The Sino-Indian War of 1962

The Sino-Indian border war of 1962 forms a major landmark in South Asian, Asian and Cold War history. Among others, it resulted in an unresolved conflict permanently hindering rapprochement between China and India, the establishment of the Sino-Pakistani axis, the deepening of the Sino-Soviet split and had a lasting impact on Indian domestic affairs. This volume draws on new documentary evidence to re-evaluate perceptions, motivations and decision-making processes of both antagonists, but also of third powers immediately affected by the conflict. It also investigates the effect on India's internal politics, its Constitution, the Communist Party of India and the fate of Indians of Chinese origin. Finally, it analyses how the conflict is viewed in India today and its ramifications for India-China relationship. A major intervention in the Asian historical landscape, this book will be indispensable to scholars and researchers of modern history, especially of modern South Asia and China, international relations, defence and strategic studies, international politics and government. It will also be useful for think-tanks and government agencies.

Amit R. Das Gupta is Senior Researcher at the Universität der Bundeswehr München, Germany. Previously he was affiliated with the German Institute of the University of Amsterdam, the Institute for Contemporary History, Department Berlin, Foreign Office and Jacobs University Bremen. After a first book on West Germany's South Asia policy between 1949 and 1966, he has authored a political biography of Foreign Secretary Subimal Dutt. Currently, he is writing a monograph on the impact of officers of the Indian Civil Services on Indian foreign policy after independence. Lorenz M. Lüthi is Associate Professor of History of International Relations at McGill University, Canada. His first book dealt with the Sino-Soviet Split and has been translated into Polish and Chinese. He has written on China, Vietnam, non-alignment, Germany and the socialist world during the Cold War. At present, he is working on an international history of the Cold Wars in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Contents List of maps Acknowledgements Contributors Introduction LORENZ M. LUTHI AND AMIT R. DAS GUPTA PART 1 Bilateral perspectives 1 India's relations with China, 1945-4 LORENZ M. LUTHI 2 Foreign Secretary Subimal Dutt and the prehistory of the Sino-Indian border war AMIT R. DAS GUPTA 3 From 'Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai' to 'international class struggle' against Nehru: China's India policy and the frontier dispute, 1950-2 DAI CHAOWU 4 The strategic and regional contexts of the Sino-Indian border conflict: China's policy of conciliation with its neighbours ERIC HYER PART 2 International perspectives 5 The United States, Britain and the Sino-Indian border war PAUL MCGARR 6 Pakistan and 1962 AMIT R. DAS GUPTA 7 The Soviet Union and the Sino-Indian border war, 1962 ANDREAS HILGER 8 Saving non-alignment: diplomatic efforts of major nonaligned countries and the Sino-Indian border conflict JOVAN C-AVOsKI PART 3 Domestic perspectives 9 Constitution of India and the 1962 war emergency: institutional re-alignments IMTIAZ OMAR 10 Manufacturing radicals: the Sino-Indian War and the repression of communists in India SUBHO BASU 11 The Chinese in India: internment, nationalism, and the embodied imprints of state action PAYAL BANERJEE 12 Remembering 1962 in India, 50 years on JABIN T. JACOB Index