On China, look ahead
Let’s not return to the Nehruvian policy from which Rajiv Gandhi liberated us
RAVINDRA PARASNIS
Posted online: Tuesday, April 26, 2005 at 0058 hours IST
Kuldip Nayar wrote in ‘Border lines of engagement’ (IE, April 12) that “The wounds of 1962 India-China war had not so much to do with India’s defeat but the shattering of its trust on China” and advised Premier Wen Jiabao to find ways to rebuild that trust. It was this very high-handed attitude with implied self-righteousness based on mis-conceptions that irked China in 1962. We were giving moral sermons to the world but had drawn the National Frontiers with scant regard for accepted international norms. Yet we accused China of encroaching upon our territory, which was in effect disputed.
Nehru was not accommodative in the conflict with China as Nayar writes, but inflexible. Nayar’s contention that the two countries didn’t fight a war over a territorial dispute but for a dominant position in Asia and the spread of communism quoting Nehru’s letter to the chief ministers, is not tenable. That letter was an attempt to blame China for our follies. Events have proved that China had no intention to grab our territory or spread communism in India. Granting asylum to the
Dalai Lama was fine but we permitted him to operate his Tibetan Government in exile from Dharamsala and posted a foreign service officer to his government.
Nayar defies logic by stating that China’s objective in going to war against India was to heighten tensions in the world and make non alignment difficult to maintain. Most Indians are similarly prejudiced against China through mis-information. Truth must be uncovered to help us get over the humiliation of 1962 and eliminate anti-China prejudice.
My study of Chinese behavior indicates that China is true and generous in friendship but will never ignore her national interests. The British left India without defining her northern borders. Nehru arbitrarily drew them without consultation with China. Aksai-Chin belonged to no one but we believed it was ours. When China occupied it and built a road, there was uproar in Parliament. Not in a position to take on China militarily, Nehru tried to assuage the country with his absurd forward posts policy. These were military posts threatening Chinese positions, not mere pillars to delineate the borders, as Nayar claims. Eventually, Prime Minister Nehru publicly ordered our army to evict the Chinese from Thag-La ridge, which was in Chinese territory even as per our own maps, giving them a chance to pre-empt our attack and earning an aggressor label to boot.
Asking Premier Wen to take steps to rebuild that trust amounts to arrogance. It would be a return to the Nehruvian policy from which Rajiv Gandhi’s courageous initiative unshackled us. Let us move forward by unification of the two IT pagodas as suggested by Premier Wen and the open border concept argued by C. Raja Mohan (‘Offer Wen fringe benefits’ IE, April 5).
The writer is a retired wing commander
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