Origins, the war itself, and aftermath of the 1962 India-China war
First here is overview information about the 1962 India-China war from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War :
The Sino-Indian War, also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict, was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India had granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. India initiated a Forward Policy in which it placed outposts along the border, including several north of the McMahon Line, the eastern portion of a Line of Actual Control proclaimed by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1959.
Unable to reach political accommodation on disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometre-long Himalayan border, the Chinese launched simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line on 20 October 1962, coinciding with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Chinese troops advanced over Indian forces in both theatres, capturing Rezang la in Chushul in the western theatre, as well as Tawang in the eastern theatre. The war ended when China declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, and simultaneously announced its withdrawal to its claimed 'line of actual control'.
The Sino-Indian War is notable for the harsh mountain conditions under which much of the battle took place, entailing large-scale combat at altitudes of over 4,000 metres (14,000 feet). The Sino-Indian War was also noted for the non-deployment of the navy or air force by either the Chinese or Indian side.
It is noteworthy that the buildup and offensive from China occurred concurrently with the 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis (16–28 October 1962) that saw both the United States and the Soviet Union confronting each other, and India did not receive assistance from either of these world powers until the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved.
[Ravi: The wiki lists the Indian armed forces strength in this war as 10,000 to 12,000 and the Chinese armed forces strength as 80,000. So the Indian armed forces were vastly outnumbered by the Chinese armed forces.
The Indian losses were 1,383 to 3,250 killed, 548 to 1,047 wounded, 1,696 missing and 3,968 captured. The Chinese losses were 722 killed and 1,697 wounded.]
--- end extracts from wiki ----
Given below are some India-China 1962 war article links.
India lost war with China but won Arunachal’s heart, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-lost-war-with-China-but-won-Arunachals-heart/articleshow/17039530.cms, 1st Nov. 2012
The above article claims that Arunachal Pradesh, the north-east frontier of the war that saw Chinese conquer territory before they withdrew on their own, is now solidly pro India and Hindi is the language that various tribes and sub-tribes of Arunachal Pradesh use to communicate with each other (as their own tribal languages are different and they don't understand each other's tribal languages). At the time of the war, Hindi speaking Indian army units and Border security forces were pumped into North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA), the then name by which Arunachal Pradesh was known. That forced the people to learn Hindi to communicate with these forces.
The article states, to my surprise, "The debates in the Arunachal Pradesh assembly take place in Hindi. Arunachal is the only state outside the country's Hindi heartland to use the language in the assembly."
It quotes a former minister, D.K.Thondok, who was a 13 year old boy when the war took place as saying, "The war brought all the different tribes of Nefa together and the sufferings experienced by the civilians during the war led to resentment among people against Chinese. Indian nationalism ran high among the tribals, uniting them. People saw how the Indian jawans fought the war bravely, but got defeated. The villagers carried the dead soldiers for cremation on their backs".
---------
Another article: India-China War of 1962: How it started and what happened later, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/india-china-war-of-1962/1/528159.html, 21st Nov. 2016
The above article states that India (the Indian leadership) never thought that China would attack India and so the Indian army was not prepared for the Chinese aggression where 80,000 Chinese troops (perhaps well prepared and well equipped) fought and defeated 10,000 to 20,000 Indian troops who seem to have been ill-equipped for the high-altitude war.
In 1954 India and China had signed a peaceful coexistence pact where India recognized Chinese rule in Tibet. India's then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promoted the slogan "Hindi-Chini bhai bhai" [Indians and Chinese are brothers].
The article states that Dalai Lama being given refuge by India in 1959 enraged China's top leader Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong even stated that India caused the Tibetan rebellion in Lhasa in 1959 against the Chinese occupation forces.
The article's view is, "China's perception of India as a threat to its rule of Tibet became one of the most prominent reasons for the Sino-Indian War".
---------
Indo-China War of 1962: Let’s not lose sight of our own blunders, http://www.defenceinfo.com/indo-china-war-1962-lets-lose-sight-blunders, 14th Oct. 2012
The above article states that prior to this war, there is no historical documentation of the great Indian and Chinese civilizations, since time immemorial, having resorted to war and hostility. [Ravi: The Mongols did invade India (from 1221 to 1327, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_India) but failed to conquer territory deep in the Indian heartland. The Mongols also conquered the whole of China. Its invasions of China was from 1205 to 1279 at which time it had got the whole of China under its rule and created a new Yuan dynasty, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_conquest_of_China. The Yuan dynasty rule over China was from 1271 (parts of China in 1271, I guess, expanding to whole of China in 1279) to 1368, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty. So I do think that China under the Yuan dynasty founded by the Mongol Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghiz Khan) did have war with India on the North West frontiers of India. Perhaps after the Yuan dynasty, i.e. from the Ming dynasty onwards, China did not have any war with India until 1962. end-Ravi]
The article claims that the Chinese were building a road in Aksai Chin area which was controlled by them but claimed by India. The road was to link its Xinjiang province with Tibet. India's protests were ignored by China who claimed it is their territory. The article states, "Nehru went a step further and ordered Indian troops to occupy forward posts in areas which were clearly north of the McMohan Line and were claimed by Chinese as their territory. These posts were occupied to assert Indian territorial claims in Ladakh and specifically to threaten the Xinjian-Tibet road in Aksai Chin. The fact that India was taking a belligerent military posture and yet refusing to engage in talks caused the Chinese to conclude that India had expansionist designs with regard to Tibet."
The article states that Nehru taking such a provocative posture believing that China would not attack India, even though India's army then "was weak and ill-prepared indicates a woeful ignorance of geo-strategy". The Chinese had prepared well and attacked simultaneously on two fronts a thousand kilometers apart and dealt a humiliating blow to India, at a time when the superpowers were consumed with the Cuban missile crisis and could not help India to counter Chinese aggression.
The article has the view that Nehru should have not taken such a belligerent military posture with China when India's armed forces were weak.
----------------------
Here's a Chinese view: China won, but never wanted, Sino-Indian war, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/717710.shtml, 2012-6-28 (28th June 2012).
As it is very important for Indians like me to understand the Chinese view and this article seems to be authored by a top academic from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, I have taken the liberty of providing large extracts below from the above article. I have presumed that the author Hong Yuan and the website, globaltimes.cn, will not have any objections to me using these large extracts in this post which is freely viewable and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.
--- start extracts from globaltimes.cn article ---
It has been half a century since peace returned to the Sino-Indian border following the end of the border war in 1962. But 50 years ago, when China faced several difficulties both domestically and internationally, the Nehru administration, encouraged by the US and the Soviets, brought more trouble to the Sino-Indian border between 1959 and 1962.
China initially tried to avoid military confrontation, out of respect to India's ancient culture and sympathy that it had suffered a similar painful past of oppression by colonial powers. However, India's persistent provocation eventually breached China's bottom-line, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was forced to join the battle in self-defense.
...
China's peaceful intentions were further testified by its unilateral ceasefire on November 22, 1962, and its withdrawal of troops a few days later to 20 kilometers from the line of actual control since November 7, 1959.
[Ravi: The above info. seems to be inaccurate. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War : "The Discoverer writes: The positions to which the Chinese troops withdrew in the Western sector were different from the pre-war positions. The area gained by China in Ladakh has been claimed by India to be 6,475 square kilometres (2,500 sq mi), and the total area occupied by China has been estimated to be 14,500 square miles (38,000 km2). For this reason, Nehru did not officially accept the ceasefire offer of the positions of 7 November 1959, but stuck to his earlier demand to return to the positions of 8 September 1962."
A history academic from London states in this article, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/losing-the-war-winning-the-peace/article20604313.ece, dated 21st Nov. 2017, that Chinese occupation lasted 3 months ("On January 17, 1963 the Chinese still occupied Tawang"), and that "Government stores, supplies, equipment, furnishings, weapons and often buildings were systematically damaged, eaten or destroyed".
end-Ravi]
...
Then Chinese leader Mao Zedong believed the battle with India was also a political combat, and the real target was not Nehru but the US and the Soviets that had been plotting behind the scenes against China.
As to Nehru, Mao wanted to wake him up from the superpowers' influence by giving him a heavy punch, so that he would come to his senses and end the war. War is an extreme means of communication between civilizations. The Sino-Indian Border War was not only a special interaction of two ancient civilizations, but also an unfortunate tragedy between two formerly colonized and oppressed states.
Mao understood this from both a historical and philosophical perspective, and so gave India room to maneuver and think during the war. By calling for a unilateral ceasefire when in an advantageous position, pulling back troops and returning prisoners of war and well-maintained weapons to India, Mao wanted to send a message of peace to India, and to lay a good foundation for long-term friendship.
Some in India argued that these peaceful gestures were made to humiliate the Indian army. Such an understanding is narrow-minded.
The Chinese and Indian civilizations have generally been in a friendly relationship for 2,500 years. In ancient times, Chinese Buddhists believed that India was the paradisiacal home of Buddha, and this positive feeling about India has never faded.
Now, the two countries have found more similarities. They both suffered gravely from colonial invasion and oppression in the 18th and 19th centuries, and they are both now powerful emerging countries and key members of the BRICS. These similarities and historical bonds indicate the border issue between China and India can be solved, as the issue was a result of former colonial rule.
Fifty years ago, the Indian government was blinded by selfish interests, and wanted to force the Chinese to accept an illegal border line created by colonial powers. This was boldly rejected. Today, both countries need to learn from their ancient friendly ties and the lesson from the war. For the Chinese, they love peace but they will also firmly defend their land.
--- end extracts from globaltimes.cn article ---
Ravi: My view about the above extracts is that it does have a tone of superiority to it, especially when it talks about the "lesson from the war". I think in 2017 Indian armed forces are much, much better prepared to defend Indian territory (or Indian controlled territory in Arunachal Pradesh as viewed by the Chinese who make claims to it) if China repeats its aggression that it got away with in 1962. So, as an Indian, I think China should seriously think again if it thinks that just because they got away with a superior in numbers and equipment force in the 1962 border fight of just around a month, they can get away with it again. I think China may get taught a serious lesson this time around if they try such aggression.
Having said the above, I support this view in the article above: "They [China and India] both suffered gravely from colonial invasion and oppression in the 18th and 19th centuries, and they are both now powerful emerging countries and key members of the BRICS. These similarities and historical bonds indicate the border issue between China and India can be solved,.."
In this early 21st century it is clear that after a period of a few centuries where India and China got subjugated by European colonial powers, India and China are re-emerging as major world powers. The European colonial powers, Germany - a European powerhouse which does not seem to have been much into colonialism - and Japan which tried to copy European colonial powers by becoming an Asian colonial power, eventually fought each other in the most devastating war in history, World War II. This hugely destructive war gravely reduced the capacity of these powers to militarily dominate other countries like China and India, which led to the end of the colonial era, and creation of modern independent nations like India and China.
As India and China rise (re-emerge) in power, they should not repeat the grave mistakes the European colonial powers did by fighting each other in devastating wars. India and China should chart a peaceful growth for each other without getting into armed conflict with each other, and solve disputes between them through dialogue and compromise.
---------
An article by a History academic from King's College, London: Losing the war, winning the peace, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/losing-the-war-winning-the-peace/article20604313.ece, 21st Nov. 2017
The above article has the view that NEFA in the 1950s was not well known to newly independent India, and so Indian administrators were trying to consolidate their influence with the inhabitants. In this period, newly created communist China too faced something similar in Tibet which shared a border with NEFA.
Further, China was trying to woo NEFA inhabitants and get them to invite communist China to rule them! [Ravi: This is a vital factor to understand. It seems to me that China could not have got away with conquest of territory in NEFA through the blatant aggression that it did, as the powerful world leaders of USA and USSR (especially USA as it was fighting communism) would have eventually supported an Indian armed forces effort to eject the Chinese from NEFA. However, if NEFA inhabitants themselves wanted communist China to rule them instead of democratic India, China would have been in a position to incorporate it into communist China. end-Ravi]
The article states that Chinese occupation of NEFA was a very friendly one towards the people of NEFA. The Chinese wanted NEFA people to see them as liberators from Indian rule! It states that when the Chinese troops departed they said, "Tell us to come back and we’ll free you from India".
When Indian officials returned to NEFA after the Chinese withdrawal, most of the inhabitants of NEFA welcomed them back! Though China won the war, it could not win the hearts and minds of the NEFA people.
----------------------
Here is an article about Dalai Lama's views on war between India and China. Dalai Lama, now in his eighties and based in India, is the same Dalai Lama who in his mid-twenties fled Tibet in 1959 in opposition to Chinese occupation of Tibet.
War unlikely between India and China, says Dalai Lama, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/war-unlikely-between-india-and-china-says-dalai-lama/article19459137.ece, 9th Aug 2017
The article quotes the Dalai Lama as saying, "This issue (Doklam standoff) is not serious. India and China have historically been neighbours and even in 1962, China withdrew from Indian territories after the war. This shows that there is unlikely to be a big war between the two. But, for now, they may exchange some harsh words". [Ravi: Note that the Doklam standoff got resolved peacefully later on, in end August 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_China%E2%80%93India_border_standoff.]
----------------------
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War :
According to James Calvin, an analyst from the U.S. Navy, India gained many benefits from the 1962 conflict. This war united the country as never before. India got 32,000 square miles (8.3 million hectares, 83,000 km2) of disputed territory even if it felt that NEFA was hers all along. [Ravi: The previous sentence seems to be inaccurate as China still lays claim to that territory and India did not get any new territory in NEFA after the war.] The new Indian republic had avoided international alignments; by asking for help during the war, India demonstrated its willingness to accept military aid from several sectors. And, finally, India recognised the serious weaknesses in its army. It would more than double its military manpower in the next two years and it would work hard to resolve the military's training and logistic problems to later become the third-largest army in the world. India's efforts to improve its military posture significantly enhanced its army's capabilities and preparedness. This played a role in subsequent wars against Pakistan.
---- end wiki extract ---
Ravi: Essentially, India did not lose any territory in the North-East due to the war as the Chinese withdrew to where they were prior to the war. But in the North-West, China which was controlling large part of the disputed Aksai Chin territory increased its controlled area slightly. This link, https://www.quora.com/How-much-territory-did-India-lose-after-the-Indo-China-1962-war, shows a map with the additional area that China acquired through its aggression in 1962.
Now over half a century after the war, it seems that the North-East part that China had overrun, is now fully integrated with India as Arunachal Pradesh even though China claims it as its territory and routinely protests visits by Dalai Lama or foreign diplomats (like US ambassador to India) to Arunachal Pradesh.
PS: I (Ravi) was born in 1962, the year of the China-India short war, in Mumbai, India!
[I thank wikipedia, the hindu.com, defenceinfo.com, intoday.in and indiatimes.com, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts (short extracts from hindu.com, defenceinfo.com, intoday.in and indiatimes.com) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
The Sino-Indian War, also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict, was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border incidents after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India had granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. India initiated a Forward Policy in which it placed outposts along the border, including several north of the McMahon Line, the eastern portion of a Line of Actual Control proclaimed by Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in 1959.
Unable to reach political accommodation on disputed territory along the 3,225-kilometre-long Himalayan border, the Chinese launched simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line on 20 October 1962, coinciding with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Chinese troops advanced over Indian forces in both theatres, capturing Rezang la in Chushul in the western theatre, as well as Tawang in the eastern theatre. The war ended when China declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, and simultaneously announced its withdrawal to its claimed 'line of actual control'.
The Sino-Indian War is notable for the harsh mountain conditions under which much of the battle took place, entailing large-scale combat at altitudes of over 4,000 metres (14,000 feet). The Sino-Indian War was also noted for the non-deployment of the navy or air force by either the Chinese or Indian side.
It is noteworthy that the buildup and offensive from China occurred concurrently with the 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis (16–28 October 1962) that saw both the United States and the Soviet Union confronting each other, and India did not receive assistance from either of these world powers until the Cuban Missile Crisis was resolved.
[Ravi: The wiki lists the Indian armed forces strength in this war as 10,000 to 12,000 and the Chinese armed forces strength as 80,000. So the Indian armed forces were vastly outnumbered by the Chinese armed forces.
The Indian losses were 1,383 to 3,250 killed, 548 to 1,047 wounded, 1,696 missing and 3,968 captured. The Chinese losses were 722 killed and 1,697 wounded.]
--- end extracts from wiki ----
Given below are some India-China 1962 war article links.
India lost war with China but won Arunachal’s heart, https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/India-lost-war-with-China-but-won-Arunachals-heart/articleshow/17039530.cms, 1st Nov. 2012
The above article claims that Arunachal Pradesh, the north-east frontier of the war that saw Chinese conquer territory before they withdrew on their own, is now solidly pro India and Hindi is the language that various tribes and sub-tribes of Arunachal Pradesh use to communicate with each other (as their own tribal languages are different and they don't understand each other's tribal languages). At the time of the war, Hindi speaking Indian army units and Border security forces were pumped into North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA), the then name by which Arunachal Pradesh was known. That forced the people to learn Hindi to communicate with these forces.
The article states, to my surprise, "The debates in the Arunachal Pradesh assembly take place in Hindi. Arunachal is the only state outside the country's Hindi heartland to use the language in the assembly."
It quotes a former minister, D.K.Thondok, who was a 13 year old boy when the war took place as saying, "The war brought all the different tribes of Nefa together and the sufferings experienced by the civilians during the war led to resentment among people against Chinese. Indian nationalism ran high among the tribals, uniting them. People saw how the Indian jawans fought the war bravely, but got defeated. The villagers carried the dead soldiers for cremation on their backs".
---------
Another article: India-China War of 1962: How it started and what happened later, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/education/story/india-china-war-of-1962/1/528159.html, 21st Nov. 2016
The above article states that India (the Indian leadership) never thought that China would attack India and so the Indian army was not prepared for the Chinese aggression where 80,000 Chinese troops (perhaps well prepared and well equipped) fought and defeated 10,000 to 20,000 Indian troops who seem to have been ill-equipped for the high-altitude war.
In 1954 India and China had signed a peaceful coexistence pact where India recognized Chinese rule in Tibet. India's then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru promoted the slogan "Hindi-Chini bhai bhai" [Indians and Chinese are brothers].
The article states that Dalai Lama being given refuge by India in 1959 enraged China's top leader Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong even stated that India caused the Tibetan rebellion in Lhasa in 1959 against the Chinese occupation forces.
The article's view is, "China's perception of India as a threat to its rule of Tibet became one of the most prominent reasons for the Sino-Indian War".
---------
Indo-China War of 1962: Let’s not lose sight of our own blunders, http://www.defenceinfo.com/indo-china-war-1962-lets-lose-sight-blunders, 14th Oct. 2012
The above article states that prior to this war, there is no historical documentation of the great Indian and Chinese civilizations, since time immemorial, having resorted to war and hostility. [Ravi: The Mongols did invade India (from 1221 to 1327, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_India) but failed to conquer territory deep in the Indian heartland. The Mongols also conquered the whole of China. Its invasions of China was from 1205 to 1279 at which time it had got the whole of China under its rule and created a new Yuan dynasty, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_conquest_of_China. The Yuan dynasty rule over China was from 1271 (parts of China in 1271, I guess, expanding to whole of China in 1279) to 1368, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty. So I do think that China under the Yuan dynasty founded by the Mongol Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghiz Khan) did have war with India on the North West frontiers of India. Perhaps after the Yuan dynasty, i.e. from the Ming dynasty onwards, China did not have any war with India until 1962. end-Ravi]
The article claims that the Chinese were building a road in Aksai Chin area which was controlled by them but claimed by India. The road was to link its Xinjiang province with Tibet. India's protests were ignored by China who claimed it is their territory. The article states, "Nehru went a step further and ordered Indian troops to occupy forward posts in areas which were clearly north of the McMohan Line and were claimed by Chinese as their territory. These posts were occupied to assert Indian territorial claims in Ladakh and specifically to threaten the Xinjian-Tibet road in Aksai Chin. The fact that India was taking a belligerent military posture and yet refusing to engage in talks caused the Chinese to conclude that India had expansionist designs with regard to Tibet."
The article states that Nehru taking such a provocative posture believing that China would not attack India, even though India's army then "was weak and ill-prepared indicates a woeful ignorance of geo-strategy". The Chinese had prepared well and attacked simultaneously on two fronts a thousand kilometers apart and dealt a humiliating blow to India, at a time when the superpowers were consumed with the Cuban missile crisis and could not help India to counter Chinese aggression.
The article has the view that Nehru should have not taken such a belligerent military posture with China when India's armed forces were weak.
----------------------
Here's a Chinese view: China won, but never wanted, Sino-Indian war, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/717710.shtml, 2012-6-28 (28th June 2012).
As it is very important for Indians like me to understand the Chinese view and this article seems to be authored by a top academic from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, I have taken the liberty of providing large extracts below from the above article. I have presumed that the author Hong Yuan and the website, globaltimes.cn, will not have any objections to me using these large extracts in this post which is freely viewable and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.
--- start extracts from globaltimes.cn article ---
It has been half a century since peace returned to the Sino-Indian border following the end of the border war in 1962. But 50 years ago, when China faced several difficulties both domestically and internationally, the Nehru administration, encouraged by the US and the Soviets, brought more trouble to the Sino-Indian border between 1959 and 1962.
China initially tried to avoid military confrontation, out of respect to India's ancient culture and sympathy that it had suffered a similar painful past of oppression by colonial powers. However, India's persistent provocation eventually breached China's bottom-line, and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was forced to join the battle in self-defense.
...
China's peaceful intentions were further testified by its unilateral ceasefire on November 22, 1962, and its withdrawal of troops a few days later to 20 kilometers from the line of actual control since November 7, 1959.
[Ravi: The above info. seems to be inaccurate. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War : "The Discoverer writes: The positions to which the Chinese troops withdrew in the Western sector were different from the pre-war positions. The area gained by China in Ladakh has been claimed by India to be 6,475 square kilometres (2,500 sq mi), and the total area occupied by China has been estimated to be 14,500 square miles (38,000 km2). For this reason, Nehru did not officially accept the ceasefire offer of the positions of 7 November 1959, but stuck to his earlier demand to return to the positions of 8 September 1962."
A history academic from London states in this article, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/losing-the-war-winning-the-peace/article20604313.ece, dated 21st Nov. 2017, that Chinese occupation lasted 3 months ("On January 17, 1963 the Chinese still occupied Tawang"), and that "Government stores, supplies, equipment, furnishings, weapons and often buildings were systematically damaged, eaten or destroyed".
end-Ravi]
...
Then Chinese leader Mao Zedong believed the battle with India was also a political combat, and the real target was not Nehru but the US and the Soviets that had been plotting behind the scenes against China.
As to Nehru, Mao wanted to wake him up from the superpowers' influence by giving him a heavy punch, so that he would come to his senses and end the war. War is an extreme means of communication between civilizations. The Sino-Indian Border War was not only a special interaction of two ancient civilizations, but also an unfortunate tragedy between two formerly colonized and oppressed states.
Mao understood this from both a historical and philosophical perspective, and so gave India room to maneuver and think during the war. By calling for a unilateral ceasefire when in an advantageous position, pulling back troops and returning prisoners of war and well-maintained weapons to India, Mao wanted to send a message of peace to India, and to lay a good foundation for long-term friendship.
Some in India argued that these peaceful gestures were made to humiliate the Indian army. Such an understanding is narrow-minded.
The Chinese and Indian civilizations have generally been in a friendly relationship for 2,500 years. In ancient times, Chinese Buddhists believed that India was the paradisiacal home of Buddha, and this positive feeling about India has never faded.
Now, the two countries have found more similarities. They both suffered gravely from colonial invasion and oppression in the 18th and 19th centuries, and they are both now powerful emerging countries and key members of the BRICS. These similarities and historical bonds indicate the border issue between China and India can be solved, as the issue was a result of former colonial rule.
Fifty years ago, the Indian government was blinded by selfish interests, and wanted to force the Chinese to accept an illegal border line created by colonial powers. This was boldly rejected. Today, both countries need to learn from their ancient friendly ties and the lesson from the war. For the Chinese, they love peace but they will also firmly defend their land.
--- end extracts from globaltimes.cn article ---
Ravi: My view about the above extracts is that it does have a tone of superiority to it, especially when it talks about the "lesson from the war". I think in 2017 Indian armed forces are much, much better prepared to defend Indian territory (or Indian controlled territory in Arunachal Pradesh as viewed by the Chinese who make claims to it) if China repeats its aggression that it got away with in 1962. So, as an Indian, I think China should seriously think again if it thinks that just because they got away with a superior in numbers and equipment force in the 1962 border fight of just around a month, they can get away with it again. I think China may get taught a serious lesson this time around if they try such aggression.
Having said the above, I support this view in the article above: "They [China and India] both suffered gravely from colonial invasion and oppression in the 18th and 19th centuries, and they are both now powerful emerging countries and key members of the BRICS. These similarities and historical bonds indicate the border issue between China and India can be solved,.."
In this early 21st century it is clear that after a period of a few centuries where India and China got subjugated by European colonial powers, India and China are re-emerging as major world powers. The European colonial powers, Germany - a European powerhouse which does not seem to have been much into colonialism - and Japan which tried to copy European colonial powers by becoming an Asian colonial power, eventually fought each other in the most devastating war in history, World War II. This hugely destructive war gravely reduced the capacity of these powers to militarily dominate other countries like China and India, which led to the end of the colonial era, and creation of modern independent nations like India and China.
As India and China rise (re-emerge) in power, they should not repeat the grave mistakes the European colonial powers did by fighting each other in devastating wars. India and China should chart a peaceful growth for each other without getting into armed conflict with each other, and solve disputes between them through dialogue and compromise.
---------
An article by a History academic from King's College, London: Losing the war, winning the peace, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/losing-the-war-winning-the-peace/article20604313.ece, 21st Nov. 2017
The above article has the view that NEFA in the 1950s was not well known to newly independent India, and so Indian administrators were trying to consolidate their influence with the inhabitants. In this period, newly created communist China too faced something similar in Tibet which shared a border with NEFA.
Further, China was trying to woo NEFA inhabitants and get them to invite communist China to rule them! [Ravi: This is a vital factor to understand. It seems to me that China could not have got away with conquest of territory in NEFA through the blatant aggression that it did, as the powerful world leaders of USA and USSR (especially USA as it was fighting communism) would have eventually supported an Indian armed forces effort to eject the Chinese from NEFA. However, if NEFA inhabitants themselves wanted communist China to rule them instead of democratic India, China would have been in a position to incorporate it into communist China. end-Ravi]
The article states that Chinese occupation of NEFA was a very friendly one towards the people of NEFA. The Chinese wanted NEFA people to see them as liberators from Indian rule! It states that when the Chinese troops departed they said, "Tell us to come back and we’ll free you from India".
When Indian officials returned to NEFA after the Chinese withdrawal, most of the inhabitants of NEFA welcomed them back! Though China won the war, it could not win the hearts and minds of the NEFA people.
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Here is an article about Dalai Lama's views on war between India and China. Dalai Lama, now in his eighties and based in India, is the same Dalai Lama who in his mid-twenties fled Tibet in 1959 in opposition to Chinese occupation of Tibet.
War unlikely between India and China, says Dalai Lama, http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/war-unlikely-between-india-and-china-says-dalai-lama/article19459137.ece, 9th Aug 2017
The article quotes the Dalai Lama as saying, "This issue (Doklam standoff) is not serious. India and China have historically been neighbours and even in 1962, China withdrew from Indian territories after the war. This shows that there is unlikely to be a big war between the two. But, for now, they may exchange some harsh words". [Ravi: Note that the Doklam standoff got resolved peacefully later on, in end August 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_China%E2%80%93India_border_standoff.]
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From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Indian_War :
According to James Calvin, an analyst from the U.S. Navy, India gained many benefits from the 1962 conflict. This war united the country as never before. India got 32,000 square miles (8.3 million hectares, 83,000 km2) of disputed territory even if it felt that NEFA was hers all along. [Ravi: The previous sentence seems to be inaccurate as China still lays claim to that territory and India did not get any new territory in NEFA after the war.] The new Indian republic had avoided international alignments; by asking for help during the war, India demonstrated its willingness to accept military aid from several sectors. And, finally, India recognised the serious weaknesses in its army. It would more than double its military manpower in the next two years and it would work hard to resolve the military's training and logistic problems to later become the third-largest army in the world. India's efforts to improve its military posture significantly enhanced its army's capabilities and preparedness. This played a role in subsequent wars against Pakistan.
---- end wiki extract ---
Ravi: Essentially, India did not lose any territory in the North-East due to the war as the Chinese withdrew to where they were prior to the war. But in the North-West, China which was controlling large part of the disputed Aksai Chin territory increased its controlled area slightly. This link, https://www.quora.com/How-much-territory-did-India-lose-after-the-Indo-China-1962-war, shows a map with the additional area that China acquired through its aggression in 1962.
Now over half a century after the war, it seems that the North-East part that China had overrun, is now fully integrated with India as Arunachal Pradesh even though China claims it as its territory and routinely protests visits by Dalai Lama or foreign diplomats (like US ambassador to India) to Arunachal Pradesh.
PS: I (Ravi) was born in 1962, the year of the China-India short war, in Mumbai, India!
[I thank wikipedia, the hindu.com, defenceinfo.com, intoday.in and indiatimes.com, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts (short extracts from hindu.com, defenceinfo.com, intoday.in and indiatimes.com) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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