World Tibet Network News Wednesday, May 20, 1998

May 19, 1998. Satyindra Singh (the writer is a former rear-admiral) thirty-four years ago this month (May 27, 1964) Nehru passed into history. For most of his life, if Nehru did favour one country above all others, it was China. During the dark days of 1942, Nehru said: "I see the future filled with hope because China and India are friends and comrades, in the great adventure of man". And then, in the year 1950, the first shock was experienced: China invaded Tibet. The truth is that Nehru was hurt and ominously confused. His words were mild: "The Chinese have acted rather foolishly and done some injury to their cause...It is natural that our enthusiasm for supporting China wanes some what and we shall have to be careful about the steps we take-but our general policy towards China remains the same.

"We need now recall extracts of a letter written by Nehru's right-hand manin his Cabinet on November 7, 1950. The pragmatic Sardar Vallabbhai Patel said: "I have been anxiously thinking over the problem of Tibet and I thought I should share with you what is passing through my mind. I have carefully gone through the correspondence between the External Affairs Ministry and our Ambassador in Peking (the Ambassador was Sardar K.M.Panikkar) and through him the Chinese Government. I have tried to pursue this correspondence as favourably to our Ambassador and the Chinese Government as possible, but I regret to say that neither of them comes out well as a result of this study. The Chinese Government has tried to delude us by professions of peaceful intentions. My own feeling is that at a crucial period they managed to instil into our Ambassador a false sense of confidence in their so-called desire to settle the Tibetan problem by peaceful means.

"There can be no doubt that, during the period covered by this correspondence, the Chinese must have been concentrating for an onslaught on Tibet. The final action of the Chinese, in my judgment, is little short of perfidy. From the latest position, it appears that we shall not be able to rescue the Dalai Lama. Our Ambassador has been at great pains to find an explanation or justification for Chinese policy and actions. I doubt if we can go any further than we have have done already to convince China of our good intentions, Friendliness and goodwill." But events were moving from bad to worse. Inside Tibet the Chinese were waving Mao's 'little red book'and they were systematically destroying Tibet's ancient culture. And then quietly came over India's borders the smiling Dalai Lama, and a great trail of suffering, patient Tibetans. When the Chinese Army began to pour over India's borders, Nehru was put to the stark test. "There is no alternative for us Indians but to defend our borders and our integrity. What

is happening in China today... is the pride and arrogance of power...But I hope our nation...will never be brutalised...I hope that India which is essentially a gentle and peace-loving country will be able to retain that state of mind"

The Chinese invasion had broken Nehru physically and this grave national crisis that he faced since he took over as Prime Minister fifteen years earlier, had left him completely shattered in every way. He did not survive for more than eighteen months after that. Today China continues to illegally occupy 38,000 sq. km of Ladakh's Aksai Chin region; 4000 sq km of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir located west of the Karakoram that has been seeded by Pakistan; 30 sq km of Wang Dong in Arunchal Pradesh. In addition to holding these large portions, China's territorial claims include over 90,000 sq. km of Arunchal Pradesh and 40 sq.km of the Barahoti grazing grounds that is currently observed as a demilitarised zone; and perhaps more! And when we move into the new millennium the same large chunks of our territory will be under Chinese occupation. China is on its way to becoming a very major military power. Its planned growth of the navy, for example, for which the PLA (Navy) has been allotted 24 percent of the Chinese def

ence budget, should be indicative of it sundeclared intention of making forays in the Arabian Sea and more. This has to be viewed in the latest strategic linkages China has developed and is developing with Pakistan, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

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