Indian Foreign Policy and the Border Dispute with China
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INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY AND THE
BORDER DISPUTE WITH CHINA
by
W. F. VAN EEKELEN
Second revised edition
Springer-Science+Business Media, B.V. 1967
ISBN 978-94-017-6436-0 ISBN 978-94-017-6555-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-017-6555-8
Copyright 1967 by Springer Science+ Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Martinus Nijho.IJ, The Hague, Netherlands in 1967.
All rights reserved, including the right to translote or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form
INTRODUCTION
The idea for a study of Indian foreign policy originated during a diplomatic posting to New Delhi between 1957 and 1960. These years were marked by the eruption of the Ti betan revolt, the arrival of the Dalai Lama and the first incidents along the Sino-Indian border. My departure coincided precisely with the landing of the aircraft carrying Premier Chou En-lai to the meeting with the Indian Prime Minister which would terminate the preliminary phase of the boundary dispute. The conflict subsequently assumed proportions affecting the entire position of India. It provided the most severe testing ground for Panchsheel, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence which Irrdia advocated as a new and Asian contribution to international relations. The object of this book is to trace the five principles from their optimistic start in an atmosphere of friendship with China to their decline as an instrument of practical politics. As Panchsheel experienced both its rise and fall in the bilateral context of Sino-Indian relations, these will be examined in considerable detail. Most emphasis is put on the border dispute which represented the first conflict between a communist power and a non-aligned state. The analysis of legal aspects and political motives in the dispute is preceded by a lengthy chronological description, which seemed necessary not only to complete the accounts given in other publications, but also as an illustration ofboth its climactic development and the gradual increase of Chinese pressure. A final chapter will draw conclusions on the impact of the crisis on Indian foreign policy to determine what it changed or left constant. This study could not have been completed without the stimulating advice and Supervision of Professor Dr. C. L. Patijn of the University of Utrecht. Among those who assisted me, I am particularly indebted to Mrs. E. Selby for checking my English and to Miss S. M. Thesen Ender for preparing the typescript. The staff of Chatham House, the library of Irrdia House and the Irrdia Office Library have greatly facilitated my research.
INTRODUCTION
VI
In compiling these pages I have used no confidential information which may have come tomein my capacity ofmember ofthe Netherlands Foreign Service. The views setforthin this study are exclusively my own and do not express the opinion of the N etherlands Government. London, August 1964.
W. F. v. E.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION The changes in this edition are limited to incorporating recent research into the history of the Simla Convention of 1914 an
