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Chinese lessons: A thread (13) on understanding Chinese perceptions of India via past crises. History is an imperfect guide, but worldviews & habits change slowly, so it is worth understanding how China has historically perceived India's efforts to provide for its own security.
Most accounts of India-China relations contain the claim that Mao ordered the invasion of India in 1962 to "teach India a lesson" for its Forward Policy, which allegedly had designs on destabilizing Chinese control of Tibet. For example, MacFarquhar quoted in Lintner.
Prior to the Sumdorong Chu crisis, India had decided to shore up its military presence in Arunachal. In reply, China destroyed an Indian post in SC in 1986, leading Gen Sundarji to launch Operation Falcon, airlifting a brigade to Zemithang, near Tawang. https://www.orfonline.org/research/operation-falcon-when-general-sundarji-took-the-chinese-by-surprise/
Around the same time in Oct 1986, Deng Xiaoping told US SecDef Weinberger that India was "nibbling" on Chinese territory and that China would have to "teach India a lesson." Below from @manjeetsp's excellent article on the Sumdorong Chu crisis.
Dec 1986, when India amended its constitution to create the state of Arunachal Pradesh, the CCP-controlled HK newspaper Wen Wei Po claimed India was legalizing the occupation of PRC territory. In reference to Sumdorong Chu, it said 1962 "may serve as a lesson." Below from Garver.
July 2017, in the midst of the Doklam crisis, a Global Times article stated: "To such an unruly neighbor, China should reciprocate in a language that India can understand...If memory is short on the Indian side, perhaps there should be a second lesson." https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1057817.shtml
June 24, 2020, in an article on the border clash, the GT editor wrote, "The PLA has taught a lesson to the Indian side, which has always misjudged Chinese people's determination & advantages." In both 2017 & 2020, more than one article used this metaphor. https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1192622.shtml
The metaphor of the lesson, occurring repeatedly, presumes a teacher & a student. A powerful, more educated actor schooling an unruly ignorant pupil. Much has been written about China's self-perceived civilizational superiority over Asia. This is perhaps one strand of it.
Other lessons from history:
1. Whenever India has sought to shore up its defences near the LAC, China has become irritated and sought to teach India a lesson. The main sensitivity seems to be around peripheral regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang.
1. Whenever India has sought to shore up its defences near the LAC, China has become irritated and sought to teach India a lesson. The main sensitivity seems to be around peripheral regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang.
2. The role of Arunachal becoming a state in the Sumdorong Chu crisis shows that administrative changes, while entirely legitimate, legal, and the act of a sovereign government, can have negative security externalities. The same may be true of Ladakh becoming a UT.
3. The immediate Sumdorong Chu crisis was resolved by the demonstration of Indian capabilities and resolve via Operation Chequerboard, as well as EAM N.D. Tiwari's visit to Beijing to make peace. Strength on one hand, openness to diplomacy on the other.
Instead of being wilfully blind & deaf to what aggravates China for fear of "legitimizing Chinese aggression" or "delegitimizing Indian policy," India (and Indians) should understand how China perceives India & its actions along the LAC.
Only then can India plan for the security dilemma dynamics inherent in India's growing capabilities along the LAC, the security externalities of domestic policy, and the civilizational baggage that attends to any conversation with the People's Republic. /END
