Hissing Dragon-Squirming Tiger:

Comparisons, Negotiations

and Attitudes continues....

In the central sector, Nehru took the position that the line of the passes mentioned in the 1954 Panchsheel Agreement was the line of the boundary. As a matter of fact, even during the six-month period that this infamous agreement was under discussion, the Chinese negotiators had objected to the naming of these passes, because they firmly believed that they lay within Tibet.

However, since they were the great gainers by the finalization of this treaty as quickly as possible, and because it was meant to be an Indo-Tibet trade and transit agreement, and not a boundary settlement, they went along with this formulation. Based on this, Nehru incorrectly believed he had settled the boundary in this sector. The Chinese gained their first international recognition of Tibet’s ‘legal’ position as part of China, but even more importantly at that time, with this treaty in hand they could immediately begin to negotiate with India regarding the import of food for famine-hit Tibet.

The famine, the first in Tibet’s history, was caused by the influx of large numbers of Chinese troops with no established supply chain from mainland China. The great benefit to China was entirely to India's strategic disadvantage:

(1) The rice imports from India reduced internal unrest in Tibet, as food became available;

(2) Chinese garrisons still spreading out and consolidating their hold on Tibet could be logistically supported; and

(3) The Tibetan forced labour being used as road-construction gangs all over Tibet, which had started refusing to work as there was no food in the harsh camps, could be given food to eat.



(In the meantime, the Defence Minister, Krishna Menon, had refused to

accept two reconnaissance reports of the Indian Army’s which had already become aware of the existence of this road; the first recce had been carried out by an officer of the Madras Engineers, and the second by a British national, Sidney Wignall , on behalf of the Indian Army).