Peace and war with China

India began with friendship towards China. It was among the first countries to recognise the Communist government after 1949. On 29 April 1954, Nehru and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai announced the Panchsheel, the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. The slogan was 'Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai'.

Two issues destroyed this friendship:

• Tibet: China took control of Tibet in 1950. India had seen Tibet as a buffer and was uneasy. When Tibetans rose against China and their leader, the Dalai Lama, fled, India gave him asylum in 1959. China was angered.
• The border: China claimed Aksai-chin in Ladakh and much of Arunachal Pradesh, then called NEFA (North East Frontier Agency). It built a road through Aksai-chin.

In October 1962, while the world was watching the Cuban Missile Crisis, China launched a swift, massive invasion in both areas. Indian forces were unprepared and suffered heavy losses. China then declared a unilateral ceasefire and pulled back.

Effects inside India:

• a deep sense of national humiliation, but also a surge of patriotism;
• the Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon had to leave the cabinet;
• Nehru faced his first no-confidence motion in Parliament, and his reputation suffered;
• the Communist Party was divided over whom to support, and split in 1964 into the CPI and the CPI(M);
• the government paid new attention to the north-east, leading to its reorganisation into new states.

Diplomatic relations were downgraded and fully restored only in 1976. Friendship broken by Tibet and the border has never fully healed.