General Awareness Series: INDO-CHINA RELATION - Part 1

Critical Analysis of Indo - China relationship

China and India are two of the world’s oldest civilizations and have co-existed in peace for centuries. Cultural and economic relations between China and India date back to ancient times. The Silk Road not only served as a major trade route between India and China, but was also the reason for the spread of Buddhism from India to East Asia.

But the present relations between China and India are mainly characterized by the border disputes among the parts of the disputed Kashmir region claimed by India , are claimed and administered by either Pakistan (Azad Kashmir) or by the PRC (Aksai Chin). The Government of Pakistan on its maps shows the Aksai Chin area as mostly within China and labels the boundary "Frontier Undefined" while India holds that Aksai Chin is illegally occupied by the PRC.

  In 1954, India published new maps that included the Aksai Chin region within the boundaries of India (maps published at the time of India's independence did not clearly indicate whether the region was in India or Tibet).But soon India discovered that China built a road through the region, border clashes and Indian protests became more serious. In January 1959, PRC premier Zhou Enlai wrote to Nehru, pointing out that no government in China had accepted as legal the McMahon Line, which in the 1914 as per Shimla Convention (Made by the Britishers) defined the eastern section of the border between India and Tibet. 

In November 2006, China and India had a verbal spat over claim of the north-east Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. India claimed that China was occupying 38,000 square kilometers of its territory in Kashmir, while China claimed the whole of Arunachal Pradesh as its own. China and India dispute most of Arunachal Pradesh at the far eastern end of the Himalayas.

Relations between contemporary China and India are mainly characterized by the border disputes, resulting in three major military conflicts — the Sino-Indian War of 1962, the Chola incident in 1967, and the 1987 Sino-Indian skirmish. These are as follows -

1960s

Sino-Indian War

 The border clash resulted in a crushing defeat of India as the PRC pushed the Indian forces to within forty-eight kilometers of the Assam plains in the northeast and occupied strategic points in Ladakh, until the PRC declared a unilateral cease-fire on 21 November and withdrew twenty kilometers behind its contended line of control.

The Naxalbari Uprising - In 1967, a peasant uprising broke out in Naxalbari, led by pro-Maoist elements. It is said that PRC gave full political and financial support. Naxalbari-inspired communists later organized armed revolts in several parts of India, and in 1969 they formed the Communist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist). However, as the naxalite movement disintegrated and PRC withdrew its political support and turned non-committal.

In late 1967, there were two skirmishes between Indian and Chinese forces in Sikkim. The first one was dubbed the "Nathu La incident", and the other the "Chola incident".

In September 1967, Chinese and Indian forces clashed at Nathu La. According to the Indian account, on 11 September, Indian soldiers were protecting an engineering company that was fencing the North Shoulder of Nathu La, when Chinese troops opened fire on them. This escalated over the next five days to an exchange of heavy artillery and mortar fire between the Indians and the Chinese. 62 Indian soldiers were killed.

On July 6, 2006, China and India re-opened Nathula, an ancient trade route which was part of the Silk Road. Nathula is a pass through the Himalayas.

 Chola incident - On 1 October 1967, some Indian and Chinese soldiers had an argument over the control of a boulder at the Chola outpost in Sikkim triggering a fight that escalated to a mortar and heavy machine gun duel. During whole conflict Indian losses were 88 killed, and 163 wounded, while Chinese casualties were 300 killed and 450 wounded in Nathula, and 40 in Chola. The end of the battle saw the Chinese Army leave Sikkim.

 The story will get more interesting in the second part of this series. Where we will see what were the other developments and who were responsible for improving the relationships.

Click here for General Awareness Series: INDO-CHINA RELATION - Part 2

About the Author : Adhiraj Singh Jhala is a Computer Science final year student at VIT and a die heart defense aspirant. He loves adventure sports and playing football. Photography is his passion and loves to serve society by working for NGO . This article is a way to help defense aspirants to present his critical views on the topic, on the forum so that collective exchange of thoughts can take place.