Nehru’s Foreign Policy: Relations with USA, USSR and China

When India became independent, the foreign portfolio was held by Nehru himself. A summary of key events that shaped India’s relations with other countries during Nehru era is as follows:

Initial Response of United States

As Prime Minister of the Interim Government in 1946, Nehru had stressed the strong “cultural” links between India and United States. But that was not of much interest for United States. The core subjects of US foreign policy were –Potential Danger from USSR and China, Freedom and Peace through NATO and military alliances, offering USAID to toe their line, a pure commercial approach with a want of business in other countries. Nehru was naturally disgusted with this ideology. Nevertheless, he visited United States in 1949 as prime minister of India. There was a cold response as India was viewed as a weak and backward country in need of food to feed her population.

United States also expected that India would accept American Line of policy, but Indian commitment in Non-alignment and independence was a different approach in her foreign policy. United States talked at a different wavelength.

Meanwhile, Pakistan was eager to accept American Military Alliance. Further, when Nehru took the Kashmir issue to United Nations, the West came in favour of Pakistan and made it an international dispute. This created first strain in Indo-US relations. In 1954, Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was signed and US formally entered into an alliance with Pakistan. The objective of SEOTO was to block further communist gains of Russia / China in South East Asia.

^^SEATO

SEATO was signed on September 8, 1954 and established formally in Bangkok in 1955. The prime objective was to stop communalism in South West Asia. The members were Australia,   France ,  New Zealand ,  Thailand ,  Pakistan, Philippines  United Kingdom ,  United States. It was basically a Southeast Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). India’ naturally had not to join this because Nehru championed Non-alignment and called SEOTO as veiled American Imperialism. This organization was later dissolved in 1977.^^

Pakistan joined SEATO as well giving a clear indication of its support to United States. After this Pakistan started getting huge military support from USA and this was something not acceptable to India, as India took it as extension of Cold War to Indian subcontinent. This policy of America became a major hindrance between Indo US relations and this shadowed the goodwill between India and US for a long term. India was assured that military aid to Pakistan was not to be used against India, but this assurance could not satisfy Indian People.

Initial Relationships with China

Between 1920s and 1949, China was caught in the fanatic competition between West and USSR. The country came in grip of a Civil War in 1927 between Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) and Communist Party of China (CPC). At that time, Kuomintang was the governing party of the Republic of China and was supported by West; while CPC was supported by USSR. It culminated into a full-fledged civil war called “War of Liberation” and ended in 1949 when Mao Zedong proclaimed the “Communist” People’s Republic of China. In this war, around two million nationalist Chinese had retreated from mainland China to the island of Taiwan, the new Republic of China.

The rise of Communist China in 1949 under Mao Zedong was welcomed by Nehru and underlining India’s relations with her neighbour, India decided to give full recognition to Communist China in 1949. Since it went against the policy of containing communist ideology, this further soured India’s relations with west. United States stood as a leading supporter for Taiwan (Republic of China), which India did not recognize. Not only this, India went ahead to recognize Tibet as part of China; and signed Panchsheel agreement with China to further cement the relationship. India also refused to allow US planes to fly over her airspace en-route to Indo-China.

Panchsheel Agreement

During Chinese premier Zhou Enlai’s visits to India and Myanmar in 1954, a joint statement was issued and initiated Panchsheel, the five principles of peaceful existence as follows: (1) Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity (2) Mutual non-aggression (3) Mutual non-interference in internal matters (4) Equality and mutual benefit (5) Peaceful co-existence.

Initial Relationships with USSR

Nehru was deeply influenced socialism and communism and was keen in establishing diplomatic relations between India and USSR. In 1947, he appointed his sister Vijay Laxmi Pandit as India’s ambassador to USSR but no substantial progress was made. In 1949, Pandit was succeeded by Dr. R. Radhakrishnan who was well known philosopher of those days. He unsuccessfully tried to give human touch to India-USSR relations but failed to impress Stalin.

Meanwhile, Nehru’s visit to United States in 1949 grew some suspicion in USSR and they invited Pakistan’s Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan to Moscow. But that person did not go to USSR and instead chose to visit United States on invitation of Harry S Truman {US President}. India and USSR came closer when US decided to furnish arms aid to Pakistan and the later joined SEATO.

The relations further got cemented when in 1953, India proposed in UN an armistice in Korea War {this was hailed by USSR}, and India refused to provide airspace to US planes; and India refused to join US sponsored pacts and chose Non-alignment as path of her foreign policy.

In 1955, when Nehru visited USSR, he received tumultuous welcome there and signed numerous agreements. This firm foundation of India-USSR friendship was called a Mouse Trap for Nehru by Western Powers. This was followed by a 3 weeks visit of Prime Minister of USSR {Alexandrovich Bulganin} and Secretary of Communist Party of Soviet Union {Nikita Khrushchev}. They visited 11 states including Jammu & Kashmir.

India-Russia-China Triangle in late 1950s

The Soviet Union gave India substantial economic and military assistance during the Khrushchev period, and by 1960 India had received more Soviet assistance than China had. In 1958, Khrushchev proposed a summit conference on the Middle East. In this conference, India was included but China was not.  In 1959, there was a border clash between India and China and Soviet Union called for talks and reaffirmed friendship with Both India and China. This pleased India but irked China. In 1960, India bought some military equipments from USSR.  In 1962 the Soviet Union agreed to transfer technology to co-produce the MiG-21 jet fighter in India, which the Soviet Union had earlier denied to China. It had supplied MiG 19 to China and MiG -21 was denied to China. By late 1950s, India was being seen as a Pro-Soviet country.

India-China Border Dispute and War

The war was culmination of tensions between the two countries due to errors done by British. Both India and China had two versions of maps of Aksai Chin, both created by British. In 1958, when China published this map with Aksai Chin as western stretch of its border, India had strongly protested this. Further, China considered Arunachal Pradesh as southern part of Tibet. China attacked and occupied 38,000 Km² territory of Aksai Chin, the strategic link between the Chinese-administered territories of Tibet and Xinjiang.

When China attacked India in 1962, USSR remained neutral, giving a huge set back. This was mainly because India perplexed both the blocks about her stance. During the war, US came with help in the crisis (but this help came too late, too little) and it was appreciated by Indian people. However, the US help was limited. This was because Nehru firmly declared that India would never compromise on policy of Non-alignment. The atmosphere post Indo-China war was in favor of good relations with US. However, in November 22, 1963, US President Kennedy was assassinated and this ended the possibility of some positive development in India-US relations.

Chinese aggression was not expected and was against the principle of Panchsheel and the slogan of Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai. The foreign policy of Nehru also came under sheer criticism. To a great extent, the defeat in Indo-China war of 1962s took a heavy toll on Nehru’s health and he could never come out of this for remaining two years of his life.