New Delhi: While former Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru coined the famous slogan `Hindi Chini Bhai
Bhai`, China considered him "discourteous" and India to be
"bottomless pit" for foreign aid.
It also held the view that it was a "pity" that late
prime minister Indira Gandhi "has also taken as her legacy the
philosophy of her father embodied in the book Discovery of
India," which China believes revealed his idea of a great
Indian empire encompassing Malaysia, Ceylon among others.
The comments were made by former Chinese prime minister
Chou En Lai to former American president Richard Nixon, who
famously called Gandhi a "bitch" and a "witch" while his
national security adviser Henry Kissinger called Indians
"bastards".
The comments are now a part of the book `Nixon, Indira
and India: Politics and Beyond` written by a senior journalist
Kalyani Shankar.
The book, a compilation of the declassified American
documents of the Nixon era, when US extended hands to China
and India conducted nuke test, gives an insight into what
America, China and Pakistan thought of the Indian political
system as well as its future besides the contentious issue of
Jammu and Kashmir.
President Nixon, during his historic visit to China on
February 23, 1972 accused India of diverting US aid to buy
arms from Russia while saying he will send "substantial"
amounts of economic assistance to Pakistan, which it can use
to acquire arms from other sources.
Nixon said, "The problem is to find some way that West
Pakistan can find some military equipment and assistance. On
our side, what we will do is supply substantial amounts of
economic assistance to West Pakistan. This would enable West
Pakistan to --- we would think in the interest of its defence
--- to acquire arms from other sources."
He added, "As a matter of fact, that is the tragedy of
our policy in India. We supplied almost USD 10 billion in
assistance to India in the last 20 years -- very little was
military assistance, it was economic -- and relived India so
that it could purchase very substantial amounts of arms from
Soviet Union and also manufacture arms. That was not our
intent, but that`s what happened."
He said the US will now move "in a very measured way"
when it comes to its aid to India for which Chou replied, "And
India is actually a bottomless pit." This statement by Chou
made Nixon laugh, the declassified documents say.
The former US president said if India tries to digest
East Bengal (now Bangladesh), "it may cause indigestion which
would be massive."
To this Chou replied, "That`s bound to be so. It is also
a great pity that daughter (Madame Gandhi) has also taken as
her legacy the philosophy of her father embodied in the book
Discovery of India."
Nixon said his first mistake was not seeing that
Pakistan had enough arms to discourage an Indian attack and
secondly his act of reassuring Gandhi during his meet as asked
by his advisers.
"So I spent the whole time reassuring her when I should
have warmed her. So I am a hard-liner on India."
The book also reveals that the US did not have any
inkling that India was going in for a nuclear test and later
was worried that India might pass on the technology to some
other country.
The National Security Study Memorandum prepared giving
an overview of India`s nuclear tests and the step that could
be taken said, "The fact that India almost certainly acquired
its plutonium from the unsafe-guarded CIRUS research reactor
supplied by Canada points up the importance of the safeguards
system. The risk that India will share its nuclear explosive
technology with other states must also be addressed."
PTI
