1962 INDIA CHINA WAR & AFTEREFFECTS

In the coming times the relationship of India with China will be very crucial not just for India but also for the whole world. China can become either India's best friend or the worst enemy. At the present time, I perceive China more as a threat than a friend. The 1962 war forever changed way these two countries view eachother. Thus it important to understand different aspects related to this war to understand the attitude of China towards India and also the nature of possible threats India may face in the future.

Synopsis of events...
- China occupies Tibet


- Tibet appeals to the West and India
- Nehru is pro-communist - denies Tibet's plea
- Nehru forbids use of Indian territory by West to rescue Tibet
- Tibet's fate is sealed
- India meekly closes Lhasa mission and recognizes Chinese suzeranity
- India, pursuing peace, converts WW2 weapons factories to consumer goods facilities
- Tibetans revolt and cut-off the route into Tibet thru Amdo province
- China begins using alternative route thru Indian territory (Aksai Chin)
- India, secure in Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai dreams, doesn't even bother patrolling Aksai
- Indians don't even have decent maps of Aksai or Lzingi Than
- China constructs a road thru Aksai and sends local Indian commanders invites to inaugaration
- Indians attend ceremony, unaware that the road is in Indian land
- A rare Indian patrol sent after many years is arrested for trespassing
- India's entire border with Tibet is unsecured - India panics
- Nehru tries to convince Lok Sabha that Aksai is "useless" to India


- Lok Sabha erupts in anger against Nehru, including most Congressites
- India attempts to reinforce its borders with Tibet
- China declares this to be a provocation
- China launches massive attack on India
- India asks USSR for help, having alienated US and UK by supporting China in the past
- USSR declines ("India is our friend, but Red China is our brother")
- India turns to US for help
- US Air Force help to India, USAF sets up bases in Northern India and airlifts Indian troops
- India "retreats" (most sectors had thin forces anyway)

- Ladakh, NE Himachal, North UP, Arunachal (then NEFA) and Assam are left undefended
- China advances deep into Ladakh, occupies all of Arunachal and some of Assam
- China extensively mines occupied territory and withdraws to where supply lines are tenable
- India traumatized, begins to build army up from its pathetic state
- China completely consolidates hold over Aksai and Tibet
- China partitions Tibet into Xizang and Qinghai, part into Sichuan
- China launches mass Han migration

Additional points to be aware of....
a) Neville Maxwell is a known Chinese Communist sympathizer.

b) The Communists in India openly supported China during the war.

c) The US applied massive pressure on Pakistan to not take advantage of the situation and attack India.

d) China wanted Aksai to secure permanent access to Tibet that did not go through Khampa territory (Khampas are the "Pashtuns of Tibet") who conducted a massive uprising against the Chinese (an Amazon book).

e) China *always* takes a long-term view. There are official maps published today that show Eastern Siberia (Primoria province) as Chinese. They don't have a hope in hell of getting that today, but it lays the groundwork for them to dispute it 50, 100, 150 years from now.

f) India may have triggered an invasion when Nehru ordered action on Aksai even though the army was in shambles.

g) Tibetans to this day demonstrate in India and say quite clearly "India does not have a border with China. India's border is with Tibet." India's usual approach is to lathicharge them.

h) Tibet is a nation geographically the size of India. Their script is Indic and they have always considered themselves linked more to India than China. In my opinion, India backstabbed Tibet.

i) Prosperity in China appears to be helping both totally dominate Tibet, and coopt most upwardly mobile Tibetans into the Chinese economy.

j) In the spirit of acknowledging all those who were friends in need, the British RAF and the Australian Air Force also helped extensively, alongside the USAF in 1962. These were the same nations that Nehru had antagonized and insulted while he pampered China (turned down UNSC permanent seat in China's favor, brokered Red China's intro to the world in Bandung).

The communist stand - why?
- Communist solidarity under Mao ("Chin-er chairman, amader chairman" - "China's chairman is our chairman," as Charu Mazumdar chanted).

- This continues to this day - China vs India: Who's Yechuri batting for? Indian Express article archived on another site. Or look at this - JNUSU Left okays Arunachal 'with China', where they fought with a Congress-based students union over Arunachal. China, as you know, denies visas to anyone from Arunachal, claiming they are Chinese citizens.

- This is not a new trend. The CPI was agitating against British rule as long as the Soviet Union opposed the UK. When the WW2 alliance happened, the Soviets asked the CPI to start supporting British rule. The CPI turned overnight and provided names and addresses of revolutionaries to the British. People were hanged. The CPI opposed the Quit India movement because the Soviets asked them to - A selective memory, archived from the Hindustan Times.