Chinese Dragon, Hidden Truths!

Do you know why China attacked us in 1962? I recently felt very stupid reading the apparent justification for China's action when infact I should have been taught all this in High School. My teachers apparently failed to educate me on the legacy of the McMahon Line left behind by our colonial masters. The chinese claim on Aksai Chin, Ladakh, Sikkim, Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh (all part of ancient Tibet taken by the wily British) following their invasion of Lhasa doesn't look out of place.

Besides why does India continue to lie about the actual ground positions in Kashmir, Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh (or South Tibet as China calls it!) to its own people through its text books and maps? For all our spitting on Musharaff's Kargil, didn't we do the same in Siachin (even if it was on AGPL)?

Moral issues apart, how can an Indian Prime Minister sell any border settlement with China and Pakistan to large sections of India's masses who don't have a clue about Aksai Chin, Trans-Karakoram tract, Siachin or Sikkim and remain blissfully unaware that Sikkim was an independent country until 1972 and that Arunachal Pradesh was previously a Union Territory called North East Frontier province. It is in our interest to let people know the facts.

And finally, I look at Nehru with restored awe. I had always felt that Nehru in 1962 was a senile leader who lost Indian territory with his 'place where even grass doesn't grow' speech. But perhaps he was gracious enough to admit that India's claim over 'Tibetan remains' was not solidly defendable. And today as India looks completely irrevelant in the Korean nuclear issue, we can look back nostalgically to Nehru led Indian draft armistice agreement which brought the Korean war to an end.