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Sino-Indian War
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The Sino-Indian War (Hindi: - Bhrat-Chn

Yuddh), also known as the Sino-Indian Border Conflict Sino-Indian War
(simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese:
; pinyin: Zhng-Yn Binjng Zhnzhng), was a war
between China and India that occurred in 1962. A disputed
Himalayan border was the main pretext for war, but other
issues played a role. There had been a series of violent border
incidents after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when India had
granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. India initiated a Forward
Policy in which it placed outposts along the border, including The Sino-Indian War was fought between India and
several north of the McMahon Line, the eastern portion of a China
Line of Actual Control proclaimed by Chinese Premier Zhou Date 20 October[1] 21 November 1962
Enlai in 1959.
Location Aksai Chin and North-East Frontier
Unable to reach political accommodation on disputed territory Agency
along the 3,225-kilometre-long Himalayan border,[8] the Result Chinese victory
Chinese launched simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and
Territorial Indian posts and patrols removed
across the McMahon Line on 20 October 1962. Chinese troops
changes from Aksai Chin, which comes under
advanced over Indian forces in both theatres, capturing Rezang
la in Chushul in the western theatre, as well as Tawang in the exclusive Chinese control.
eastern theatre. The war ended when China declared a ceasefire Belligerents
on 20 November 1962, and simultaneously announced its
India China
withdrawal from one of the two disputed areas. Indian posts
and patrols were removed from Aksai Chin, which came under Commanders and leaders
direct Chinese control after the end of the conflict. Brij Mohan Kaul Luo Ruiqing (chief of
(Chief of General Staff of PLA staff)[2]
The Sino-Indian War is notable for the harsh mountain
the Indian Army) Zhang Guohua (field
conditions under which much of the fighting took place,
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
entailing large-scale combat at altitudes of over 4,000 metres commander)[3]
(President of India)
(14,000 feet).[9] The Sino-Indian War was also noted for the Mao Zedong
Jawaharlal Nehru
non-deployment of the navy or air force by either the Chinese (Chairman of the Central
or Indian side. (Prime Minister of India)
Committee of the
V. K. Krishna Menon
Communist Party of
It is noteworthy that the buildup and offensive from China (Defence Minister of
China)
occurred concurrently with the 13-day Cuban Missile Crisis India)
Liu Bocheng
(1628 October 1962) that saw both the United States and the General Pran Nath Thapar
Soviet Union confronting each other, and India did not receive (Marshal of PLA)
(Chief of Army Staff of
assistance from either of these world powers until the Cuban Lin Biao
the Indian Army)
Missile Crisis was resolved. (Vice Chairman of the
Communist Party of
China)
Contents Zhou Enlai
(Premier of the People's
1 Location Republic of China)
2 Background Strength
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2.1 Aksai Chin 10,00012,000 80,000[4][5]

2.2 The McMahon Line
3 Events leading up to war Casualties and losses
3.1 Tibet and the border dispute 1,383 killed 722 killed
3.2 1960 meetings to resolve the boundary 1,047 wounded 1,697 wounded[6][7]
question
1,696 missing
3.3 The Forward Policy
3.4 Early incidents 3,968 captured[6]
4 Confrontation at Thag La
5 Chinese and Indian preparations
5.1 Motives
5.2 Military planning
6 Chinese offensive
6.1 Eastern theatre
6.2 Western theatre
7 Lull in the fighting
8 Continuation of war
8.1 Eastern theatre
8.2 Western theatre
9 Ceasefire
10 World opinion
11 Involvement of other nations
12 Aftermath
12.1 China
12.2 India
12.2.1 Internment and deportation of
Chinese Indians
13 Later conflicts
14 Diplomatic process
15 In popular culture
16 See also
17 Further reading
18 References
19 External links

Location
China and India shared a long border, sectioned into three stretches by Nepal, Sikkim (then an Indian protectorate),
and Bhutan, which follows the Himalayas between Burma and what was then West Pakistan. A number of disputed
regions lie along this border. At its western end is the Aksai Chin region, an area the size of Switzerland, that sits
between the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang and Tibet (which China declared as an autonomous region in
1965). The eastern border, between Burma and Bhutan, comprises the present Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh
(formerly the North East Frontier Agency). Both of these regions were overrun by China in the 1962 conflict.

Most combat took place at high altitudes. The Aksai Chin region is a desert of salt flats around 5,000 metres above
sea level, and Arunachal Pradesh is mountainous with a number of peaks exceeding 7,000 metres. The Chinese
Army had possession of one of the highest ridges in the regions. The high altitude and freezing conditions also
cause logistical and welfare difficulties; in past similar conflicts (such as the Italian Campaign of World War I)
harsh conditions have caused more casualties than have enemy action. The Sino-Indian War was no different, with
many troops on both sides dying in the freezing cold.[10]

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Background
The cause of the war was a dispute over the sovereignty of the widely
separated Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh border regions. Aksai Chin,
claimed by India to belong to Kashmir and by China to be part of Xinjiang,
contains an important road link that connects the Chinese regions of Tibet
and Xinjiang. China's construction of this road was one of the triggers of
the conflict.

Aksai Chin

The western portion of the Sino-Indian boundary originated in 1834, with

the Sikh Confederacy's conquest of Ladakh. In 1842, the Sikh Confederacy, Pre-Simla British map published in
which at the time ruled over much of Northern India (including the frontier 1909 shows the so-called "Outer
regions of Jammu and Kashmir), signed a treaty which guaranteed the Line" as India's northern boundary
integrity of its existing borders with its neighbours.[11] The British defeat of
the Sikhs in 1846 resulted in transfer of sovereignty over Ladakh, part of
the Jammu and Kashmir region, to the British, and British commissioners
contacted Chinese officials to negotiate the border. The boundaries at its
two extremities, Pangong Lake and Karakoram Pass, were well defined, but
the Aksai Chin area in between lay undefined.[12]

W. H. Johnson, a civil servant with the Survey of India, proposed the

"Johnson Line" in 1865, which put Aksai Chin in Kashmir.[13] Johnson
presented this line to the Maharaja of Kashmir, who then claimed the
18,000 square kilometres contained within.[13] Johnson's work was
severely criticised as inaccurate. His boundary line was described as
"patently absurd", and extending further north than the Indian claim.[9]
Johnson was reprimanded by the British Government for crossing into
Khotan without permission and resigned from the Survey.[9][13][14] The
The western portion of the disputed
Maharajah of Kashmir constructed a fort at Shahidulla (modern-day
boundary.
Xaidulla), and had troops stationed there for some years to protect
caravans.[15] According to Francis Younghusband, who explored the region
in the late 1880s, there was only an abandoned fort and not one inhabited house at Shahidulla when he was there -
it was just a convenient staging post for the nomadic Kirghiz.[16] The abandoned fort had apparently been built a
few years earlier by the Kashmiris.[17] In 1878 the Chinese had reconquered Xinjiang, and by 1890 they already
had Shahidulla before the issue was decided.[13] By 1892, China had erected boundary markers at Karakoram
Pass.[9]

In 1893, Hung Ta-chen, a senior Chinese official at Kashgar, handed a map of the boundary proposed by China to
George Macartney, the British consul-general at Kashgar.[15] This boundary placed the Lingzi Tang plains, which
are south of the Laktsang range, in India, and Aksai Chin proper, which is north of the Laktsang range, in China.
Macartney agreed with the proposal and forwarded it to the British Indian government. The British presented this
line, known as the Macartney-MacDonald line, to the Chinese in 1899 in a note by Sir Claude MacDonald.[9] In
1911 the Xinhai Revolution resulted in power shifts in China, and by the end of World War I, the British officially
used the Johnson Line. However they took no steps to establish outposts or assert actual control on the
ground.[9][13] According to Neville Maxwell, the British had used as many as 11 different boundary lines in the
region, as their claims shifted with the political situation.[18] From 1917 to 1933, the "Postal Atlas of China",
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