From October to November 1962, China and India fought a local war over the border issue between the two countries. Disputes over border lines did not arise spontaneously, and there were some historical legacies involved.
Beginning in 1624, a number of Western missionaries gradually appeared in Tibet, China, who mainly sneaked across the border from India to collect various intelligence under the guise of spreading religion. The Qing government in China has forbidden Westerners to travel and explore the way.
From 1757 to 1849, the British launched the Battle of Prasi, the Battle of Mysore, and the Battle of Marat against India through the East India Company, gradually annexing Nepal and other countries, making India its colony. But after annexing India, the British army did not satisfy, but extended its claws to the Chinese frontier territory bordering India.
In 1884, in accordance with the "Special Article on Exploring The Way into Tibet" in the "Yantai Treaty", the British side asked the Qing government to allow the opening up of Indian traffic to Tibet. The Minister of Finance of Bengal Province, Marcore, led a mission to Sikkim to survey the road into Tibet, after which the British could go from India to Tibet.
In 1886, in the twelfth year of the Guangxu Emperor, after the British sent an army into Tibet in 1884, they sent troops to harass the south of Yadong in Tibet, and the imperial court may have been afraid of the serious consequences of the Opium War and the invasion of China by the Anglo-French coalition, and did not send heavy troops to suppress it.
In February 1888, after careful military planning, the British general General Grant provoked the war on the grounds that the Sino-British (Indian) checkpoint in Longtu Mountain, Tibet, crossed the border, and led 2,000 soldiers to launch a strong attack on the Longtu Mountain (north of Tibet) where the Tibetan army was stationed, which was the first official war launched by the British against Tibet in China.
Under pressure from the British, the Qing government took a compromise position and ordered the minister in Tibet to withdraw his troops. However, the minister stationed in Tibet, Wen Shuo, violated the orders of the imperial court and fully supported the Tibetan people's anti-British struggle, and was eventually forced to retreat several times because of the disparity in military weapons. Wen Shuo himself was dismissed from his post by the Qing government and replaced by Shengtai of The Lord.
On March 17, 1890, the new Minister in Tibet, Shengtai, went to Calcutta, India, and signed the Sino-British- Tibet-India Treaty with Britain. The treaty recognized Sikkim as a British protectorate. This means that Tibet has lost Sikkim, a natural protective barrier. Moreover, the treaty effectively deprived tibet of a large area south of Gampa Dzong.
In 1903, 13 years after the First War, the Anglo-Indian colonial authorities again launched a war of aggression against Tibet. This time the intention of the aggression was even more apparent. British officers Macdonald and Rong Hyppeng commanded their troops to cross the Zelila Pass, occupy Chunpi and Parry, and directly occupy Lhasa through violence.
Without consulting with the Qing government, the local government of Tibet was forced to sign the Treaty of Lhasa with the British side, which stipulated that the Qing government would dismantle the fortifications from the Indian border to Gyantse and Lhasa. Even though the British side recognized China's territorial ownership of Tibet even after it came to Beijing to sign the treaty, the Treaty of Lhasa remained as a vassal.
In 1912
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The Anglo-Indian government, intent on further aggression against Tibet, forced the Chinese Beiyang government to send representatives to Simla, India, to negotiate the Sino-Indian border again. William Henry McMahon, the representative of the Anglo-Indian government, lured the Chinese Tibetan representative unsuccessfully, so behind the chinese delegation's back, in addition to official documents, he secretly signed a new treaty with the Tibetan government and forged a "McMahon Line" in secret.
The new treaty extends the border 150 kilometers from the edge of the Assam Plain to Tibet, China, and includes a large area of about 90,000 square kilometers of land in the central, western and eastern sections of the Sino-Indian border area. The Chinese government opposes it
The delegation also did not sign, and the Shimla conference was aborted.
Because successive Chinese governments have clearly and publicly expressed their disapproval of this line, the British and Indian sides have not raised the matter again, and the map has not been marked. It was not until 1936 that the McMahon Line first appeared on the map of British India. The occurrence of this incident was immediately strongly opposed by the Chinese Nationalist Government.
In 1947, India became independent and finally broke away from British control and established the Indian government. At this time, China was engaged in a war of liberation, and the Kuomintang was facing a powerful crisis. Taking advantage of the fact that our main forces were concentrated in internal warfare and unable to reinforce Tibet, the Indian government sent troops to arrive and occupy 90,000 square kilometers of Chinese territory within the McMahon Line.
After the founding of New China, China and India held many meetings to discuss the settlement of the issue of border land that had been invaded in the War of Liberation. But the Indian side refused to return the invaded land and insisted on this unjust and unwarranted "McMahon Line" . China has always pursued the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and this matter can only be left to be resolved.
Between 1959 and 1961, New China suffered a period of three years of great economic difficulties, and at the same time, the new China was isolated by the United States and other Western forces and was relatively vulnerable. The Indian government has formulated a "forward" policy of gradually encroaching on China's territory.
In June 1962, an Indian army crossed the McMahon Line without informing the Chinese government and established many military positions on Tibetan territory. The Chinese government immediately protested to the Indian government, but the Indian government ignored it, and instead sent a brigade to garrison and attack the Chinese border troops in Tibet, and even sent an air force to demonstrate over Lhasa.
On October 8, 1962, the Indian military sent a large number of soldiers to suddenly cross the Kajelang River in Tibet to establish a stronghold on the north bank. When the Chinese patrols found out, they issued a warning and demanded that the Indians return to the McMahon Line. However, the Indian side refused and directly opened fire on the Chinese border patrol, resulting in more than 30 casualties among the Chinese border troops.
The frontier forces have repeatedly reported the situation to the central authorities and demanded a counterattack, but the central authorities have always taken peaceful diplomacy as the purpose and have repeatedly tried to negotiate peace with the Indian side. The Indian side has always refused peace talks and has repeatedly launched illegal entry and war.
Meanwhile, Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru, at a news conference on his visit to Ceylon, directly and publicly stated that he had issued orders to the military to drive Chinese troops out of the Tagla region. Taking into account the tension in the border situation, the cries of the Chinese people, and the resolute war on the Indian side, the Chinese government issued an order to start a local war on the Tibetan frontier.
At the same time, Premier Zhou Enlai exerted his outstanding leadership and diplomatic skills. He discussed the plan with several comrades in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the War Department until late at night, and came to the conclusion that he wanted to fight, and immediately decided that he must send the war book to the Indian military before the battle and not do an unjust war. At the same time, he also considered the secrecy of the war and accurately calculated the time of arrival of the war book.
At 5:00 a.m. on October 20, 1962, Sino-Indian war began. On the banks of the Kejielang River, the Chipuchap Valley, the Galwan Valley, and the Pangong Lake in Tibet, the Chinese border troops and the Indian army launched a large-scale exchange of fire, and the cannons continued to be fired.
According to Peng Su's "1962, Chronicle of the Sino-Indian War", the Chinese army stationed on the Tagra Mountains on the north bank of the Kejielang River violently attacked the Indian 7th Brigade under the mountain with heavy weapons such as artillery. The Indian army was not supported, and retreated in a hurry under the leadership of brigade commander Dalvi. The Chinese army pursued the victory and used a strategy: divide the troops into three routes, two roads on the left and right to attract fire, and the middle road directly hit the central position of the Indian army. The Indian army was defeated and fled to the Zhangduo and Hadong Pass. The pass had long been controlled by the border guards that had been arranged in advance. Brigade Commander Dalvi and more than 800 Indian troops were taken prisoner.
On October 23, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense officially announced to the world that indian troops would launch a large-scale and unjust war across the McMahon Line. There is no need for Chinese border troops to continue to abide by the McMahon Line, and must carry out a counterattack in self-defense.
Next, under the guidance of the new policy. The Chinese military temporarily abandoned the possibility of peace talks and began a "hard blow." The Chinese troops crossed the McMahon Line and reached Tawang.
The Indian army in Tawang was strong, with the 62nd Infantry Brigade, an artillery regiment and two mountain artillery companies, plus the retreating 4th Division in Tawang and a number of direct subordinate units. The Chinese border defense forces have successively conquered the Dabao Pass and the Panla Pass, and the momentum is like a bamboo all the way. However, after successive victories, it immediately turned to the river to detour to cut off the retreat of the Indian army in Tawang. But the cunning Indian army saw through the plan, destroyed all the facilities in Tawang, withdrew all of them, and blew up the Jean River Bridge, thus blocking the Chinese border troops and indian troops from facing each other on both sides of the river.
The Chinese border troops in the eastern section and other battlefields also successively switched to the counter-offensive stage, removing more than 30 military strongholds. On the 24th, Chinese troops arrived in the area around the important town of Wa Nong and temporarily stopped military operations. The two armies temporarily ceased fire. At this time, the Indian military was clearly at a disadvantage.
Due to a series of defeats by the Indian army, it triggered unrest and panic in the country. However, when the military situation is so favorable, the Chinese government has chosen to take the initiative to make concessions. On October 24, the Chinese government made three peace proposals to the Indian government, recommending that the two sides retreat a further 20 kilometers from the Line of Actual Control and disengage from contact.
But the Indian government rejected the Chinese government's peace proposal and unjustifiably demanded that the Chinese side cede all 120,000 square kilometers of land.
According to Peng Su's "1962, Chronicle of the Sino-Indian War", at this time, the main war faction in India occupied the dominant force, and they set off a wave of anti-China. The leaders of the Congress Party personally demonstrated in front of the Chinese Embassy in India and burned the mock statues of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. The Indian government forcibly closed the Bank of China branch in Kolkata. Overseas Chinese in India were also treated as enemies and sent to concentration camps.
All kinds of insults to China have aroused strong dissatisfaction from the Chinese Government and people. Not only that, the Indian government even requested arms shipments from the United States, Britain and other countries. Moreover, India tried to use the forces of Chiang Kai-shek, who had retreated to Taiwan, hoping that Chiang kai-shek would open a second battlefield along the Fujian coast and disperse the Chinese army. Fortunately, successive Chinese governments have resolutely opposed India's illegal occupation of Tibet, which was rejected by Chiang Kai-shek. Taiwan's Kuomintang government issued a public statement not recognizing the McMahon Line.
In the early morning of November 16, 1962, China and India went to war again after fruitless peace talks. Using the new weapons, the Indian army began a large-scale attack on the Chinese border troops.
For example, on the battlefield of Wa Nong, the Indian artillery unit fired more than 2,000 shells in one hour, attacking for 7 hours continuously. The Chinese army also continuously put small mountain artillery and heavy mortars into the Indian army, broke the formation, and then took advantage of the perfect opportunity for the enemy to run out of ammunition to launch a counterattack. Eventually, leader Jawaharlal Nehru's beloved general Kaul fled in a helicopter to flee Walong. The Chinese army conquered the important town of Wa nong.
On the afternoon of November 16, the largest war of the Sino-Indian War took place. Several important sections of the border, large-scale Chinese and Indian armies fought at the same time. With a regiment of artillery fire, the Sera Indian army numbered more than 3,000 men, and with an artillery regiment, launched a counterattack against the Chinese border guards in an attempt to retake tawang, which had been previously conquered. The Chinese border troops also concentrated their firepower to counterattack, and in accordance with the policies designated by Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and others, they took advantage of the strategy of attacking back and forth and encircling the road, and severely damaged the Indian troops of Sera, Derangzong, and Bondera. The Indian army was completely defeated, and the remnants collapsed into small units and fled to the plains.
By the early morning of November 20, the Indian army had been completely knocked out of the McMahon Line. The news of the total defeat of the Indian army spread back to India, and the whole country was plunged into unprecedented chaos. There were even incidents of dignitaries fleeing and robbers smashing and robbing in the capital city. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru also asked the U.S. military for help again.
But at this time, the Chinese government has shown the world a unique attitude: Chinese border troops have ceased fire on the entire Sino-Indian border since 00:00 on November 22. And from December 1, 20 km from the Line of Actual Control.
After the statement was issued, on December 1, the Chinese border troops began to withdraw on time. Premier Zhou ordered that all captured Officers and Men of the Indian Army be sent back to India, and that the objects and equipment captured during the war be washed and returned to India. The relevant personnel asked Premier Zhou for instructions on what color flags the Indian side should use when coming to collect the captured personnel and supplies.
According to international practice, the defeated countries should fly a white flag to indicate surrender. But Premier Zhou generously asked them to fly the green flag. Green represents peace. It also represents China's active policy of peaceful coexistence in foreign affairs. The Chinese government chose peace in the face of a military attack on India, which shocked the international community and made the international community feel the sincerity of China's peaceful diplomacy.