Chou En-lai Comes to India
ATREYA
CHOU EN-LAI COMES TO INDIA By Atreya Nehru calls Tibetan sell-out an 'achievement' New Delhi "Chou-Nehru bhai, bhai! Hind-Cheen bhai, bhai!" (Chou-Nehru brothers! India-China brothers !),...
...There was a crowd of about 3-4,000 people at the airfield, about half of whom had been mobilized by Communist fronts...
...public opinion...
...The only bold lead America can give, according to these observers, is a direct, militantly democratic, anti-imperialist approach which would, if necessary, call for direct U.S...
...India-China brothers !), screamed the hysterical fellow-travelers...
...Basking in the official aura of the "2,000-year-old friendship" between India and China, and the more practical directives of the Prime Minister himself, the Delhi State Congress party is reported to have commandeered 100 State Transport buses to carry the Delhi populace to the Palam Airport to give Chou a rousing reception...
...The difficulty, however, is getting this approach accepted by U.S...
...Other commentators urge shrewd bargaining for full freedom for Cambodia and Laos as the best possible deal in the face of French imperialist blunders, abetted by the United States...
...The real significance of Chou's visit is indicated by an analysis of the India-Red China treaty on Tibet, hailed by Nehru as the "greatest diplomatic achievement in our six years of independence," but termed a "sell-out of Tibet" by many other Indians...
...One Delhi daily mischievously reported that Panikkar wired the Prime Minister requesting an invitation to be in Delhi during Chou's visit...
...Kudos for arranging Chou's visit to New Delhi went to Krishna Men-on, leader of the Indian UN delegation...
...In his talks with Chou, Nehru pointedly referred to the spirit of the agreement on Tibet, particularly in regard to the clauses dealing with (1) non-aggression, (2) nonintervention, (3) peaceful coexistence, (4) respect for territorial integrity, and (5) settlement of all disputes by negotiation...
...The Indian press, already tense over U.S...
...The Peace Committee, the India-China Friendship Society, the Indo-Soviet Cultural Society all mustered crowds, and the impression one got from the press was that everything came to a standstill in the thrill of Chou's visit...
...In this he is supported by another Asian nation, Indonesia, whose present Communist-backed minority Government also plumped for an Asian regional-security pact including, Red China immediately after the Indian-Chinese treaty on Tibet was signed...
...military aid to Pakistan, went into ecstasies at the idea of the two "greatest nations in the world" ("Asian" nations at that) coming so close together...
...The Indian Communists mobilized trucks, offering free rides to and from the airport to those who wanted to see Chou En-lai...
...Beware, Westerners," "Hands off Asia," "Asia for the Asians," "Asians will not fight Asians," "China and India constitute half of mankind"—these were the slogans...
...The former Indian Ambassador to Peking, Sardar Panikkar, who was in Bangalore, rushed to New Delhi "to be available" to Nehru during Chou's visit...
...These have a strong appeal for the Indian Prime Minister...
...intervention where freedom is threatened...
...Actually, for all the noise made, for all the official mobilization and the fanfare of publicity, the Delhi citizen reacted to Chou with typical Indian courtesy and hospitality, but with no artificial enthusiasm...
...A large portion of the remainder was the result of official mobilization by the Government...
Vol. 37 • July 1954 • No. 29
