IB History Sino-indian War Key Definitions

The boundary between British India and Tibet established at the Simla Convention of 1914, running along the Himalayan watershed. China's PRC government rejected the McMahon Line as an illegitimate colonial imposition, claiming the territory south of it (now the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh) as Chinese. The dispute over this and other border sections was the primary cause of the 1962 Sino-Indian War.

The "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" agreed between China and India in April 1954: mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. The principles were jointly declared by Zhou Enlai and Jawaharlal Nehru and became a foundational text of Afro-Asian neutralism. The principles were ironically undermined by the Sino-Indian War just eight years later.

The Sino-Indian War was a brief but decisive military conflict between China and India over disputed Himalayan border territories in October-November 1962. China launched a two-pronged offensive in the Aksai Chin (western sector) and NEFA (northeastern sector). Indian forces were routed. China declared a unilateral ceasefire in November 1962 and withdrew from some territory, but retained Aksai Chin. The war shattered India's confidence in its military capability and ended Nehru's policy of Sino-Indian friendship.