squadrons built up massive forces in the "line of actual control"did not prejudice eastern sector and the Indians then made nu- either side's position in the territorial dis- merous additional shallow advances across pute,was exactly what Zhou Enlai had the McMahon Line.The commander behind sought in 1950 as the indispensable pre- this provocation had recently visited Viet- liminary to negotiation. nam and apparently acquired the belief that In 1996 a further agreement was signed, if the Chinese hit back,the Indian forces, on "confidence-building measures in the by now strongly equipped and well trained, military field"along the "line of actual con- could encircle and annihilate their enemies trol."India and China were beginning to -and thus erase the stain left by the rout of build up a relationship of mutual trust.Im- the army in 1962. plicit in that diplomatic and political pro- China declined to be provoked,although cess was an Indian admission,never to be it heavily reinforced along the threatened expressed of course and perhaps even sub- border.Washington,its position now re- conscious,that India was not a victim of versed from what it had been in 1962,ex- "China's armed aggression in 1962"but erted its decisive influence to induce the that the border war had contrary causes.It Indian government to call its army off.In- is that which makes the Indian government's dia extended an olive branch by seeking an revival of the old canard such a significant invitation for the prime minister,Rajiv Gan- and ominous reversal. dhi,to visit Beijing,and the slow search for rapprochement was resumed.The Indian A Bogus E.xcuse military challenge had left the opposing The Indian government's use of the "threat forces in dangerously close confrontation, from China"as an excuse for India's nuclear however,and political compulsions in India tests was doubly bogus.Not only was the meant that the Indians could not make sig- evidence advanced for the existence of the nificant unilateral disengagements.It was threat-"China's armed aggression in 1962" six years before New Delhi found a way to -spurious,but in fact China had very little remedy that situation,which had left the In- to do with the Indian government's decision dian army deployed in strength in offensive to test again.The PRC "went nuclear"in positions in immensely difficult terrain,a 1964 in the context of open threats of nu- posture of great strain and expense. clear attack against it from the United States At last an Indian government found the and the emerging hostility of the Soviet courage to begin to extricate the country Union:the dispute with India,always seen from the position in which Nehru had im- by Beijing as a passing irrelevance,had noth- paled it.Prime Minister Narasimha Rao and ing to do with that decision.The govern- his foreign secretary,J.N.Dixit,moved to ment responsible for India's one-off "peace- demolish one of the two great obstacles Neh-ful"nuclear explosion in 1974 made only ru had left in the way of pacification of the vague allusion to China's nuclear capacity, borders and their ultimate settlement:the and until the BJP came to power in 1998 refusal to join in a standstill agreement.Act- India,as has been seen,was moving toward ing with the utmost caution so that the poli- rapprochement with Beijing. ticians'chauvinism was not aroused,they The Indian tests,contrary to the BJP's negotiated with the Chinese an agreement justifications,had little or nothing to do "on the maintenance of peace and tranquil- with concern about the country's interna- ity along the line of actual control in the tional security environment-which was in India-China border areas,"signed as a treaty fact,before the tests,safer than it had ever in September 1993.That,with its crucial been.India's military superiority over Paki- disclaimer that the treaty's references to the stan was unchallengeable;there had never China's "Aggression in 1962"and the"Hindu Bomb" 117 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.Further reproduction prohibited without permission.Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission