Unit 3

Indo-US Relations : Main Issues, Indo-US Nuclear Deal, Recent trends

Indo-Russia relations : Main Issues
Indo-China Relation : Main Issues, Tension Areas

Sino-Indian War, 1962

In 1962, the world’s two most populous countries went to war. The Sino-Indian War claimed
about 2,000 lives and played out in the harsh terrain of the Karakoram Mountains, some 4,270
meters (14,000 feet) above sea level.

Background to the War

The primary cause of the 1962 war between India and China was the disputed border between
the two countries, in the high mountains of Aksai Chin. India asserted that the region, belonged
to the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir. China countered that it was part of Xinjiang. 

By 1947, when India gained its independence and maps of the subcontinent were redrawn, the
issue of Aksai Chin remained unresolved.
The creation of Pakistan in 1947, the Chinese invasion and annexation of Tibet in 1950, and
China’s construction of a road to connect Xinjiang and Tibet through land claimed by India all
complicated the issue. Relations reached a nadir in 1959, when Tibet’s spiritual and political
leader, the Dalai Lama, fled into exile in the face of another Chinese invasion. Indian Prime
Minister Jawaharlal Nehru granted the Dalai Lama sanctuary in India, angering Mao immensely. 

Sino-Indian War
From 1959 forward, border skirmishes broke out along the disputed line. In 1961, Nehru
instituted the Forward Policy, in which India tried to establish border outposts and patrols north
of Chinese positions, in order to cut them off from their supply line. The Chinese responded in
kind, each side seeking to flank the other without direct confrontation.
The fall of June 1962 saw increasing numbers of border incidents in Aksai Chin. On one
skirmish killed more than twenty Chinese troops. In July, India authorized its troops to fire not
only in self-defense but to drive the Chinese back. By October, even as Zhou Enlai was
personally assuring Nehru in New Delhi that China did not want war, the People’s Liberation
Army of China (PLA) was massing along the border. The first heavy fighting took place on
October 10, 1962, in a skirmish that killed 25 Indian troops and 33 Chinese soldiers.
On October 20, the PLA launched a two-pronged attack, seeking to drive the Indians out of Aksai
Chin. Within two days, China had seized the entire territory. The main force of the Chinese PLA
was 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the line of control by October 24. During a three-week
ceasefire, Zhou Enlai ordered the Chinese to hold their position, as he sent a peace proposal to
Nehru.
The Chinese proposal was that both sides disengage and withdraw twenty kilometers from their
current positions. Nehru responded that the Chinese troops needed to withdraw to their original
position instead, and he called for a wider buffer zone. On November 14, 1962, the war resumed
with an Indian attack against the Chinese position at Walong.
After hundreds of more deaths and an American threat to intervene on behalf of the Indians, the
two sides declared a formal ceasefire on November 19. The Chinese announced that they would
“withdraw from their present positions to the north of the McMahon Line.” The isolated troops
in the mountains did not hear about the ceasefire for several days and engaged in additional
firefights.
Though the war lasted not long but killed 1,383 Indian troops and 722 Chinese troops. An
additional 1,047 Indians and 1,697 Chinese were wounded, and nearly 4,000 Indian soldiers
were captured. Many of the casualties were caused by the harsh conditions at 14,000 feet, rather
than by enemy fire. Hundreds of the wounded on both sides died of exposure before their
comrades could get medical attention for them.
In the end, China retained actual control of the Aksai Chin region. Prime Minister Nehru was
roundly criticized at home for his pacifism in the face of Chinese aggression, and for the lack of
preparation prior to the Chinese attack.
Aftermath
China
According to the China’s official military history, the war achieved China’s policy objectives of
securing borders in its western sector, as China retained de facto control of the Aksai Chin. After
the war, India abandoned the Forward Policy, and the de facto borders stabilised along the Line
of Actual Control.

According to James Calvin of Marine Corps Command and Staff College, even though China
won a military victory it lost in terms of its international image. China’s first nuclear weapon test
in October 1964 and its support of Pakistan in the 1965 India Pakistan War tended to confirm the
American view of communist world objectives, including Chinese influence over Pakistan.
India

The aftermath of the war saw sweeping changes in the Indian military to prepare it for similar
conflicts in the future, and placed pressure on Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was
seen as responsible for failing to anticipate the Chinese attack on India. Indians reacted with a
surge in patriotism and memorials were erected for many of the Indian troops who died in the
war. Arguably, the main lesson India learned from the war was the need to strengthen its own
defences and a shift from Nehru’s foreign policy with China based on his stated concept of
“brotherhood”. Because of India’s inability to anticipate Chinese aggression, Prime
Minister Nehru faced harsh criticism from government officials, for having promoted pacifist
relations with China. Indian President Radhakrishnan said that Nehru’s government was naive
and negligent about preparations, and Nehru admitted his failings.

The unpreparedness of the army was blamed on Defence Minister Menon, who resigned his
government post to allow for someone who might modernise India’s military further. India’s
policy of weaponisation via indigenous sources and self-sufficiency was thus cemented. Sensing
a weakened army, Pakistan, a close ally of China, began a policy of provocation against India
by infiltrating Jammu and Kashmir and ultimately triggering the Second Kashmir War with India
in 1965 and Indo-Pakistani war of 1971.