The Forward Policy and

‘Operation ONKAR’ continues...

Another factor which affected China’s decision for war with India

was a perceived need to stop a Soviet-US-India encirclement and

isolation of China. India’s relations with the Soviet Union and United

States were both strong at this time, but the Soviets were preoccupied

by the Cuban Missile Crisis and would not interfere with the SinoIndian War. P.B. Sinha and A.A. Athale suggest that China timed the war exactly in parallel with American actions so as to avoid any chance of American or Soviet involvement. American buildup of forces around

Cuba occurred on the same day as the first major clash at Dhola while

China’s buildup between the 10th and 20th of October coincided

exactly with the United States establishment of a blockade against Cuba

which began on the 20th of October.

The Chinese leadership believed that their restraint on the issue was

being perceived by India as weakness, leading to continued

provocations, and that a major counterblow was needed to stop

perceived Indian aggression. Chinese national pride, and their strong

perceived need to avoid ‘loss of face’ were two intangibles not properly

assessed by India.

In May 1962 an Assam Rifles column under Capt. Mahabir Prasad

of 1st Sikhs was sent westwards across the Nyamjang Chu and over the

Hathung La-Karpola Ridge, to establish a post on the India-BhutanTibet (China) tri-junction. The post was set up on 4th June, 1962, as close as possible to the tri-junction, located below Dhola, at a summer grazing ground named Tse Dong, on the south bank of the Namka

Chu. [The Namka Chu is a 24 km long mountain rivulet flowing

eastwards from the India-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction area, running

immediately south of the Thagla Ridge to join the Nyamjang Chu (river)

near Khinzemane.] The post later came to be referred to as the Dhola

Post. Chinese histories of the 1962 Sino-Indian border war cite this

incident as the start of the war, which they show as beginning in June

1962.

To be continued...