Foreign Policy Blunder II: The China War

The events leading to the war with the Chinese where we were comprehensively defeated reveal a long saga of British perfidy and our ineptitude. British, of course were taking care of their own interests so their machinations can be explained that way. However it is our ineptitude, which constitutes the second in our foreign policy blunder series. The British negotiated the border between China and India with their interests in mind. Depending upon the political climate, there were as many as eleven different borders. During these negotiations, the Aksai Chin area was handed over to the Chinese to prevent Russian quest for a warm water port. Anyway, in my view it is unimportant how the maps were drawn before independence because we had absolutely no control over the matter. But after independence, the problem was ours to deal with. At that time, the boundary with China was called the Johnson line, which became the official boundary.

In 1954, GoI laid claims to Aksai Chin to which the Chinese did not object. In fact, China and India negotiated the “Five Principles of Peaceful Existence”. Nehru came up with the “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai” slogan. While this was going on, unbeknownst to India, the Chinese constructed a road connecting Tibet with Xinxiang, which ran south of the Johnson line. We did not find out about it till later. We also found out that the Chinese had been showing Aksai Chin in their maps as Chinese territory. I guess it was too late by then.

In 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama escaped Lhasa after a failed uprising against the illegal Chinese occupation. He was given refuge in India. I suppose it was sort of a payback for the Chinese perfidy. However that must’ve angered Chinese. Anyway, skirmishes began at the border much like what happens sporadically in Arunachal Pradesh. These ultimately culminated in the 1962 war. Now there is a lot of information about who did what to whom and what each party’s motive was. All that information varies from source to source. For example an American website, claims the following:

In April 1960, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai went to New Delhi to hold talks with Indian Prime Minister Nehru, no agreements were reached due to India's insistence on its unreasonable stand. The ensuing meetings between the officials of the two countries also produced no results. Unable to reach political accommodation on disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometer-long Himalayan border, the Chinese attacked India on October 20, 1962. At the time, nine divisions from the eastern and western commands were deployed along the Himalayan border with China. None of these divisions was up to its full troop strength, and all were short of artillery, tanks, equipment, and even adequate articles of clothing.

Does it mean the responsibility was that of the Indians? That does not seem like the case when you consider the fact that the Chinese, despite of not objecting to our claim to Aksai Chin, constructed a road surreptitiously below the Johnson line. Again, none of that really matters. The Chinese are students of Sun Tze who famously said: All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.

The deceptive Chinese had been preparing for the war all along and waited for the right opportunity. That is clear by the timing of the war. They attacked us on the 20th Oct. 1962 when the US and the Russians were tied up in the Cuban missile crisis. They knew how hopelessly we were unprepared for the war and that no one would come to our help thanks to our non-aligned policies. There assessment would turn out to be accurate. In all the differing account, the one thing that stands out is how woefully inadequate our preparedness was. The Indian soldiers were sent to the front in summer clothes for a high altitude battle armed with outdated rifles. Indian lambs were cast to the Chinese hyenas. The war stopped because the Chinese thought that if they stretched too far down south, there supply lines would get stretched and they might lose the advantage. After summarily defeating us, they declare a ceasefire on the 20th Nov. 1962.

As Gen Suman says: Despite numerous sagas of gallantry, the country suffered terrible embarrassment. India was on its knees. With national morale and pride in tatters, India was forced to appeal to all nations for military aid. Inept and incompetent leadership had forced a proud nation to find solace in Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo’.

The abject lack of statesmanship in our leaders was exposed. Their foreign policy was based on hope and belief in their fellow man. That is what we teach our ten-year-old kids. When the same kids reach their late teenage, we start teaching them pragmatism and cynicism. By doing that, we prepare our kids for the big bad world. One would expect leaders of a nation like India to have the ability to see through lies and perfidies.

Nehru was no saint in his personal life. He was not an innocent “babe in the woods”. A man of the world, he should have done better than coin slogans when it came to the security of our nation. On 16th of Aug. 1947, he should have assembled a team of politicians, bureaucrats and military officials to formulate a robust security policy. When you buy a house, the first thing you buy is a good lock. You do not depend upon the goodness of your neighbors. You make friends who can protect you in case of problems. Instead we went about formulating the NAM principles and cut down on the defence spending. Apparently, the war with the Pakistanis that cost us 40% of J&K did not teach us anything. Our leaders let us down. Scars from that loss, continue to remind us of that foreign policy blunder.

A lot of information was gathered from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India-China_War

and http://www.scribd.com/doc/21249245/India-China-1962-war

The American point of view was taken from: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/indo-prc_1962.htm

Of course, the article that started this series, written by Maj. Gen. Suman can be read at: http://www.indiandefencereview.com/2010/07/seven-blunders-that-will-haunt-india-for-posterity.html