Report from the First Department of Asian Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 'A Comparison of China’s and India’s Actions since 21 November 1962'

A Comparison of China’s and India’s Actions since 21 November [1962]

27 December 1962

Compiled by the First Department of Asian Affairs

I. The Indian Government’s Anti-China Measures

1. Continuing Military Provocations:

Indian troops continuously follow our retreating troops to carry out provocations.

The Eastern Sector: [Indian troops] have been approaching our ceasefire line near Eagle Nest Mountain Pass since 27 November [1962].

The Western Sector: [Indian troops] invaded China’s Sipangul [Si-pan-gu-er-hu] Lake to carry out provocations on 4 December and 13 December.

Indian aircrafts continuously invaded the airspace above the encampments of our frontier defense forces and even the airspace above Tibet. On 22 December, two Indian planes invaded the airspace above the Sipangul Lake in the Western Sector. During just the single day of 10 December, nine Indian aircrafts invaded our territorial airspace, some even invading the airspace above Lhasa, the Sichuan-Tibet Highway, Gyantse [Jiangzi], Shigatse [Xigaze], and other regions.

2. Establishing Institutions to Plan Anti-China Activities and Strengthening War Preparations:

In late November, India’s national defense council created two commissions to plan anti-China activities: one is a nine-person commission for military affairs led by the Minister of National Defense and the other is a seven-person commission to study how to strengthen and direct combat against China led by the Minister of Interior Affairs. Through such commissions, the national defense committee is developing new “defense plans” and has proposed to call up nine kinds of volunteer team members. India is also carrying out compulsory military training throughout the country on the pretext of an emergency.

3. Formulating Laws and Decrees against China and Persecuting People in India

India’s Lok Sabha [House of the People] passed the “Law on Defending India” on 28 November. This law supersedes all laws and decrees promulgated by the Indian president for “emergency,” authorizes the government to formulate laws that may infringe upon people’s basic rights, and empowers the government to deal with any situation arising from an “emergency.” Other laws and decrees include the regulation implemented as of 2 December which prohibits trading with the traders of the “enemy;” the order declared on 3 December which prohibits planes registered with China or operated by the Chinese government or people from flying over India; and the decree for managing the assets of “detainees” promulgated on 22 December.

4. Further Restraining Our Embassy and Consulates from Performing Normal Duties:

Indian police and special agents continue to strengthen the supervision of our embassy and consulates and the Indian government have even openly admitted to this. Indian police prohibit Indians from entering our embassy and consulates. Armed police closely follow the personnel of our consulates and even stand beside when our personnel negotiate with Indian officials. When counselors of the embassy lived in the Calcutta Hotel, four special agents supervised them at the doors of their rooms in the hotel and followed them closely at every moment, even creating difficulties for our diplomatic personnel and insulting them. On 5 December, when the first secretary of our embassy took a plane to Bombay, he was intercepted at the airport by Indian policemen for 40 minutes. They continued to unreasonably insist that the personnel of China’s embassy and consulates obtain a permit issued by India before leaving, but such a permit was only for China’s embassy and consulates, so it was an utterly unreasonable discrimination. In addition, they continue to have mobs make trouble at China’s embassy and consulates.

5. Unilaterally Tearing up the Agreement for the Mutual Establishment of Consulates

On 3 December, the Indian government notified us that it was closing down its consulates in China on 15 December without any justifiable reason and that it requested China to take equivalent measures. In addition, India created all sorts of difficulties when our two consulates were forced to retreat.

6. Closing Down the Bank of China:

After India unreasonably closed down the Calcutta Branch and Bombay Office of the Bank of China in early November, on 10 December the Indian court illegally ordered the bank to suspend business and authorized a temporary liquidator as the official liquidator to operate all of the assets and affairs of the Bank of China. Seven family members (including a baby of only four months old) of the clerk Cao Qi’an were arrested, while India even hindered the employees of the bank from leaving India.

7. Completely Cutting Off Trade

After India notified that it was cancelling payments to China and stopping the opening letters of credit to China, it declared that it was going to “prohibit trading with the traders of the enemy” on 2 December.

8. Inspecting Posts and Telecommunications:

On 23 November, the Indian government unilaterally decided to inspect posts and telecommunications between China and India. India had suspended mail exchanges with Tibet since mid-November and, following diplomatic representation, it agreed to resume exchanges as of 30 December.

9. More Brutally Persecuting Chinese Nationals:

Since 20 November, all Chinese living in Assam and the five northern counties of West Bengal were detained in concentration camps. On 3 December, India’s interior minister declared that the number of arrested Chinese had reached 1,736 (now more than 2,000). The living conditions in the concentration camps are extremely bad and it is said that more than 30 people have died. The Indian government also obstructs our embassy and consulates from exercising the right of protecting Chinese in India, refuses the embassy from dispatching people to visit the detainees, and refuses to explain the situations of the arrested Chinese. A large number of Chinese who have not been arrested have lost their job, have had their property frozen (if they sell their properties, they will be imprisoned for five years), and their shops are unable to operate. Under the summons for interrogations and searches by the Indian authorities and threats and blackmail from mobs, the Chinese in India cannot live their lives normally and some have even been forced to commit suicide. Now India is continuing to prosecute and arrest Chinese in India, for example, Mr. and Mrs. Zhao Guo working in the All India Radio were arrested, and their 13-year-old daughter became homeless.

10. Strengthening Restrictions on Our Publications to Prevent Indian People from Learning the Truth of the Boundary Issues

On 1 December, the Indian customs declared that the Indian government was completely prohibiting any issue of Beijing Weekly from entering India. Then the Indian authorities ordered the confiscation of some communiqués published by our embassy and prohibited the publication and distribution of any materials related to the “Sino-India boundary issues.”

On 26 November, India’s interior minister clamored that citizens “should not” talk about China’s recommendations for peace; on 24 November, the interior minister of Punjab clamored to prohibit people from listening to China’s broadcast programs.

11. Strengthening Anti-China Propaganda and Creating a War Atmosphere

On 24 December, Reddy (India’s Minister of Propaganda and Broadcasting) said that the Indian government would restrict ads in newspapers to ensure more space for the coverage of war-related news. Recently, the press communiqué published by the Indian embassy in China reprinted a large number of anti-China special reports and information slandering and reviling China written by the Indian News Agency. It even published the anti-China resolution of reactionary Chinese groups in Jiang Jieshi’s [Chiang Kai-shek’s] clique.

II. Speeches of Indian Leaders Clamoring for a Long-Term War

1. At a gathering of children in New Delhi on 22 November, Nehru said the war with China would be long-term, “maybe it will be long enough so that when some of you grow up you will be fit for and prepared to fight against China.”

2. On 18 December, India’s vice president [Zakir] Hussein said that China had imposed the conflict upon India and India had “made the decision to spare no effort until the end.”

3. On 21 December, India’s president [Sarvepalli] Radhakrishnan said in Bombay that the government had decided that India should not give up before the last Chinese invader was evicted out of India and the basic condition for negotiating with China was that China “withdraws from our territory” occupied by China. He also said that “today, military power is the only solution to all kinds of insecurities.”

4. On 4 December, India’s foreign minister Mrs. [Shivshankar] Menon said in Colombo that, “along the Eastern Sector, we will push forward when the Chinese withdraw. We will not accept the claim that we should stay 20 kilometers away from McMahon Line. We must control the mountain passes in the special regions of the northeastern border.”

III. Our Measures:

1. Taking the Initiative to Ceasefire:

The Chinese frontier forces have completely ceased fire along the Sino-Indian border from midnight on 22 November.

2. Taking the Initiative to Withdraw:

From 1 December to 24 December 1962, we withdrew to Jade Pass [Gu-yu-tong] and Daba in the Eastern Sector, to the Line of Actual Control in the middle sector, and to Denge Dzong [Shen-ge-zong] in the Western Sector. The important places we have withdrawn from in the Eastern Sector are: Bang-di-la, Da-long-zong, Dirang Dzong [De-rang-zong], Mei-chu-ka, and Walong. In the Western Sector, we have withdrawn from Parigas [Ba-li-jia-si], Demchok [Die-mu-chuo-ke], La-duo, some watch houses in the Qi-pu-qia-pu River Valley and the Karakax headwater area. And we are still withdrawing.

3. Releasing India’s Wounded and Ill Soldiers

Since 5 December, we began to release the wounded and ill from the captured Indian soldiers. As of 31 December, we have released six groups, totaling 716 people.

4. Returning the Materials Collected by China’s Frontier Forces

From 6 December to 19 December during the withdrawal, China’s frontier forces returned the collected Indian weapons, ammunitions, and materials to the Indian army in Li-mi-he, Mei-chu-ka, Ji-ya, Walong, and Dirang Dzong, including two planes, more than 100 cars and trucks, about 200 cannons, and about 2 million bullets.

5. Providing Normal Treatment and Necessary Protection for the Indian Embassy and Consulates in China:

On 5 December, a secretary of India’s embassy admitted in Hong Kong that the personnel of India’s embassy in China were treated in the same manner as before the outbreak of the Sino-India boundary conflict.

6. Providing Adequate Conveniences for India to Withdraw Consulate Personnel:

We provided all possible conveniences during the withdrawal of India’s consulates. For example, we provided over 100 civilian workers and about 100 mules for India’s consulate general in Lhasa to transport materials to Yadong.