Mumbai: China wanted India to accept that Ladakh was disputed territory. A Chinese military attaché then made it clear that “under no circumstances” would the Chinese withdraw from the road (Sinkiang-Tibet road). Peiping (as Beijing was known in 1950’s) indicated this by its military attaché in East Germany while talking to a western journalist on March 2, 1960. However, such agreement was conditioned on Indian acceptance of the principle that Ladakh was disputed territory, stated CIA papers of 1960’s.
Furthering its bid to pressurise India to agree for a settlement on its terms, China signed a border agreement with Prime Minister of Nepal on March 11, 1960. The Chinese had occupied a large area of Indian claimed territory, but had not done so with Nepalese territory. Although in one of the territorial maps published in 1960’s by China had shown Mount Everest which is in Nepal as Chinese territory.
China adopted a two-step process of negotiating a treaty. The first was to agree to principles and then establishment of a joint commission and then working out a final treaty.
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had told the Parliament on September 10, 1959 that the Aksai Chin plain “has not been under any kind of administration” and on November 23 that under British Rule (as far as I know), this area was neither inhabited by any people, nor were there any out posts”.
According to the CIA papers, Chou En-lai wanted to visit India on a six day long visit at a time when Prime Minister Nehru was busy and could not spare time. Yet on April 21, Chou continued to depart from diplomatic precedent by resuming his efforts to influence Indian leaders in separate private talks – a tactic Nehru had not anticipated, but did not try to block”.
Chou En-lai in a bid to impress then Vice President of India Dr S Radhakrishnan had stated that he could not convince “the Chinese people” that Ladakh and Aksai Chin plain in particular did not belong to them, because of the legends going back to the 12th Century which supported Chinese claims.
Chou’s public and private remarks made it clear that the Chinese had tried to gain from Indian officials an exchange of the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA, now Arunachal Pradesh) for Chinese occupied Ladakh. Chou reportedly had offered to withdraw Chinese troops from Long Ju as a friendly gesture and Nehru had responded by offering a withdrawal of some Indian forces at one point in Ladakh, state the CIA papers.
On June 3, 1960, the Chinese intruded into Kameng division of and penetrated right up to Taksang Monastery about 4.5 Kms south of McMahon line. Chinese local working personnel had lost their way while felling Bamboo, they were 25 and carried arms slung around their shoulder, there is no Bamboo in the Himalayas or elsewhere.
Since late 1959 China began indulging in Air space violations. When India sent a protest note on April 4, 1960, China passed the blame of US saying it were US planes taking off from Bangkok. One such violation of Indian air space happened on July 25, 1962 over Chushul in Ladakh.
Negotiations, in Chinese view, actually meant a simple procedure whereby Nehru would agree to accept Chou’s formula of an Aksai Chin plain for NEFA exchange. Chou En-lai told Burmese Prime Minister U Nu that China was ready to give up claim over NEFA in return to India accepting status-quo in Ladakh.
President of India Dr Rajendra Prasad discussed U Nu statement with Nehru. According to Dr Rajendra Prasad Prime Minister Nehru said “Chou’s suggestion for solving the dispute has some merit, for if they (Chinese) can prove that historically Ladakh belongs to them what is the reason for us to keep it?” An angry Dr Rajendra Prasad told Prime Minister Nehru that “it was his duty to keep India’s borders intact”.
On October 5, 1961 members of the Indian negotiating team were reported to be jubilant in early October, attributing the strength of their case to the excellent administrative records that the British had maintained on the border areas. The Chinese used their propaganda machine to charge of British Imperialism to counter India’s arguments.
Chinese team refused to discuss Ladakh except on the basis that Kashmir does not belong to India, that Kashmir is disputed territory between Pakistan and India. In respect of Pakistan-China talks over disputed territory illegally occupied by Pakistan, on May 31, 1962 China replied that it had right to negotiate border negotiations as Peiping never accepted India’s sovereignty over Kashmir. Pakistan and China inked there border agreement on March 2, 1963 in which Pakistan gave away large parts of Indian territory illegally occupied by it to China.
The Tibetan troop (Chinese) indoctrination document stated flatly that the Indians “do not have the strength openly to declare war on us and attack us militarily on a large scale”. A Chinese Foreign Ministry report in January 1961, outlined Peiping’s prospective policy towards New Delhi – “we will strive to have better relations with India and influence India into assuming a passive position on the border problem. This is important”, state the CIA papers.
