1962 Sino-Indian war: 50 years later, China is an opportunity as well as a challenge

Fifty years ago, India suffered its worst military defeat when China invaded and India buckled. The memory of that defeat — along with embarrassing revelations of India’s misbegotten “forward policy” , strategic and tactical blunders — still sends a humiliating chill down Indians’ spine. The unspoken thought always is: the war stopped when China carried out a unilateral ceasefire. What if it didn’t ?

The collective Indian trauma that surrounds the 1962 war has informed India’s strategic outlook since. India has never made public the Brooks-Henderson report, which analysed the conflict. Neville Maxwell, whose book, India’s China War, squarely blames New Delhi for the conflict was banned in India. We never looked at ourselves critically on that war. And, perhaps , left gaps in future strategic thought.

K Subrahmanyam, the late guru of strategic thought, once said, “India’s 1962 burden stems from the fact the defeat of Sela-Bomdilla was papered over and the nation never had the chance of a catharsis. That festering wound continues.”

But half a century later, it’s a new generation in both countries. Our strategic destinies have changed. Most 20-somethings know China as a budding superpower, with enviable national attributes, the world’s second largest economy. It’s an opportunity and a challenge. In these 50 years, India, too, has evolved as a natio , and in military strength.

Yet, we remain mired in the 1962 thought. As a society, India doesn’t invest in Chinese thought, language or culture and continues to train our attention on Pakistan or the US. You would be hardpressed to find Chinese scholars in India.

As both nations grow and develop, our greatest challenge is how India learns to live with China. China is certainly an opportunity. It’s also a significant challenge, but in several different ways. The border dispute persists, and India remains a notorious laggard in implementing national security imperatives. We fear China, we envy China , we don’t want to be China but we want to be as efficient as China.

It started with 1962. In the coming weeks, TOI will bring you a rich menu of reports and analysis pegged on the 1962 conflict but we prefer to look ahead. Because we like to let the past inform our future, not constrain it.