Forgetting 1962, can India and China be friends?

Momentous 1962

It was a year of many firsts – American John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in February, 1962, Beatles recorded their single “Love me Do”, America’s sweetheart Marilyn Monroe sang Happy Birthday to President Kennedy which was also her last public appearance before her death a few months later.

Spider-man of Marvel made his maiden appearance in a comic.

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Brazil beat Czechoslovakia 3-1 to win the 1962 World Cup and Pele became a household name the world over.

The United States created the Navy Seals and the first Walmart store opened in the same year. Oscar-winning movie Lawrence of Arabia opened for public in December.

And amid all this between October 20th to November 20th, when the Indian subcontinent trembled as India and China went to war, the Cuban missile crisis was at its height with America & Russia close to World War III.

Why are countries attacked on weekends?

That date - October 20th, and as it happens had to be a Friday – ever wondered why an invasion is always executed on a Friday through to Sunday?

History has been witness to many wars breaking out on a weekend – the attack on Pearl Harbour by Japanese bombers on December, 7th 1941, also known as the ‘day of infamy’ on a Sunday.

Operation Barbarossa: Hitler's Germany attacked Russia on Friday, 20th June 1941.

Nearly 150 years earlierNapolean’s Grand Army began its assault on ‘Fortress Russia’ on a Saturday, 24th June1815.

The logic is simple: An attack on a weekend is the ultimate 'surpriseelement' as most offices are closed, bureaucrats are busy planning their holidays and the general public has its guard down, it is the best time as any to strike!

India & China: Locked eye-to-eye

This time, India'sMinistry of Defense officials and PM Jawaharlal Nehru knew beforehand war clouds had gathered over the Indo-Sino borderbecause Indian and Chinese soldiers were locked in an eye-to-eye conformation at the LAC, reminiscent of the recent Doklam crisis.

Also, to make matters worse a few years earlier the Dalai Lama had escaped to India, walking all the way from his homeland in Tibet to take refuge in Nehru’s India.

It had of course been less than 15 years since both China and India had gained their independence – India became free of British Raj on 15th August 1947 and China under Mao founded the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, naturally the two big powers were keen to assert themselves on the world stage.

As things stand, 55 years later both countries now see each other as “frenemies”, not in the Hindi-Chini bhai, bhai sense, but more or less as “equal partners” on the world stage in a post-cold war as the centre of the universe shifts towards BRICS and ASEAN.

After another 50 years, when India and China recallthat dull, dreary day at the border on October 20, 1962, experts won’t be thinking about what happened that day but perhaps how two men perhaps unwittingly may have brought the Tiger and Dragon together – Deng Xiaoping, who literally 'opened up'China to the world in 1978 and India's then finance minister Manmohan Singh who spearheadedeconomic reforms in 1991.

The Net effect of Deng and Manmohan Singh would be seen as a turning point when historians get down to write about India-China and the relevance of October, 20th, 1962 in the lives of the two countries.

Economies win-or-lose wars

It is often said Armies do not win wars, economies make-or-break wars. Wars are won by nations who can constantly keep the tap open for the supply of food, raw material and other resources.

A closer look at the GDP of the two Asian giants reveals the real story.

China's GDP in 1962 was at $47.21 billion, slightly ahead of India's GDP at $41.6 billion. China had only one bank - People’s Bank of China(PBC) - till 1978. However, after Deng's groundbreaking market reforms PBC turned into a monetary authority.

In the 80s, China began to be recognised as the "Dragon in the making" as Deng's reforms began to show results. India, however, was still a sleeping giant at that time, Indians had to wait for more than a decade until finance minister Manmohan Singh unveiled hisreform agenda.

China, Japan and India currently dominate Asia's GDP rate.

In the post-1962 world, India and China find themselves on opposite poles - India as a rising power is now aligned with the US and China the dominant Asian giant, poised to overtake the US economy in the next decade is still trying to define its philosophy through a raft of policies, declarations and deals across the world.

China’s supreme leader Xi Jinping, 64, would have very scant memories of that day as a nine-year-old. India has changed too, PM Modi, 67, who recently met Xi at the BRICS summit would also have to strain himself to remember the India-China conflict. As the clock turns and a new generation takes control on either side of LAC, an opportunity knocks.

The big question is: Is there a dreamer in our midst in India who can bring back the True spirit of Hindi, Chini bhai bhai and make the subcontinent the Centre of World Existence?

The search is on as the world awaits with baited breath…