Chief Of Defence Staff On Why Nehru Wanted Panchsheel Agreement With China

India recognised Tibet as part of China in 1954 and the two neighbours signed the Panchsheel Agreement, which India assumed meant the settlement of the northern border though a formal treaty, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan said at an event in Uttarakhand's Dehradun.

"... But the Chinese stand was that this agreement was negotiated only for trade, and it in no way reflected the Chinese stand on the border," General Chauhan said.

To this day, the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the harsh Himalayan terrain remains sensitive.

Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's first prime minister, and the then Chinese premier Zhou Enlai signed the Panchsheel Agreement, or five principles including peaceful coexistence.

"... The British left, they had to leave one day, and it was for India to decide where our front is. Nehru probably knew that we had something as McMahon Line in the east; we had some kind of a claim in the Ladakh area, but it was not here [in the east]. So that's why he wanted to go for the Panchsheel Agreement, probably," the CDS said.

The 890-km McMahon Line was the boundary between British India and Tibet in the east.

General Chauhan said the Chinese wanted stability in the area after its "so-called" liberation of Tibet.

Tibet Factor

"For the Chinese also, because they had kind of liberated, so-called liberated Tibet - they had moved into Lhasa, they had moved into Xinjiang - this particular area was extreme from both ends, so they wanted stability, probably in this particular region.

"So this area assumed some kind of a priority. Independent India was keen to build a good relationship with China, and once China gained independence in 1949, it pursued neither its claims for enclaves and gave up the special privileges which it inherited from the British," General Chauhan said.

According to him, after China occupied Tibet and India recognised China for having a permanent seat in the United Nations, the "Himalayan buffer" which was there between India and Tibet "evaporated" and that would convert into a border.

"In 1954, India recognized Tibet as part of China; both countries signed the Panchsheel Agreement. With this, India assumed that it had settled its border, the northern border, the only area which we assumed that was not settled, through a formal kind of a treaty.

"For India, the legitimacy of this border now rested on the Panchsheel Agreement, which it thought had been delimited by identifying six passes through which trade would take place or pilgrims would go, that are Shipki La, Mana, Niti, Kingri-Bingri, Lipulekh and Dharma," General Chauhan said.

The Chinese, however, clarified that the Panchsheel Agreement had nothing to do with its stand on the border, the CDS said.

The deadliest clash in recent years along the LAC between Indian and Chinese troops happened in June 2020, when 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action while defending the nation. Over 30 Chinese soldiers were killed, according to intelligence reports.