The road came on Chinese maps published in 1958. ===The McMahon Line=== In 1826, British India gained a common border with China after the British wrested control of Manipur and Assam from the Burmese, following the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824–1826.
The road came on Chinese maps published in 1958. ===The McMahon Line=== In 1826, British India gained a common border with China after the British wrested control of Manipur and Assam from the Burmese, following the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824–1826.
China's construction of this road was one of the triggers of the conflict. ===Aksai Chin=== The western portion of the Sino-Indian boundary originated in 1834, with the conquest of Ladakh by the armies of Raja Gulab Singh (Dogra) under the suzerainty of the Sikh Empire.
Following an unsuccessful campaign into Tibet, Gulab Singh and the Tibetans signed a treaty in 1842 agreeing to stick to the "old, established frontiers", which were left unspecified.
The British defeat of the Sikhs in 1846 resulted in the transfer of the Jammu and Kashmir region including Ladakh to the British, who then installed Gulab Singh as the Maharaja under their suzerainty.
After the 1862 Dungan Revolt, which saw the expulsion of the Chinese from Turkestan, the Maharaja of Kashmir constructed a small fort at Shahidulla in 1864.
After the 1862 Dungan Revolt, which saw the expulsion of the Chinese from Turkestan, the Maharaja of Kashmir constructed a small fort at Shahidulla in 1864.
When the Khotanese ruler was deposed by the Kashgaria strongman Yakub Beg, the Maharaja was forced to abandon his post in 1867.
In 1872, four monastic officials from Tibet arrived in Tawang and supervised a boundary settlement with Major R.
The boundary of Kashmir that he drew, stretching from Sanju Pass to the eastern edge of Chang Chenmo Valley along the Kunlun mountains, is referred to as the "Johnson Line" (or "Ardagh-Johnson Line"). After the Chinese reconquered Turkestan in 1878, renaming it Xinjiang, they again reverted to their traditional boundary.
Under British (and possibly Russian) encouragement, the Chinese occupied the area up to the Yarkand River valley (called Raskam), including Shahidulla, by 1890.
They also erected a boundary pillar at the Karakoram pass by about 1892.
In the east, it was similar to the Johnson line, placing Aksai Chin in Kashmir territory. By 1892, the British settled on the policy that their preferred boundary for Kashmir was the "Indus watershed", i.e., the water-parting from which waters flow into the Indus river system on one side and into the Tarim basin on the other.
Petersburgh, in 1893 showed the boundary of Xinjiang up to Raskam.
The British government in due course proposed it to China via its envoy Sir Claude MacDonald in 1899.
The failure of these negotiations was compounded by successful Chinese border agreements with Nepal (Sino-Nepalese Treaty of Peace and Friendship) and Burma in the same year. ===The Forward Policy=== China had in place a forward policy prior to 1904 after which its nature changed to a more western approach.
The British-run Government of India initially rejected the Simla Agreement as incompatible with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, which stipulated that neither party was to negotiate with Tibet "except through the intermediary of the Chinese government".
The British and Russians cancelled the 1907 agreement by joint consent in 1921.
In return, the British wanted China to cede its 'shadowy suzerainty' on Hunza. In 1911 the Xinhai Revolution resulted in power shifts in China, and by the end of World War I, the British officially used the Johnson Line.
In 1913, representatives of the UK, China and Tibet attended a conference in Simla regarding the borders between Tibet, China and British India.
From 1917 to 1933, the "Postal Atlas of China", published by the Government of China in Peking had shown the boundary in Aksai Chin as per the Johnson line, which runs along the Kunlun mountains.
The British and Russians cancelled the 1907 agreement by joint consent in 1921.
The "Peking University Atlas", published in 1925, also put the Aksai Chin in India.
It was not until the late 1930s that the British started to use the McMahon Line on official maps of the region. China took the position that the Tibetan government should not have been allowed to make such a treaty, rejecting Tibet's claims of independent rule.
From 1917 to 1933, the "Postal Atlas of China", published by the Government of China in Peking had shown the boundary in Aksai Chin as per the Johnson line, which runs along the Kunlun mountains.
Upon independence in 1947, the government of India used the Johnson Line as the basis for its official boundary in the west, which included the Aksai Chin.
Due to the increased threat of Japanese and Chinese expansion during this period, British Indian troops secured the town as part of the defence of India's eastern border. In the 1950s, India began patrolling the region.
Zhou later argued that as the boundary was undemarcated and had never been defined by treaty between any Chinese or Indian government, the Indian government could not unilaterally define Aksai Chin's borders. In 1950, the Chinese People's Liberation Army took control of Tibet, which all Chinese governments regarded as still part of China.
On 1 July 1954, India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru definitively stated the Indian position, claiming that Aksai Chin had been part of the Indian Ladakh region for centuries, and that the border (as defined by the Johnson Line) was non-negotiable.
The Chinese expressed no concern at this statement, and in 1961 and 1962, the government of China asserted that there were no frontier issues to be taken up with India. In 1954, Prime Minister Nehru wrote a memo calling for India's borders to be clearly defined and demarcated; in line with previous Indian philosophy, Indian maps showed a border that, in some places, lay north of the McMahon Line.
They also allege that Zhou purposefully told Nehru that there were no border issues with India. In 1954, China and India negotiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, by which the two nations agreed to abide in settling their disputes.
Patterson, when the Indian government finally produced a report detailing the alleged proof of India's claims to the disputed area, "the quality of the Indian evidence was very poor, including some very dubious sources indeed". In 1956–57, China constructed a road through Aksai Chin, connecting Xinjiang and Tibet, which ran south of the Johnson Line in many places.
In 1956, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai stated that he had no claims over Indian-controlled territory.
Later the Chinese extended their influence by building a road in 1956–67 and placing border posts in Aksai Chin.
Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, in November 1956, again repeated Chinese assurances that the People's Republic had no claims on Indian territory, although official Chinese maps showed of territory claimed by India as Chinese.
The road came on Chinese maps published in 1958. ===The McMahon Line=== In 1826, British India gained a common border with China after the British wrested control of Manipur and Assam from the Burmese, following the First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824–1826.
Nehru in 1958 had privately told G.
There had been a series of violent border skirmishes between the two countries after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama.
Garver believes that Nehru's previous actions had given him confidence that China would be ready to form an "Asian Axis" with India. This apparent progress in relations suffered a major setback when, in 1959, Nehru accommodated the Tibetan religious leader at the time, the 14th Dalai Lama, who fled Lhasa after a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.
In August 1959, the People's Liberation Army took an Indian prisoner at Longju, which had an ambiguous position in the McMahon Line, and two months later in Aksai Chin, a clash at Kongka Pass led to the death of nine Indian frontier policemen. On 2 October, Soviet first secretary Nikita Khrushchev defended Nehru in a meeting with Chairman Mao.
Zhou's 4 November reply repeated his 1959 offer to return to the McMahon Line in NEFA and the Chinese traditionally claimed MacDonald Line in Aksai Chin.
In 1960, Zhou Enlai unofficially suggested that India drop its claims to Aksai Chin in return for a Chinese withdrawal of claims over NEFA.
India's stance that China withdraw from Aksai Chin caused continual deterioration of the diplomatic situation to the point that internal forces were pressuring Nehru to take a military stance against China. ===1960 meetings to resolve the boundary question=== In 1960, based on an agreement between Nehru and Zhou Enlai, officials from India and China held discussions in order to settle the boundary dispute.
Garver argues that the first perception was incorrect based on the state of the Indian military and polity in the 1960s.
The Chinese expressed no concern at this statement, and in 1961 and 1962, the government of China asserted that there were no frontier issues to be taken up with India. In 1954, Prime Minister Nehru wrote a memo calling for India's borders to be clearly defined and demarcated; in line with previous Indian philosophy, Indian maps showed a border that, in some places, lay north of the McMahon Line.
Following the invasion of Tibet by China, China attempted to push its borders further into the Himalayan states and into regions which India perceived as her territory. At the beginning of 1961, Nehru appointed General B.M.
In the summer of 1961, China began patrolling along the McMahon Line.
According to the Home Minister in Delhi on 4 February 1962: On 5 December 1961 orders went to the Eastern and Western commands:This has been referred to as the "Forward Policy".
Nehru's confidence was probably justified given the difficulty for China to supply the area over the high altitude terrain over 5000 km (3000 miles) from the more populated areas of China. Chinese policy toward India, therefore, operated on two seemingly contradictory assumptions in the first half of 1961.
Regarding Indian intentions, they began to act politically and to build a rationale based on the assumption that Nehru already had become a lackey of imperialism; for this reason he opposed border talks. Krishna Menon is reported to have said that when he arrived in Geneva on 6 June 1961 for an international conference in Laos, Chinese officials in Chen Yi's delegation indicated that Chen might be interested in discussing the border dispute with him.
In 1961, the Indian army had been sent into Goa, a small region without any other international borders apart from the Indian one, after Portugal refused to surrender the exclave colony to the Indian Union.
The Sino-Indian War, also known as the Indo-China War, Sino-Indian Border Conflict and, by some, Clash on the Roof of the World, was a war between China and India that occurred in 1962.
China finally abandoned all attempts of peaceful resolution on 20 October 1962, invading disputed territory along the 3,225 kilometre- (2,000-mile-) long Himalayan border in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line.
The war ended when China declared a ceasefire on 20 November 1962, and simultaneously announced its withdrawal to its claimed "Line of Actual Control". Much of the fighting took place in harsh mountain conditions, entailing large-scale combat at altitudes of over 4,000 metres (14,000 feet).
Both of these regions were overrun by China in the 1962 conflict. Most combat took place at high elevations.
The Chinese expressed no concern at this statement, and in 1961 and 1962, the government of China asserted that there were no frontier issues to be taken up with India. In 1954, Prime Minister Nehru wrote a memo calling for India's borders to be clearly defined and demarcated; in line with previous Indian philosophy, Indian maps showed a border that, in some places, lay north of the McMahon Line.
According to the Home Minister in Delhi on 4 February 1962: On 5 December 1961 orders went to the Eastern and Western commands:This has been referred to as the "Forward Policy".
On the situation, Mao Zedong commented, ===Early incidents=== Various border conflicts and "military incidents" between India and China flared up throughout the summer and autumn of 1962.
The Indian Intelligence Bureau received information about a Chinese buildup along the border which could be a precursor to war. During June–July 1962, Indian military planners began advocating "probing actions" against the Chinese, and accordingly, moved mountain troops forward to cut off Chinese supply lines.
According to Patterson, the Indian motives were threefold: Test Chinese resolve and intentions regarding India. Test whether India would enjoy Soviet backing in the event of a Sino-Indian war. Create sympathy for India within the U.S., with whom relations had deteriorated after the Indian annexation of Goa. On 10 July 1962, 350 Chinese troops surrounded an Indian post in Chushul (north of the McMahon Line) but withdrew after a heated argument via loudspeaker.
When the Cuban Missile Crisis ended and Mao's rhetoric changed, Russia reversed course. ==Confrontation at Thag La== In June 1962, Indian forces established an outpost called the Dhola Post in the Namka Chu valley to the south of the Thag La Ridge.
According to this document, "Chinese apparently were motivated to attack by one primary consideration — their determination to retain the ground on which PLA forces stood in 1962 and to punish the Indians for trying to take that ground".
It also claimed that the Forward Policy was having success in cutting out supply lines of Chinese troops who had advanced South of the McMahon Line, though there was no evidence of such advance before the 1962 war.
By late September 1962, the Chinese leadership had begun to reconsider their policy of "armed coexistence", which had failed to address their concerns with the forward policy and Tibet, and consider a large, decisive strike.
On 22 September 1962, the People's Daily published an article which claimed that "the Chinese people were burning with 'great indignation' over the Indian actions on the border and that New Delhi could not 'now say that warning was not served in advance'." ===Military planning=== The Indian side was confident war would not be triggered and made little preparations.
In August 1962, Brigadier D.
Even in September 1962, when Indian troops were ordered to "expel the Chinese" from Thag La, Maj.
It is claimed that if a more military-minded man had been in place instead of Nehru, India would have been more likely to have been ready for the threat of a counter-attack from China. On 6 October 1962, the Chinese leadership convened.
On 16 October, this war plan was approved, and on the 18th, the final approval was given by the Politburo for a "self-defensive counter-attack", scheduled for 20 October. ==Chinese offensive== On 20 October 1962, the Chinese People's Liberation Army launched two attacks, 1000 kilometres (600 miles) apart.
Zhou sent Nehru a letter, proposing A negotiated settlement of the boundary That both sides disengage and withdraw twenty kilometres (12 miles) from present lines of actual control A Chinese withdrawal north in NEFA That China and India not cross lines of present control in Aksai Chin. Nehru's 27 October reply expressed interest in the restoration of peace and friendly relations and suggested a return to the "boundary prior to 8 September 1962".
The United States Air Force flew in supplies to India in November 1962, but neither side wished to continue hostilities. Toward the end of the war India increased its support for Tibetan refugees and revolutionaries, some of them having settled in India, as they were fighting the same common enemy in the region.
Of the non-aligned nations, six, Egypt, Burma, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Indonesia, met in Colombo on 10 December 1962.
In 1962, President of Pakistan Ayub Khan made clear to India that Indian troops could safely be transferred from the Pakistan frontier to the Himalayas.
It began border negotiations on 13 October 1962, concluding them in December of that year.
India's military failure against China would embolden Pakistan to initiate the Second Kashmir War with India in 1965. ==Foreign involvement== During the conflict, Nehru wrote two letters on 19th November 1962 to U.S.
India and the USSR reached an agreement in August 1962 (before the Cuban Missile Crisis) for the immediate purchase of twelve MiG-21s as well as for Soviet technical assistance in the manufacture of these aircraft in India.
India's performance in high-altitude combat in 1962 led to an overhaul of the Indian Army in terms of doctrine, training, organisation and equipment.
Navy, India gained many benefits from the 1962 conflict.
They could not travel freely until the mid-1990s. ==== Compensation for land acquired by Army ==== After 1962 the Indian Army acquired land in Arunahcal Pradesh for infrastructure construction.
2017 onwards, the owners of the land started being compensated by the government. ===Subsequent conflicts=== India has also had some military conflicts with China after the 1962 war.
Ten meetings of a Sino-Indian Joint Working Group (SIJWG) and five of an expert group have taken place to determine where the LoAC lies, but little progress has occurred. On 20 November 2006, Indian politicians from Arunachal Pradesh expressed their concern over Chinese military modernization and appealed to parliament to take a harder stance on the PRC following a military buildup on the border similar to that in 1962.
New York: Random House, 1968 History of the Conflict with China, 1962.
The Chinese Calculus of Deterrence: India and Indochina. The Sino-Indian Boundary Question [Enlarged Edition], Foreign Languages Press, Peking, 1962 The History of Counterattack Action on Sino-Indian Border(中印边境自卫反击作战史）, Military science publishing house, Beijing. China–India military relations Invasions by China Territorial disputes of China Territorial disputes of India Wars involving India
In a May 1963 National Security Council meeting, contingency planning on the part of the United States in the event of another Chinese attack on India was discussed and nuclear options were considered.
The central character in the novel, a Maharana of Mewar, has his son fighting the Chinese in the war and dies in the battle of Chushul. Australian author Jon Cleary wrote a novel set during the conflict, The Pulse of Danger (1966). In 1963, against the backdrop of the Sino-Indian War, Lata Mangeshkar sang the patriotic song "Ae Mere Watan Ke Logon (literally, "Oh, the People of My Country") in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India.
After listening to advisers, Kennedy stated "We should defend India, and therefore we will defend India." By 1964 China had developed its own nuclear weapon which would have likely caused any American nuclear policy in defense of India to be reviewed. The non-aligned nations remained mostly uninvolved, and only Egypt (then called the United Arab Republic) openly supported India.
Chari, "The intended Indian production of these relatively sophisticated aircraft could only have incensed Peking so soon after the withdrawal of Soviet technicians from China." In 1964 further Indian requests for American jets were rejected.
India by 1964 was a major purchaser of Soviet arms.
At its western end is the Aksai Chin region, an area the size of Switzerland, that sits between the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang and Tibet (which China declared as an autonomous region in 1965).
India's military failure against China would embolden Pakistan to initiate the Second Kashmir War with India in 1965. ==Foreign involvement== During the conflict, Nehru wrote two letters on 19th November 1962 to U.S.
Sensing a weakened army, Pakistan, a close ally of China, began a policy of provocation against India by infiltrating Jammu and Kashmir and ultimately triggering the Second Kashmir War with India in 1965 and Indo-Pakistani war of 1971.
The Attack of 1965 was successfully stopped and ceasefire was negotiated under international pressure.
The last internees were not released until 1967.
In late 1967, there were two conflicts in which both countries clashed in Sikkim.
New York: Random House, 1968 History of the Conflict with China, 1962.
Sensing a weakened army, Pakistan, a close ally of China, began a policy of provocation against India by infiltrating Jammu and Kashmir and ultimately triggering the Second Kashmir War with India in 1965 and Indo-Pakistani war of 1971.
In the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 India won a clear victory, resulting in liberation of Bangladesh (formerly East-Pakistan). As a result of the war, the Indian government commissioned an investigation, resulting in the classified Henderson Brooks–Bhagat Report on the causes of the war and the reasons for failure.
These conflicts were dubbed the "Nathu La" and "Cho La" clashes respectively, in which advancing Chinese forces were forced to withdraw from Sikkim, then a protectorate of India and later a state of India after its annexation in 1975.
Parthasarathy, "only after we got nothing from the US did arms supplies from the Soviet Union to India commence." India's favored relationship with Moscow continued into the 1980s, but ended after the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991. ==Aftermath== ===China=== According to the China's official military history, the war achieved China's policy objectives of securing borders in its western sector, as China retained de facto control of the Aksai Chin.
In the 1987 Sino-Indian skirmish, both sides showed military restraint and it was a bloodless conflict.
Parthasarathy, "only after we got nothing from the US did arms supplies from the Soviet Union to India commence." India's favored relationship with Moscow continued into the 1980s, but ended after the collapse of Soviet Communism in 1991. ==Aftermath== ===China=== According to the China's official military history, the war achieved China's policy objectives of securing borders in its western sector, as China retained de facto control of the Aksai Chin.
Prasad, chief editor, History Division, Ministry of Defence, Government of India, 1992.
In 2020, soldiers were killed in skirmishes for the first time since the war ended. ==Diplomatic process== In 1993 and 1996, the two sides signed the Sino-Indian Bilateral Peace and Tranquility Accords, agreements to maintain peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC).
In 2020, soldiers were killed in skirmishes for the first time since the war ended. ==Diplomatic process== In 1993 and 1996, the two sides signed the Sino-Indian Bilateral Peace and Tranquility Accords, agreements to maintain peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC).
Ten meetings of a Sino-Indian Joint Working Group (SIJWG) and five of an expert group have taken place to determine where the LoAC lies, but little progress has occurred. On 20 November 2006, Indian politicians from Arunachal Pradesh expressed their concern over Chinese military modernization and appealed to parliament to take a harder stance on the PRC following a military buildup on the border similar to that in 1962.
Additionally, China's military aid to Pakistan as well is a matter of concern to the Indian public, as the two sides have engaged in various wars. On 6 July 2006, the historic Silk Road passing through this territory via the Nathu La pass was reopened.
Both sides have agreed to resolve the issues by peaceful means. In October 2011, it was stated that India and China will formulate a border mechanism to handle different perceptions as to the LAC and resume the bilateral army exercises between the Indian and Chinese army from early 2012. ==Military awards== === India === === China === ==In popular culture== Pearl S.
Oxford University Press. Malone, David Does the Elephant Dance?: Contemporary Indian Foreign Policy – Oxford University Press, 2011 – 425 p.
Both sides have agreed to resolve the issues by peaceful means. In October 2011, it was stated that India and China will formulate a border mechanism to handle different perceptions as to the LAC and resume the bilateral army exercises between the Indian and Chinese army from early 2012. ==Military awards== === India === === China === ==In popular culture== Pearl S.
In 2017 the two countries once again were involved in a military standoff, in which several troops were injured.
The 2017 Hindi film Tubelight is set during the Sino-Indian War. ==See also== 2020 China–India skirmishes 2017 China–India border standoff 1987 Sino-Indian skirmish 1967 Nathu La and Cho La clashes Aksai Chin Dogra–Tibetan War Sino-Indian relations Trans-Karakoram Tract Line of Control ==Notes== ==References== ==Bibliography== * * * * ==Further reading== Dalvi, John.
In 2020, soldiers were killed in skirmishes for the first time since the war ended. ==Diplomatic process== In 1993 and 1996, the two sides signed the Sino-Indian Bilateral Peace and Tranquility Accords, agreements to maintain peace and tranquility along the Line of Actual Control (LoAC).
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