India wants to prevent another 1962 war with China: WikiLeaks
Published:Sep 5, 2011, 21:21 IST
New Delhi | Agency: PTI
India wants to maintain "regular dialogue" with China to avoid "misunderstandings" and "accidents" that had led to the 1962 war, leaked US diplomatic cables have said.
According to the cables released by WikiLeaks, former National Security Advisor MK Narayanan had told then US Ambassador Timothy Roemer that India wants to "maintain a regular dialogue with China so as to avoid a repeat of the 1962 India-China war" that was caused, according to Narayanan, by a series of "misunderstandings and accidents".
Narayanan had told Roemer that while Chinese incursions were continuing into the Indian territory, the bilateral relations between New Delhi and Beijing were "fairly good", the cables released last week, said.
"Noting that he and his Chinese counterpart had recently had good discussions, he (Narayanan) characterised bilateral relations as 'fairly good', though India still has concerns about China's high military spending," the diplomatic cable quoting Roemer, said.
Asked about his assessment about India-China relations, Narayanan told Roemer that "while Chinese border incursions continue to occur (facilitated in a large measure by China's improved roads in the mountainous border region), the number of incursions has not increased to worrisome levels".
According to Roemer, Narayanan remarked that he wishes to continue a discussion he began in 2007 with Secretary (Robert) Gates about India's efforts to "contain" China, adding "half-jokingly" that it might not be possible to have such a discussion now since the US and China have since become "big buddies."