The Unfought War of 1962

An Appraisal

Raghav Sharan Sharma

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• eBook ISBN:
  9781351056366
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

China's territorial disputes with India have been a matter of debate since 1950s. While China has amicably resolved boundary disputes with twelve out of its fourteen neighbouring countries, it is yet to resolve its boundary disputes with India and Bhutan as also its maritime disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea. This volume looks at the complex dynamics of India–China boundary disputes which remains unresolved. It is still the biggest challenge to the relations between the two countries.
From the Indian perspective securing Arunachal and the Indus Watershed is highly important. From the Chinese point of view Karakoram and Xinjiang–Tibet road must be respected. Secondary issues have always occupied a central and pivotal focus in the relations between India and China.
This work also shows how British efforts to secure a defined and natural boundary began immediately after the creation of Jammu and Kashmir in 1846 after Amritsar treaty. In the eastern sector such an effort began only in the first decade of twentieth century. Relevant documents have been presented which examines the role of bureaucrats, diplomats, generals and surveyors. It examines the treaties, conventions, correspondence as well as internal debates between changing British officials and their conflicting British policies. Nehru refused Chou En Lai in 1960, which in turn led to the unilateralism in Chinese attitude after 1962.
The volume breaks new ground by evaluating the differing policies, and explains how a secured boundary can ultimately be agreed upon.

Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

The decision of a border line is not random. There are several historical, geographical and cultural tools which one can use to usually judge to whom a tract of land should belong to. Prominent amongst these are:

•Crest Line Principle: The geographical feature of the highest peak in the region can be considered a natural geographical boundary.

•Watershed Principle: The directions in which river waters flow down from a mountain can be used to determine a natural boundary with the understanding that the water flowing to one side of the ridge belongs to the people on that side, along with the land that it flows through.

•Origin of Rivers: The origin of a river (glacier) generally goes to the side in which the river flows and this principle canbe sometimes used as yet another naturally defined boundary.

•History: The country which has had possession of a land historically can in general be assumed to inherit the land in the present also.

•Ancient Literature: The descriptions of various regions and their inhabitants by poets and authors of either side, could give a clue as to the historical allegiance of the region.

•Religion and Language: The cultural features of the people living on the land in dispute often decide the ownership of the land. Whichever side the people identify themselves more with, to that side the land should go.

But in general any border dispute requires consideration of all these factors taken together, and border treaties are signed through a give and take compromise policy involving compensation in other areas for a side which gives up a contestable claim in one area. Generally no individual factor can alone determine a border. Some of these factors are sometimes in conflict with each other and hence an element of common sense is required to sort out this issue.

The Sino-Indian border issue is even more complicated for four reasons:

•Presence of a number of parallel mountain ranges in the border area, causing a chaotic situation with respect to resolution of crestlines, origin of rivers, etc. Most of the major rivers of today’s India, for instance, have their genesis in ranges beyond the Himalayas and enter India by cutting a deep gorge through the mountains.

•The history of the regions in question is curious. In various periods of time, they have been sovereign, autonomous under a central authority, suzerain under a central authority and sometimes just an integral part of a larger state. In one case, the king was even double aligned, paying taxes to two different powers.

•The phenomenon of peaceful coexistence and intermingling of the cultures and races of otherwise different ethnic groups makes it very difficult to locate a cultural divide.

•The British policy of changing the borderline to suit their changing needs has left a confused mess with plenty of scope for purposeful misrepresentation.

Most of the work in this area has concentrated only on the last mentioned issue. However, the geographical, historical and cultural reasons are as important to this dispute as the political ones and I will proceed to examine them in detail in the later sections. For instance, there was the battle for filling the vacuum created by the Russian withdrawal from Central Asia and British withdrawal from the Indian subcontinent. It was going on between Nehru and Mao Zedong period which is continuing till today. The Sino-Indian dispute as we know it today is just an outcome of a set of larger historical issues: power struggles between the Manchu kings of China and the British, between the Manchu kings and Russia, Kashmir and Kashgar, Tibet and China, Britain and Russia, Russia and Tibet. Thus, ignoring any one of the above factors or giving precedence to any one above the other will lead a false understanding of the situation and the conclusions derived therefore will also be false. In 1955, the ambivalence in Soviet policy was gone and they became pro-India.

Lastly, it is critical for this dispute to be resolved. The India-Pakistan antagonism would never have reached such heights but for the simmering tension between China and India. The individualistic nature of north Kashmir and Tibetan society, the unique position of the Bohra religious cult in Hunza, Shia in Baltistan, Lamas in Tibet and Mujahideen in north-west Kashmir and the exodus of Tibetans and Kashmiris of the valley have already in large parts complicated the border issue and further delay only serves to strengthen such renegade factors. The Sino-Indian border dispute is not about a few thousand square miles of land, with both nations having aims to use their border posts on the mountains as launching pads into Central Asia. Lack of a proper border treaty could egg on a second and possibly fatal war between the two powers with eye on the same apple. With both countries being poverty stricken and nuclear powers, any war will only serve to undermine the ambitions of both and at the same time, give a fillip to the Western powers. As such, the only way to solve this dispute is through an equitable barter system with a spirit of goodwill, forgetting the bitterness and prejudice handed down by the past. I will try and propose a solution logically consistent with my experiences and findings by the time one has travelled to the end of this book.

The book presents a kaleidoscopic picture of the 1962 ‘Sino-India War’ which was lost. India was humbled. Its prestige was damaged beyond repair. China won the battle combining offensive action with surprise where as Indian Army was bewildered and was at a fix merely waiting far onslaught of enemy. Situation was rolling rapidly but India’s strategy was static. It could not cope with the changing situation. Procedural delays and short sighted planning mauled the higherdirection of war. Indian soldiers were brave, but the morale of Army Headquarter was so low that they got disintegrated and withdrawal turned into rout. Shortsighted directions may create a situation depicted in the nursery rhyme: ‘For want of a nail, a horse was lost. For want of a horse, a rider was lost. For want of a rider, a battle was lost’.

The Indo-China border dispute is legacy of our history. The border was undemarcated, unfinalized by Britishers till 15 August 1947. It is easy to understand the ambition of the Dogras and Nehru but it was not easy to understand China’s state and society. It was ruled by Mao whose ideas were rooted in self sufficiency, continuing struggles, and regaining lost glory of China. Deng Xiaoping replaced the idea of class struggle with economic reconstruction, developing productive forces and realizing common prosperity. Deng had reiterated that China believed in a peaceful rise and had been reluctant to take strong positions but Xi* administration is not only proactive in foreign policy but also aggressive when it comes to Japan and India who are traditional rivals of China.

In other words Xi might continue the agenda of his predecessors but it is not an easy task at all. The global situation is changing due to the atmosphere created by terrorism and the future performances of China on these issues will clarify the meaning of both countries, India and China who are victims of perceptional differences about their borders.

Note

^* Xi is at the helm in China after Deng.

PART I

GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS

CHAPTER 2

Geographical and Historical Analysis: Central Asia

The Sino-Indian conflict has been as much about the quest for control of the Central Asian trade and natural resources as any one issue other than that. A critical understanding of the psyche of Central Asia, particularly the province of Sinkiyang (Xinjiang in Chinese; for convention’s sake we will stick to one name), is necessary for gleaning the finer motives of both the parties in this dispute.

Sinkiyang is situated to the north of Karakoram, in the interior of Central Asia. Its area is 1.6 million sq km and it has a population of around 12.83 million people. About 5 million would be Huns and the rest would be made up of Kazakhs, Mongolians, Huis, Xibes, Kirgis, Uzbeks, Tajiks, Russians, Manchus, Daurs and Tatars. Sinkiyang is divided into five zones:

1.The Tiensan mountain area—3,000 to 5,000 m above MSL.

2.The Altay range in the north and north-east.

3.The Karakoram-Kunlun-Altun-Pamir area in south.

4.The Junggar basin between Tiensan and Altay range.

5.The Tarim basin south of Tiensan, including Takla Makan desert in the middle.

An unforgiving desert makes up 22 per cent of the area of Sinkiyang. Kashri, situated on the Silk Route, is the economic and communication centre of South Sinkiyang. K2, alias Goodwin Austin, a peak on the Karakoram range of 8,611 m height, is the highest peak in this area. It is currently under Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK), and was the erstwhile border peak of India. About 22 per cent of the population in Sinkiyang is urban. This region has been called ‘Uttarkuru’ in the Mahabharata and other Sanskrit texts of the period. Sinkiyang was the centre of Buddhism in Central Asia from the first century BC till the ninth century AD, when Islam invaded with proselytization.

In the third century BC Mauryan power came to Bactria and in second century BC the Greeks took over the province. In the first century BC the Chinese army pressed west into the Tarim Basin and set up their rule in the province. By the first century AD, the Hans were unseated by the Kushans in the Sinkiyang area whose own power declined by the third century AD. The Kushans had gotten Indianized and settled near Peshawar in modern Pakistan. In the seventh century AD the Tang dynasty of China again came to power in Central Asia and a protectorate was briefly set up in western Afghanistan. In the eighth century the Chinese were defeated by the Tibetans and the Harun of Arabia was also similarly subdued. The Mongol power rose again in the thirteenth century AD and it unified China. The Mongols came up to western India, invading Central Asia on the way. After the decline of the Mongol power, Tibetan power rose again and the Uigur sect increased in strength and occupied Central Asia. As can be clearly seen, Central Asia wasn’t under any one rule throughout history and has always been passing through various hands as time threw up various powerful and ambitious dynasties at various ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• 1. Introduction
• Part I: Geographical and Historical Analysis
• Part II: History of Sino–Indian Rivalry
• Part III: Geographical and Historical Analysis of Middle Sector
• Appendices
• Bibliography
• Index