317. Letter From Prime Minister Nehru to President Kennedy0
Dear Mr. President, Ambassador Chester Bowles and the U.K. High Commissioner Sir Paul Gore-Booth jointly handed over for the consideration of the Government of India a draft joint communique to our Foreign Secretary on the evening of the 7th.1 It is proposed that this joint communique, stating that we have agreed to seek the services of a mutually acceptable mediator to reach a settlement of the differences between India and Pakistan, should be issued by President Ayub Khan and myself. They said that a similar document was being handed over by their counterparts to the Pakistan Foreign Office at the same time.2
You have been in touch with developments in Pakistan during the last few months and must have seen statements made by responsible [Page 633] members of the Pakistan Government which are not only rabidly anti-Indian and aggressive, but which hold out threats of acting in concert with China against India. We do not know how Pakistan authorities will react to this U.K.-U.S. joint proposal, but we cannot understand how one can completely ignore the militant and aggressive attitude of Pakistan and proceed to make proposals for a mediatory effort for the consideration of the two Governments as if nothing had happened. Any move for a mediatory effort of this kind must have essential pre-requisite of a peaceful climate between the two countries. When there is absolutely no desire of any kind on one side to consider a peaceful approach and there is actual talk of war, a move like this towards peaceful processes cannot succeed merely because it is based on a delicately balanced and carefully drafted communique. As a matter of fact, hurried or forced move of this sort, in total disregard of the prevailing atmosphere and without the essential preliminary of preparation of the right climate between the two countries, would make things worse.
We are quite clear that the Chinese are making a bid for leadership not only in Asia but of the Communist world and this too only as a first step in their bid for world leadership. Chinese hostility to the U.S.A. and to the Western countries generally has been known for a long time and they have been trying to isolate the U.S.A. while offering attractive trade terms to other Western countries. The Chinese had hoped that the U.S.S.R. will play their game and assist in Chinese internal consolidation and industrialisation while at the same time containing the U.S.A. and Western countries generally. This hope did not materialise and internal differences which first arose in 1957 have now come out in the open. Though they have assumed the form of ideological differences, it is obvious that fundamental national interests are involved in these Sino-Soviet differences.
The latest Chinese campaign against the recent Test Ban Treaty is yet another illustration of their grand design. They detest any accommodation or understanding between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. or any easing of international tensions which comes in the way of their Asian and global ambition.
The Chinese want people in Afro-Asian and Latin American countries to adopt militant, aggressive and revolutionary attitudes and are against democratic evolutionary processes under stable regimes. They have been exploiting local quarrels between the countries in various regions all over the world to maintain an atmosphere of tension and conflict. In Asia, which is their first target and where India is the chief obstacle, they are playing very heavily with Pakistan against India and also playing to the extent possible with Indonesia against the other countries in South East Asia.
[Page 634]So far as India is concerned, the Chinese aim is not acquisition of territory in the border dispute. The border dispute raised by China formally for the first time towards the end of 1959 has come in as a handy excuse, but the real aim is to force on India a political settlement which will involve India re-orienting its policies to suit the pattern of Chinese global policies. Failing this, China would like to put all possible pressures on the Indian Government and cause internal disintegration as China regards India as the main obstacle in its plans of domination over Asia, because its democratic patterns of internal policy and its friendly and peaceful external policy have been accepted and welcomed by most of the countries of the world.
In the context of the Chinese global and local aims and the Chinese pressure on our borders, the joint mediatory move, in the current climate of Indo-Pakistan relations, will actually hinder our defence efforts against the Chinese threat. We have to devote all our energies to building up an adequate defence potential so that we do not have to negotiate with them from weakness or to submit to a political settlement of their dictation. We have, at the same time, to see that our development plans go ahead and we do not lose by back door what we are trying to save by protecting the front door. Your Government have been helping us in both these tasks handsomely and generously, but there is a great deal more to be done yet. Above all care has to be taken to see that the people in India who are making a monumental effort to meet the crisis they are facing are not discouraged or disheartened in any way. The draft joint communique of the type given to us for consideration by Ambassador Chester Bowles and High Commissioner Sir Paul Gore-Booth is not only not practical politics in the context of Pakistan’s current attitudes, but would only result in irritating the people in India and in dampening their ardour and keenness to face the Chinese threat.
As I have said repeatedly, we want friendly and cooperative relations with Pakistan and we would like to do whatever we can to reach this objective by exploring all possible avenues of settling our differences with Pakistan in a peaceful manner. Last May when Secretary of State Dean Rusk was here, we also suggested the quiet good offices of an eminent person acceptable to both parties to help in resolving all our differences. Since then much has happened and Pakistan is now practically lined up with China. Mere pushing ahead of institutional arrangements for a mediatory effort, regardless of the current climate, is no solution and might even make the situation worse. The necessary preparatory work by quiet diplomacy to get the appropriate atmosphere has to be put in first. We have, therefore, to face facts and wait and work for a better climate.
I am making a statement in Parliament on 13th August on the recent Indo-Pakistan Minister-level talks and on Indo-Pakistan relations. I am [Page 635] asking Ambassador B.K. Nehru to give you, for your advance information, a copy of the statement along with this message.
With kind regards,
Yours sincerely,
- Source: Kennedy Library, National Security Files, Countries Series, India, Nehru Correspondence, 4/1/63-8/31/63. No classification marking.↩
- Bowles reported on this demarche in telegram 608 from New Delhi, August 8. (Department of State, Central Files, POL 32-1 INDIA-PAK)↩
- McConaughy reported on August 8 that he had presented the joint U.S.-U.K. mediation proposal to Ayub on August 7, and that U.K. High Commissioner Sir Morrice James was presenting it to the Foreign Ministry on August 8. (Telegram 308 from Karachi; ibid.)↩
- Printed from a copy that indicates Nehru signed the original.↩