09-Mar-2011 Satyakama: 1962 War with China

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SATYAKAMA
CL I N K H E RE TO SE E A L L P RE V I OU S P OSTS: I N DE X

TH U RSDA Y, SE P TE M BE R 0 1 , 2 0 0 5 A BOUT ME

1962 War with China S SU RYA

M U M B A I , I N DI A

**Many links have been provided as a part of the posts. Please also V I EW M Y C O M P LET E P R O FI LE

refer them for more information.**

PREV IOUS POSTS

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 Beware of the Hindu
become either India's best friend or the worst enemy. At the present Maya - the most misunderstood word
time, I perceive China more as a threat than a friend. The 1962 war in Vedanta
forever changed way these two countries view eachother. Thus it Religion & Society in Indian and
important to understand different aspects related to this war to Western context
understand the attitude of China towards India and also the nature of Hinduism outside India
possible threats India may face in the future. Advaita, Visishtadvaita, Dvaita
Is all this Spirituality Practical and
Synopsis of events... does it hav...
- China occupies Tibet Hinduism and Linux
- Tibet appeals to the West and India Desert people vs Forest people
- Nehru is pro-communist - denies Tibet's plea
Vivekananda was an escapist ???!!!!
- Nehru forbids use of Indian territory by West to rescue Tibet
If everything is God, should we then
- Tibet's fate is sealed
worship a thi...
- 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

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09-Mar-2011 Satyakama: 1962 War with China
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
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09-Mar-2011 Satyakama: 1962 War with China
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.

- Today, China endeavors to keep India out as an economic

competitor. They encourage and command the CPI-M to oppose
reform in India, and the CPI-M complies. Yechuri recently went to
China (from Xinhua) and came back basically saying FDI was not the
way (I'll find a link to this - it was in multiple papers) - ironic given
China's own FDI-heavy approach. They oppose the same
Multinationals in India that China welcomes with open arms. The
CPI(M) is not *like* the CPC (Communist Party of China). The CPI(M)
is largely a subservient organ of the CPC.
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09-Mar-2011 Satyakama: 1962 War with China

Why did China make the war, but surprisingly withdrew its forces
from some Aurunachal regions??

1. At the time of china war, in the pereption of the world, India was
a much stronger country, which just gained its independence;
became a democracy; assumed the natural leadership of other third
world countries with the formation of NAM etc.

China on the other hand was a communist, weak state wracked by

economic calamities.

Mao had been determined to cut India to size and undermine what it
represented --- a pluralistic, democratic model for the developing
world that seemingly threatened China's totalitarian political system.
His premier, Zhou Enlai, readily admitted that the war was intended
"to teach India a lesson".

2. After the disaster of cultural revolution, Mao has to gain back his
political stature in china. So he wanted to divert attention from the
internal issues to the external threats.

3. The world was in midst of the cuban crisis and the war coinsided
with it... a reason why US or USSR did not interfere in this issue.

Perhaps the milatary genius of Mao.

4. One main reason for the heavy casualities in the Indian side was
the surprise factor. India was not prepared for the war. More soldiers
died of cold than of chinese bullets. Chinese on the otherhand were
prepared and well equipped.

5. Its true that Indian side did have some losses, but this was mainly
coz the chines cought Indians by surprise.

The patriotic spirit in India was still fresh. Had the war continued for
more time, India would have managed to mobolize its forses, give a
good fight to the chinese. India did not also put its Air force into use,
the reasons of which are still unknown. But had the war continued,
India had a good edge over chinese in the air.

6. The chinese did no special gesture in backing out in Aurunachal.

They came deep inside the Indian territory, and had not supply lines
to support their forces. The chinese had built strong roads in the
aksai chin area. So they had enough potential to retain their

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09-Mar-2011 Satyakama: 1962 War with China
positions. But in Aurunachal, they had no supply lines. At that time,
tibet itself was not under full chinese control in terms of defense
setup. India on the other hand was in a much better position on this
sector as the border aurunachal was inside India, and comparitively
well connected with the rest of India. India also had the air power
advantage. So there was no way the chinese could hold to their
positions. Actually chinese did not even hope to go that deep. Thanks
to Nehru and Menon who were very sure that china is not going to
attack India that India was not prepared. So chinese could simply
walk into India.

Before the India had the opputunity to get over the shock and
strengthen its positions on the aurunachal sector, it cleverly moved
back, and it only, not India announced cease fire. China archieved its
goal.

China war was a utter disaster for India, but the failure is of the
policy and attitude of India, and not the potential strength of India.

This was a good article in rediff some time back

Some unanswered Questions about the 62 war:

In India the 62 war is usually seen as a national shame(for right
reasons), and the tendency has been trying to forget and ignore it.
But I am not sure any lessons are learnt from it. There are many
intresting points, questions about 62 war which still remain
unanswered.

1. The 62 conflict almost coinsided with the cuban crisis. So was moa
aware of cuban situation before, and timed it so, so that the
international community cannot give much attention on it? (and it did
happen so)

2. At that time Russia closer to India, than China. But the Russia was
almost quiet, and gave more signals in favour of china

3. The govt finding report in 62 war has till date not been released.

4. why India did not use its airforce, when the chinse did not have air
superiority in the tibet region, as it was news annexed.

5. The chinese in many places kep the occupied land. But in some
places, they simply withdrew, just like they came. why?

6. the geo-political consequences of it. If we see at that time, India

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09-Mar-2011 Satyakama: 1962 War with China
had more international respect. It was a new country, a democracy,
promising leadership. Particularly the other third world countries with
the NAM, and the attaching Gandhian peace to India, commanded
more respect. On the contrary, china was a new communist nation,
its govt not fully accepted in international community, full of internal
famines etc.

So was this a Chinese attempt to "put India in its place". It is true

that from that war, the clout of china has increased in comparison
with India.

7. Internally also resentment of Mao's was growing. Over 30 million

people died in a man-made famine between 1958 and 1962, as a
result of Mao's "great leap forward".

The chinese have a strange idea of center-periphery relationship.

They can tolerate any leader as long as he gives them a strong
center, and a weak periphery. So was this more a political stunt of
Mao to hold his power?

Related Articles on 62 war:

Once Rediff did a nice coverage of articles on this issue. The articles
cover various aspects and view points.

• The view from Beijing

• 'You can scrap the army'
• How Nehru let us down
• Lest we forget...
• A millennia-old tussle
• Chairman Mao Goes to War
• The Silver Lining
• Missed Opportunities
• Military nonsense
• Could it happen again?
• A win-win situation?
• The Kashmir card
• India is losing
• The confiscation of history
• How Mao cut India to size

P O S T ED B Y S UR YA S A T 10: 57 A M

4 COM M ENTS:

BD said...

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09-Mar-2011 Satyakama: 1962 War with China
a lot many links are not working Surya. Can you double check?
10: 35 A M

arun negi said...

hey surya nice to know that i'm not the only guy intrstd in indo-china
war of 62
11: 13 P M

Bhuvnesh said...

Hi surya...& arun ..
i am studying on this from last 6 months and i understood that there
are lot of facts which has to come out....many more facts are hidden
till now...
2: 17 A M

Anonymous said...

it is good to know rthat someone has come up with actual facts

rather than just passionate nationalism. yes communists supported
china according to our ideal if internationalism and support to a
communist country and the internationale at all times though often
criticized the party stood up and proved that it is a true communist
party
11: 20 A M

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