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THE THICK RED LINE
By Ananth Krishnan
T
he McMahon Line is, in many the present and future of India-China
ways, the perfect embodiment relations. He sees the various border
of the smoke and mirrors agreements to keep the peace as a sig-
clouding India-China rela- nificant achievement, but cautions India
tions. The line, perhaps the most widely to not lower its guard, to continuously
known element of the boundary dispute, modernise its capabilities and build a
is often misunderstood in the media and more robust deterrence to raise the cost
public imagination. Right from where of conflict to a prohibitive level. He also
it runs (not along the entire border, but makes a case for settling the border and
only in the east, from Bhutan to Myan- reminds us that “a certain amount of
mar), its origins (the 1914 Simla confer- accommodation will have to be made by
ence), or even its spelling (more often both sides”. This would require a “bold”
spelled as “McMohan”, invoking some and “high level political coup”, he writes,
improbable Scottish-Tamil heritage). THE McMAHON LINE “not retarded by the cautiousness likely
There are few people better placed A Century of Discord to be injected by officials”. Yet to most
by J.J. Singh
to demystify the McMahon Line, drawn HARPERCOLLINS people in both countries, the idea of
on a map by Sir Henry McMahon in red ` 799, 464 pages redrawing maps, or even the slightest
ink with a thick nib, than General J.J. accommodation, remains anathema.
Singh (retd). Not only is Singh a former Of the many lessons from 1962
chief of army staff (2005-2007) with a outlined here, from ill-preparedness
five-decade career in the army, he is also Singh sees the to misreading China, one has particu-
a former governor of Arunachal Pradesh border agreements lar relevance today. Singh writes how
(2008-13), an office he held post- between India Nehru’s insistence that there was no
retirement, giving him both a military
and civilian-political experience of the
and China as dispute at all left him unable to even
consider Zhou Enlai’s 1960 offer to
eastern section of the border. significant, but settle. “What was not articulated or
This excellently researched and well- cautions India to amplified adequately to the people of
woven book is about much more than not lower its guard India was that Britain had bequeathed
the McMahon Line. It is an extremely unto India no defined political boundary
readable history of the origins of the from Shaksgam and Karakoram right
boundary dispute, with a focus on the up to Nepal.... If only the people of both
eastern sector, and the dynamic relations countries had been told the truth from
between British India, Tibet and China, have...demanded or insisted on Chinese the beginning, the war could possibly
the complex legacy of which we are still acceptance of the Indo-Tibetan bound- have been averted.” But even 50 years on,
grappling with. Of the McMahon Line ary of 1914 or the McMahon Line”. the truth about the origins of the bound-
itself, Singh writes a gripping narrative Singh also questions the entrenched ary dispute eludes the people of both
of the Simla Conference proceedings, the narrative of the Chinese road construc- countries. Singh provides us a timely
colourful characters involved and of its tion through Aksai Chin—which, in reminder that the borders that India and
acrimonious end and failure. some sense, triggered the events leading China both claim with such finality and
Some of the most interesting insights up to the war—as being a complete conviction today were, in 1947 and 1949,
are in the lead-up to the 1962 India- surprise, noting that India, which pos- far from as settled as both governments
China war. Singh doesn’t spare Jawahar- sessed capabilities of aerial photography would like their people to believe, the
lal Nehru and writes how the privileges thanks to Canberra aircraft, could have imperfect legacies of a long and mostly
acquired painstakingly by British India sent a couple of sorties and seen all. “Was forgotten history. n
in Tibet were squandered in one stroke it that the unpalatable truth was being
in 1954. “It is difficult to comprehend deliberately brushed under the carpet? I The author is visiting fellow at
why India did not seek any quid pro quo believe this to be the case,” he suggests. Brookings India and was previously
for this one-sided… largesse. We could In the last three chapters, he assesses India Today’s China correspondent
12 INDIA TODAY J U LY 1 , 2 019
