China Tibet India: The 1962 War and The Strategic Military Future (Hardcover)

The object of this paper is to present an overview of the 1962 China-India Border War. The paper chronologically examines the 19th and 20th Century roots of disputed border areas between China and Indian the increase in tensions and conflicts in the late 1950s, the skirmishes along the China- India border, the October-November 1962 hostilities, and the ceasefire. The roots of the Border War extend back into the 19th Century, when both China and British India asserted claims to desolate, remote mountain areas between China and India. Military expeditions, intrigue and unproductive diplomatic exchanges marked decades of relations between the two countries. Rather than resolving the border issue, Chinese and British Indian actions only set the stage for conflict. Major changes in the governments of both China and India in the late 1940s had brought the two countries to friendly relations in the early 1950s. The paper examines how “intrusions” strategic military projections into each others claimed territory again created conflict over the disputed border areas. The key issue was the 1956-57 construction of a Chinese military highway in the disputed territory of Aksai China just west of Tibet. India protested the Chinese “incursion” diplomatic exchanges continued for three years without progress or compromise. Each side firmly asserted its claim to the Aksai Chin area. Large sections of the North East Frontier Agency, east of Tibet, were also in dispute. In 1959, India initiated a forward policy of sending Indian troops and border patrols into disputed areas. This program created both skirmishes and deteriorating relations between India and China. The 1961 Indian invasion of Portu- gese Goa further alarmed Chinese officials in Peking.