Sir Henry McMahon, a British colonial administrator, drew a line along the Himalayas at the Simla Convention of 1913-14, demarcating what would in later years become the effective boundary between China and India. The boundary, disputed by India's northern neighbour, has had a profound effect on the relations between the two Asian giants, resulting most prominently in the war of 1962 but also in several skirmishes and stand-offs both before and after that. It continues to be a thorn in the side - reaching a flashpoint at the tri-junction between Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan in Doklam in 2017 - and may derail all the progress in bilateral ties if left unattended. General J.J. Singh examines the evolution of the boundary and the nuances of British India's Tibet policy from the eighteenth century through to India's Independence, analyses the repercussions for contemporary times and puts forth recommendations for the way ahead.

Fifty years ago, India went through a tragic event which has remained a deep scar in the country’s psyche: a border war with China. During the author’s archival peregrinations on the Himalayan border, he goes into some relatively little known issues, such as the checkered history of Tawang; the British India policy towards Tibet and even the possibility for India to militarily defend the Roof of the World. The author also looks into why the Government still keeps the Henderson Brooks Report under wraps and what were Mao’s motivations for ‘teaching India a lesson’. Throughout this series of essays, the thread remains the Tibet-India frontier in the North-East and the Indo-Chinese conflict. The more one digs into this question, the more one discovers that the entire issue is intimately linked with the history of modern Tibet; particularly the status of the Roof of the World as a de facto independent nation. British India had a Tibet Policy, Independent India, did not. This led to the unfortunate events of 1962.

The Simla Convention of 1914, held between Great Britain, China, and Tibet, demarcated the border between India and Tibet and gave birth to the McMahon Line. This volume critically examines the legacy of the 1914 Conference and explores its relevance in scholarly discourse about the status of Tibet and Sino-Indian relations more than a hundred years later. The book discusses the significance of the Simla Conference both in terms of the geo-politics of boundaries as well as the people and the liminal borderlands they occupy, encapsulating the culture and diversity of the trans-Himalayan regions. It explicates how colonial legacies, viz., the 1914 Simla Convention, have become virtual straitjackets, hardening the positions on the boundaries between India and China. It also looks at the debilitating consequences of the nation-state framework on more substantial investigations of the borderlands. Rich in archival material and drawing from the authors’ fieldwork in the Himalayan regions, this book analyses muted voices of the inhabitants of the region to bring into focus the larger question of the political, economic, religious, ecological and social life of the Himalayan peoples, which has enormous implications for both India and China. This volume will be of interest to students of history, international relations, sociology, strategic studies, Asian studies and anthropology.

This book explores Sino-Indian tensions from the angle of state-building, showing how they stem from their competition for the Himalayan people's allegiance.

This is one of those rare books that puts an entirely new light on a chapter of history, and it must be read by anyone concerned with international affairs. Although cool and scholarly it unrolls like a fascinating thriller. It is an important work of revisionist history and a gruesome study of the way in which wars start, superbly documented (largely from official Indian sources but also from secret Indian papers) and beautifully sustained. By showing how India led the world up the garden path it demolishes and throws to the wind a pillar of the 'contain China' doctrine -- the belief that in 1962 India was the victim of unprovoked Chinese aggression. Maxwell's book is magnificent on every count, an historical achievement of the first rank.

"On 1 October 1949, the People's Republic of China came into being and changed forever the course of Asian history. Power moved from the hands of the nationalist Kuomintang government to the Communist Party of China headed by Mao Tse Tung. All of a sudden, it was not only an assertive China that India had to deal with but also an increasingly complex situation in Tibet which was reeling under pressure from China. Clearly, newly independent India, with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at its helm, was navigating very choppy waters. Its relations with China progressively deteriorated, eventually leading to the Indo-China war in 1962. Today, more than six decades after the war, we are still plagued by border disputes with China that seem to routinely grab the headlines. It leads one to question what exactly went on during those initial years of the emergence of a new China"--Publisher's summary.