By R. S. Kalha
As we near the 50th anniversary of the Sino-Indian conflict that
broke out in October 1962, the question that has often been asked is: Who
started the actual fighting? There is no doubt on the Indian side that it all
began with the massive Chinese onslaught that was initiated in the early hours
of 20 October 1962 all along the Sino-Indian border. Most Chinese and their
apologists insist that it was India that started the conflict by following the
so-called ‘forward policy’ and ‘nibbling’ at China’s frontiers. The actual
Chinese onslaught on 20 October 1962, it is claimed, was only a
‘counter-attack’ and in ‘self-defence’ to throw out Indian ‘aggressors’ from
Chinese territory. In other words, it was an action designed
to reclaim Chinese territory wrongly usurped by India. Let us examine the facts
as they are, to see if the Chinese contention has any merit or, as India
believes, it was nothing but a premeditated attack by China. First let us
examine what the Chinese leadership itself has said on this issue.
On 25 March 1959, sometime after the Tibetan revolt broke out in
early March 1959, the then Chinese Communist Party Secretary-General, Deng
Xiaoping, insisted that several of Nehru’s speeches about the Tibetan
situation, together with the fact that the headquarters of the rebellion was
located in Kalimpong, ‘left no doubt that the Indian government was behind the
rebellion… and, when the times comes, we certainly
will settle accounts with them’ [emphasis
added].1
Soon after the hostilities were over, the then Chinese President
Liu Shaoqi told the Sri Lankan leader Felix Bandaranaike that the 1962 conflict
was ‘to demolish India’s arrogance and illusions of grandeur. China had
taught India a lesson [emphasis
added] and would do so again and again!’ Liu repeated the same line to the
Swedish Ambassador as well. Mao Zedung confirmed this line of thinking when he
told a Nepalese delegation in 1964 that the ‘major problem between India and
China was not the McMahon Line, but the Tibetan question’
[emphasis added]. And for emphasis he added that ‘in the opinion of the Indian
government, Tibet is theirs’. 2 Mao discounted the territorial aspect of the conflict
when he told the then Soviet CDA, Antonov, that ‘We
never, under any circumstances, will move beyond the
Himalayas. That is completely ruled out. This is an argument over
inconsequential pieces of territory.’ RecentChinese
commentaries quote Mao’s belief that the ‘real target’ was not Nehru, but
the US and the Soviets that had been plotting behind the scenes against China.3 And an
official Chinese publication published recently further amplifies the same
theme thus: ‘The declaration [of
cease-fire] of the Chinese government was a serious blow for anti-China plan of
America and Soviet Union and their strategic design in Asia..... Just as
soldiers of Chinese Frontier Forces said ‘this
time when Jawaharlal Nehru is hit then its pain is seen on the faces of Kennedy
and Khrushchev.’ 4
In addition, it was the Chinese belief that this knock-out punch
would keep the
Sino-Indian frontier quiet for a considerable length of time to their immense
advantage, discourage any Indian ‘meddling’ in Tibet and ‘to strike peace with
its neighbor.’ 5 It was
hoped that Tibet would thus be pacified.
Later, in 1973, Zhou Enlai was to tell Kissinger that the
conflict took place because Nehru was getting ‘cocky’. Mao even blamed Nehru
for the clashes and said that he [Nehru] was using them for the following
reasons: First, he is trying to deliver a blow to the Communist Party of India.
Second, to ease for India the conditions for the receipt of economic aid from
the Western powers, in particular from the USA. And third, to obstruct the
spread of influence of the Socialist camp on the Indian people. Mao wanted to
‘wake-up’ Nehru and try to detach
him ‘from the influence of the super-powers.’ 6 So if
what Mao told Antonov and the Nepalese and what Liu Shaoqi told Bandaranaike is
correct, then the whole issue was not about the boundary question and
particularly not about the territorial aspect of it, but something quite else.
It had nothing to do with the so-called ‘forward policy.’
Let us also look at the sequence of events just prior to the
opening of hostilities. The Chinese leadership was aware that to deliver and
sustain a knockout punch to India the two super powers, the US and Soviet
Russia, had to be ‘neutralized.’ To ascertain what was in the American mind and
to gauge their intentions, the Chinese Ambassador to Warsaw, Wang Bingnan, was
recalled from leave and hastily dispatched to Warsaw with instructions to meet
his US counterpart forthwith. On 23 June 1962, Wang Bingnan met US Ambassador
Cabot at Warsaw. Ambassador Wang claimed that Beijing had noted preparations in
Taiwan for a landing on the mainland. Ambassador Cabot, who was unaware of any
such preparations, based on his brief from the State Department, conveyed to
his Chinese interlocutor that he had been authorized to state that the US
government had no intention of supporting any GRC [Taiwan] attack on the
mainland under existing circumstances [emphasis added]. Ambassador
Wang could not believe his ears and, to make sure he heard it right, requested
the US Ambassador to repeat this assurance once again. The US Ambassador duly
obliged7 The
Chinese could not believe their good fortune. Wang later admitted that this
assurance that he obtained from the US played a ‘very big role’ in China’s
decision to attack India.8 What Ambassador Cabot told Ambassador Wang was later
publicly confirmed by President Kennedy to newsmen on 27 June 1962. The Chinese
breathed a huge sigh of relief for they were anticipating trouble on two
fronts.
On 8 October 1962, Chinese leaders informed the Soviet
Ambassador in Beijing that ‘China knows that Indian forces are planning to
launch a large scale attack in Sino-Indian frontier regions and if India
launches an attack than we will resolutely carry out self-defence.’ On 13 and
14 October 1962, Ambassador Liu Xiao met Khrushchev who told him that the
‘information received by the Soviet Union regarding India preparing to launch
an attack on China is same as conveyed by China.’ 9 Further, Ambassador Liu secured from Khrushchev
‘guarantees’ that if China was attacked and a China-India War ensued, the
Soviets would ‘stand together with China’ [emphasis added]. 10 In a 20 October 1962 letter, Khrushchev rebuked Nehru for
failing to show ‘due urge for reconciliation’ and urged him ‘to agree to
Chinese proposals’. 11 This new tough line was confirmed when MJ Desai [then
Secretary General, MEA] told US Ambassador Galbraith in a meeting on 23 October
1962 that ‘in the past few days the Soviets have taken a tough line with the
Indians—including advice to settle on Chinese terms.’ 12 The Soviets had no option as they were engrossed in a
serious confrontation with the US over Cuba and badly needed Chinese support.
Support for India was expendable.
With both the super powers effectively ‘neutralized’, the
Chinese now systematically set the stage. All communications to the Indian Mission
at Lhasa were cut on 9 October 1962. No one was allowed to enter the Mission.
All Tibetan staff members were withdrawn. Similarly, communications from the
Indian Embassy in Beijing were also withheld. Indian POWs reported, on return
to India, that the PLA had stationed interpreters in Tibet who spoke every
major Indian language! They also saw at first- hand how well stocked and
prepared the Chinese were. The Chinese attack began simultaneously
in all sectors of the border, both in the west and in the east, at the same
time [5 a.m. IST on 20 October 1962] completely synchronized as per Beijing
time! [emphasis
added]
Three Chinese Regiments, 154, 155 and 157 [equivalent to Indian
Brigades], all battle-hardened veterans of the Korean War transferred from across
the Taiwan Straits since June 1962, attacked Indian positions across the Namka
Chu defended by a single brigade and overran them. Similar attacks were
launched simultaneously on all Indian positions both in the Western and Eastern
sectors with overwhelming force.
What was the position on the Indian side? Krishna Menon left for
New York on 17 September 1962 to attend the UN General Assembly and returned to
India only on 30 September 1962. Nehru left Delhi on 8 September 1962 to attend
the Commonwealth PM’s conference and after visiting Paris, Lagos and Accra
returned only on 2 October 1962, but left again on 12 October 1962 for Colombo
and returned to Delhi only on 16 October 1962. Two of the most important
officials at Army Headquarters were also away from Delhi: Lt. Gen. Kaul, the
Chief of General Staff, was on holiday in Kashmir till 2 October 1962, while
the Director of Military Operations [DMO] was on a cruise on the aircraft
carrier Vikrant.
These are the facts. It is for the reader to make a judgement
whether India was the aggressor that initiated hostilities on 20 October 1962.
The author is a former Secretary, Ministry of
External Affairs. New Delhi.
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