiating table. China had no any intention to solve the boundary
question by force, this was proved by the fact that, as soon as the PLA won the
victory in war, they returned to their original posts.
But, how the Neheru government
explained the event to the Indian public and people? It had no courage to admit
its own mistakes and tell the truth to them, but adopted an un-honest and
irrational means to blame it on China that, China conducted an “un-provoked aggression” against
India, and China “betrayed India” etc.. This
frame-up produced two kinds of negative and malign consequences: First, China’s image was turned into a devil since then
in the mind of the Indian public and people; Second, India embarked on the intensive arming which led
to a long-term confrontation between the two countries, and caused a huge
unnecessary waste of manpower and material resources to both sides. These
negative and malign consequences have really made those who are zealous to
maintain Sino-Indian friendship, feel distressed.
Though it was so, we have no reason to be crestfallen.
As the saying goes, “the misfortune might be a blessing in disguise.” If the
successors can learn the real lessons from the mistakes of their predecessors
and turn them into lasting actions, it would be no difference for both peoples
of the two countries to own an invaluable precious wealth.
Thanks to the late Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s historic visit to China in 1988, Sino-India relations have
restored to normality gradually. During Indian Prime Minister P.V.Narasimha Rao’s visit to China in 1993, both sides signed the Agreement on the Maintenance of Peace
and Tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control in
the China-India Border Areas. In
1996, an further agreement on “confidence-building
measures in the military field along the LAC” was signed by both sides during
Chairman Jiang Zemin’s
visit to India. All these
demonstrated that the two governments had become far-sighted and mature. This
is the very reason that why
Sino-India relations has developed smoothly and quickly on the whole
during the last more than 10 years, though it took an unexpected turn in 1998.
However, we should not sit
conceited. It should be noted that, in terms of the populations, sizes,
economic scales and the roles played in contemporary world by China and India,
the co-operations between them are far to say having reached to the level they
should be. What has obstructed Sino-India relations to be developed in depth
and the potentials of them to be given full play? There are both objective and
subjective factors. Judging from the present conditions, it seems that the
subjective factors are prevailing, and the resistance are
mainly from Indian side. Why I am so saying? Because in the India side, there
still are a considerable number of political officials, armymen
and thinktankers who have not liberated their minds
from the shadows of the misunderstanding related to 1962 war. Many of them
still adhere willingly or un-willingly, to the strategic perception of security
prevailing in the old times, and count China as a threat or
a potential adversary. In such a psychology and mentality, how could you expect
to develop further Sino-India relations in depth? I don’t complain them,
because the majority of them were also misled by the Neheru
administration and few of them know the real situations in China. I believe,
with increasing mutual exchanges and contacts, the day will come when they will
realize that China is a true
friend and brother of India. Now, the
challenge facing us is, how effectively will the
far-sighted statesmen and those of insight, make publicity the truth of 1962
war, and let that day come earlier.
The day when Sino-India
misunderstanding is thoroughly dispersed, an era for Sino-India co-operations
developing in depth will definitely come.
.