India, China and the Addis Papers

The world must realise that the Indian expansionist quest has endangered regional peace

On June 15, 2020, the world watched with bated breath an armed clash that broke out between the troops of China and India in Galwan Valley. The vociferous Indian media was up in arms instantly — as usual — in an attempt to whip up a frenzy of rhetoric. The loss of life, though regrettable, certainly leads one to seek answers as to why such conflict, between two nuclear-armed giants, should break out, in the first place.

JM Addis, a British diplomat, unearthed the truth about the India-China border question as far back as in 1962-63. The little known “Addis Papers” by this equitable diplomat, explicitly reveal the historic perspective of the Sino-India border question from its origin to its current state. It candidly expounds the sincere and concerted efforts by the Chinese government to resolve all border issues cordially, as per historically proven facts, and also highlights constant denial by India which dragged matters to the worst, ultimately bringing historic humiliation to India in 1962. This essay is based on facts gleaned from the seminal work of JM Addis.

As per Addis, the British had tried to dupe Tibet and/or China into ceding a major chunk of territory to India, in its north-east, during the Simla Conference in 1914. The details of the forgery and the identity of the forger-in-chief, Olaf Caroe, were revealed later by Alastair Lamb and an Indian scholar Karunakar Gupta.

As this forgery suited independent India’s expansionist designs, she not only insisted on the validity of the McMahon Line, but also claimed that all borders with China were indisputable and non-negotiable international borders. The Addis Papers, based on documentary evidence, were so incriminating that Neville Maxwell concluded, “the papers, if published then, would have been explosive.” Addis was hushed by London after Delhi’s complaints of “anti-Indian activities”.

The Sino-Indian border is divided into western, middle and eastern sectors. The dispute in the western sector refers to the Johnson Line of 1862, which shows Aksai Chin as part of the state of Kashmir. To this day, India considers the Johnson Line as the authority for her claim, whereas the Chinese do not recognise the Line, and claim that the area has been a part of Tibet, which has always been under Chinese influence. The middle sector has no serious disputes, while the border dispute in the eastern sector pertains to the McMahon Line whose legality was never accepted by the Chinese. Until 1960, the Chinese controlled the western sector while the Indians held areas up to the McMahon Line in the east. An in-depth study of the Addis Papers substantiates the veracity of Chinese claims, and the outright mendacity of Indian assertions.

With the Chinese advance into Tibet, the Indian government, concerned at its implications, decided to extend their hold on the border areas and occupied all of the North-Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA). The Indians began aggressively establishing check posts in the frontier zone, particularly in the eastern sector. In the western sector, the Chinese had built a road through Aksai Chin by 1957. The Tibetan revolt precipitated a further advance by both countries into the frontier areas.

The Chinese, over the years, made repeated and concerted attempts to settle the border disputes through negotiations; which only fell on deaf Indian ears. After numerous attempts by the Chinese, the two premiers finally met in Delhi in April 1960. However, this meeting proved futile due to Indian intransigence over their fabricated claims. Even the “Report of Officials” that followed in June 1960 could not prove helpful. Continued attempts by the Chinese were in vain in the face of Indian aggressive forward posturing in disputed areas; as per Nehru’s famous Forward Policy.

The Sino-India war broke out on October 20, 1962. Chinese troops routed the Indian army from illegally occupied forward posts. The Chinese premier once again offered resumption of talks, suggesting the status quo as of November 7, 1959, but the Indians insisted that the Chinese should return to status quo ante September 8, 1962 line (as it would permit the Indians to retain the illegally occupied areas). After inflicting a humiliating defeat upon the Indian army, the Chinese withdrew 20 kilometres behind the Line of Actual Control after declaring unilateral ceasefire.

From Nehru onwards, successive Indian governments, less Vajpayee’s, have always pursued the ‘provocative forward policy’ of fabricated territorial claims. Even after seven decades of existence as an independent state, India still has unresolved border disputes with almost all its neighbours, i.e. Bhutan, Myanmar, Pakistan and China, leading into military confrontations. Most recently, resurfacing of a border dispute with Nepal has again exposed India’s eternal longing for usurping the territory of its neighbours. The latest standoff in Ladakh speaks volumes of Indian obduracy in settling border disputes. India has never been able to reconcile with the idea of evacuating illegally occupied territories (as in the cases of Kashmir, Hyderabad, Junagarh, Goa, etc.)

Unfortunately, many in the West still dance to the sensational tunes of Indian media, without realising the consequences of a military confrontation. The world must realise that the Indian expansionist quest has not only endangered the regional peace in the past, but has the potential of escalating the current standoff to unprecedented complexities which may also drag extra-regional powers into play — a sure recipe to imperil the regional and global peace.

May better sense prevail!

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2020.

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