The visit to India last week of Chinese President Xi Jinping reminded me of a visit to India in the early sixties of then Chinese Premier Chou-en-Lai.
India had concluded the five principles of peaceful co-existence with China, agreed that the autonomous region of Tibet was a part of China, and internationally promoted Communist China to become a member of the United Nations and also as a member of the Security Council, instead of wanting to become a member herself.
Then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had declined a veiled offer of a permanent seat for India in the Security Council and wrote to the Indian representative at the UN: "We must stand by the people's government of China coming into the Security Council.....India, because of many factors, is certainly entitled to a permanent seat, but we are not going in at the expense of China."
Nehru had also escorted Chou-en-Lai to Bandung, Indonesia, and projected China as a member of the Non-Aligned Movement. Even today, India has not been able to become a member of the Security Council.
Last week, Xi Jinping visited India in response to four visits by Narendra Modi to China as Gujarat Chief Minister, and the visit commenced with a visit to Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram, and a demonstration of warmth when he sat with Modi on the swing on the banks of the river.
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But simultaneously reports started trickling in that Chinese troops had occupied Indian Territory in Chumar in Ladakh and were not going back even though Narendra Modi spoke to the Chinese President and underlined the need for the withdrawal.
The Chinese President and Prime Minister Modi witnessed the signing of three MOUs for investment in Gujarat, and many more in the rest of the country, but on the issue of incursions, the response was that India and China had a framework agreement and a border management institutional mechanism to ensure that the incidents do not result in clashes.
The statement was repeated after the talks in Delhi and reiterated by the Chinese spokesman in Beijing who said that with the visit to India by Xi Jinping, the ties between India and China had now entered a "new age" and the visit of the Chinese President had removed "some of the suspicions" the two countries had harbored.
The continued incursions in Chumar and the exhortation to the People's Liberation Army that it should be ready to fight a "regional war" has not helped in "removing suspicions"
India's boundary with China extends over 3440 kilometers from North West Kashmir to the junction of India, Burma and China.
Chinese first intruded into Aksai Chin in Ladakh in the fifties. India did not react in a hostile manner as Aksai Chin was a place where as Nehru said, 'not even a blade of grass grows.'
India celebrated in a grand manner 2,500 years of Buddhism, hoping that it would establish links with our northern neighbour. His view was that it was of great importance to Asia and to the world that India and China should be friendly with each other.
Everything came crashing down, when China made demands on Indian Territory in the north-east too. India had no alternative but to establish forward posts along the India China border in the north-east.
I recall attending a farewell ceremony for then army chief, General K. S. Thimayya in early 1961. He disclosed to army officers that he had told the Government of India that we cannot trust China and may have to prepare for a war. He said the government disagreed with him, following which he had offered to resign, but was persuaded by Nehru to withdraw his resignation.
The month-long India-China war in 1962 was an eye opener for us. The Chinese invaded India both in Ladakh and in the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) as Arunachal Pradesh was then called, on October 19-20. An unprepared Indian Army tried to fight, but with little success. Except for some battles like Walong in the east and Rezang la in Ladakh, India fell back. India was even ready to fall back and move its troops south of the Brahmaputra, when Chinese declared a unilateral cease-fire on November 21.
Nehru had asked for international help. U.S. President John Kennedy had offered assistance and gave India arms to equip new mountain divisions and gave us services of cargo aircraft to carry material for our forces, both in NEFA and Ladakh.
Ever since then, India has been watching its northern border with China. In 1967, the Chinese have tried to occupy territory south of Nathu la. Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi moved Indian artillery to the border, and in the operations that followed, the Chinese suffered heavy casualties and a cease-fire came into force.
There have been no major incidents at Nathu la since then. China tried to move troops into the Sumdrong Valley in the late eighties, but then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi authorized then chief of army staff General Sundarji to surround the Chinese, and forced them to withdraw.
In the West, India raised a division with headquarters at Leh. The road to Ladakh via Kargil was constructed and troops in Ladakh were maintained through airlifts as well as road convoys. Similarly in the east, two Corps of the Indian Army were stationed with headquarters at Tezpur and Sikkim.
There was a serious attempt to come to some understanding with China in 1988, when then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited China and met with then President Deng Xiaoping. The warm handshake, which was witnessed the world over and the suggestion to Rajiv Gandhi from Deng that the two countries should come to an understanding on the northern border raised many hopes. It looked that the McMahon line would be accepted with some changes in exchange for the Aksai Chin.
However, a settlement has remained a hope only. Rajiv Gandhi was defeated in the 1989 elections, and the next governments that assumed office were all short lived. A serious effort was made in 1993, when P. V. Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. Both countries agreed to maintain the status quo.
Meanwhile, China strengthened its relations with Pakistan. China helped Pakistan develop its nuclear weapons and missiles and persuaded the latter to transfer some territory in the vicinity of the Karakoram.
A serious effort was made in 2005 to work out a mechanism to prevent the border situation getting out of control. The framework agreement that India and China concluded in 2005 provides institutional mechanism to maintain peace along the border.
Indian Prime Ministers and Chinese counterparts have been visiting each other.
Much was expected when Dr. Manmohan Singh visited China last year, and made serious attempts to come to some understanding, but nothing concrete emerged.
Much was expected when Xi Jinping visited India. The Chinese President told the media in New Delhi after signing more agreements, that India and China had arrangements to ensure that things do not get out of control on the border. The standard answer was that the border has not been demarcated and it would take detailed work to find an answer.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited to visit China next year, but it is doubtful that the relationship he has established with the Chinese President, would help in taking India-China relations to a new level.\
Mr. I. Ramamohan Rao is a former Principal Information Officer to the Government of India. He can be reached on his e-mail: raoramamohan@hotmail.
