Sino-Indian War 1962
Introduction:
Although India never suspected China to launch an attack, it did. India was attacked on October 20, 1962 in which is known as Sino-India war of 1962. Due to the belief of not being attacked by China, Indian army didn’t prepare well which led to a standoff between 10,000-20,000 Indian troops and 80,000 Chinese troops. After China declared a ceasefire on November 21, the war ended.
Background to the war:
Aksai Chin, as a disputed border between India and China became the primary cause of the war as both countries claimed it as their integral part.( India stated, it belonged to the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir but China countered it was part of Xinjiang.)
Other factors that complicated the issues were – the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the invasion of Tibet by China in 1950 and its construction of a road to connect Xinjiang and Tibet through Indian land. The relation was further worsened when, Tibet’s spiritual and political leader, Dalai Lama, fled into exile in the face of Chinese invasion and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru granted him refuge in India which angered Mao immensely.
Causes of war:-
· Border disputes since ages:
After India’s independence, China felt the British legacy on the disputed boundary issue between the two countries. The 3,488-km length border between India and China is not clearly demarcated throughout and there is no mutually agreed Line of Actual Control (LAC is just for practical purpose).
The India-China border is divided into the following three sectors:
Ø Western Sector – The Johnson Line which was proposed by the British in the 1860s extending up to the Kunlun Mountains is disputed. The line put Aksai Chin in the then princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Hence India claimed Aksai Chin as its own but China never accepted the Johnson Line.
Ø Middle Sector – The minor dispute is between both countries on exchanging maps over which they just broadly agree.
Ø Eastern Sector – Here dispute is over areas (formerly referred to as the North East Frontier Agency, and now called Arunachal Pradesh) related to the Mac Mahon Line which was part of the Simla Convention of 1914 between British India and Tibet, rejected by China.
China controlled Aksai Chin in the West whereas India controlled the boundary up to the McMahon Line in the East till 1960s. There were official discussions between the two for boundary dispute settlement in 1960 which failed. Thus, giving way to the Sino-Indian War of 1962, fought in both of the areas.
· 1959 Tibetan uprising and Asylum to Dalai Lama:
Ø Until 1951 the Dalai Lama’s government ruled in Tibet before it was made Chinese by Mao Zedong’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Ø The unsuccessful Tibetan Uprising of 1959 where Tibetans revolted to overthrow the Chinese, led to the fleeing of the 14th Dalai Lama to India.
Ø Since the 1959 Uprising, the central government of China has been steadily tightening its grip on the Tibet.
Ø Though Dalai Lama advocated for the increased autonomy for Tibet than full independence, the Chinese refused to negotiate.
Ø Another major irritant for China apart from the border issues has been over the Dalai Lama. China considers him a separatist, who has great influence over Tibetans but he enjoys a spiritual status in India.
Assistance was provided to the Tibetan refugees to settle in India until their eventual return by Former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
· Forward policy of India :
Ø China began patrolling along the McMahon Line during the summer of 1961 and also entered parts of Indian-administered regions.
Ø Chinese troops occupied Dehra Compass and established a post on the Chip Chap River after May in 1961. The Chinese even did not believe they were invading in territory of India.
Ø The Indians launched a policy of creating outposts behind the Chinese troops so as to cut off their supplies and force their return to China in response known as the “Forward Policy”.
Ø There were eventually 60 such outposts, including 43 north of the McMahon Line and Indian posts and Chinese posts were separated by a narrow stretch of land.
Ø India reacted with the Forward Policy to demonstrate that lands were not unoccupied when China were spreading steadily into those lands.
Ø When Indian outposts advanced towards them, initial reaction of the Chinese forces was to withdraw. It encouraged the Indian to take the Forward Policy further.
Ø In response to Indian outposts encircling Chinese positions, Chinese forces built more outposts to counter-encircle them.
Ø However, there was no hostile fire and both sides were under orders to fire only in defense.
Sino-Indian War from genesis to nemesis
From 1959 onward, border conflicts broke out along the disputed line. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru instituted the Forward Policy in 1961, where India tried to establish border outposts and patrols north of Chinese positions, in order to cut them off from their supply line. The Chinese responded, each side seeking to fringe the other without direct confrontation.
The summer and autumn of 1962 saw increasing numbers of border incidents in Aksai Chin. India authorized the troops to fire not just in self-defense but to drive the Chinese back in July. By October, the People’s Liberation Army of China (PLA) was massing along the border. The first heavy fighting took place on October 10, 1962 where 25 Indian troops and 33 Chinese soldiers were killed in a conflict.
On October 20, the PLA did a two-pronged attack to drive the Indians out of Aksai Chin. The main force of the Chinese PLA was 16 km south of the line of control by October 24. During a three-week ceasefire, Zhou Enlai ordered the Chinese to hold because he had sent a peace proposal to Prime Minister of India.
The Chinese proposal was that both sides disengage and withdraw twenty km from their current positions. P.M. Nehru wanted the Chinese troops to withdraw to their original position instead and called for a wider buffer zone. The war was resumed on November 14, 1962, Indian attacked against the Chinese position at Walong.
The two countries declared a formal ceasefire on November 1962 ending the war after hundreds of more deaths and an American threat to intervene on behalf of the Indians. The Chinese announced that they would “withdraw from their present positions to the north of the illegal McMahon Line.”
The war lasted just one month ending on November 21, 1962 but killed 1,383 Indian troops and 722 Chinese troops and additionally 1,047 Indians and 1,697 Chinese were wounded, and about 4,000 Indian soldiers were captured.
In the end, China retained control of the Aksai Chin region. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was criticized for his passive resistance to Chinese aggression, and for the lack of preparation prior to the attack.
Why India lost the war?
Major reasons for failure in 1962 war :-
· Lack of preparation in the Indian Army: There was an absence of proper strategy and advanced weapons and lack of synergy between the civilians and military.
· Logistical failure: There was lack of artillery and ammunition supplies during the war and it’s believed that the Indian Army even ran out of food during war.
· Lack of participation of IAF in war: Had IAF been employed for a more inclusive role, the situation could have been vastly different. However even when Chinese used their Air force, the function of IAF was only limited to dropping food supplies to the Indian Army
· Over-trust on China: “Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai” was the standard diplomatic line of India. This over affectionate attitude of India towards China spelled doom for it.
· Simultaneous attack on all fronts: The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched an attack on all fronts together and hence encircled India in trap. India was attacked on October 20, 1962 in Ladakh, northern Uttarakhand and NEFA (presently Arunachal Pradesh) simultaneously.
Lessons learnt:
The Sino-Indian War put the spotlight on India’s unpreparedness in the war, the need to modernise its armed forces and the crucial strategic mistakes it committed by not using the Indian Air Force. India worked on these factors to a large extent to strengthen its security.
Sources:
– Thehindu.com
– Indiatoday.in
– Wikipedia
– Thetribune.com
– www.thoughtco.com
Shubhi Srivastava