A History of India, Third Edition

THE REPUBLIC

Nehru could score his first success at international mediation when he
wrote to Stalin and to the American secretary of state Dean Acheson, at
the time of the Korean war. India then could play a very helpful role in
solving the difficult problem of the repatriation of Korean prisoners-of-
war. The next chance for international mediation came at the end of the
Indochina war after France had unsuccessfully tried to re-establish colonial
rule and had been beaten by the Vietminh. At the Geneva Conference of
1954 the Indian emissary, Krishna Menon, played a crucial role behind the
scenes although India was not officially represented there. Both
superpowers thought at that time that a neutralisation of Indochina would
be in their interests and India was asked to take up the chairmanship of the
International Commission which was charged with the task of controlling
their neutrality. But although the United States had supported this solution,
it simultaneously sponsored the SEATO (Southeast Asia Treaty
Organisation) as a parallel force to NATO capable of holding the line
against Communist expansion in the East. Pakistan promptly joined this
organisation. Nehru and Menon were furious about this pact which
worked against the principle of neutralising conflict not only in Indochina,
but also in its immediate environs. It became obvious to them that
international mediation was a thankless task whenever it conflicted with
superpower interests. But in 1955 universal harmony seemed to prevail and
Nehru was at the height of his political career.
The spirit of Bandung, where the Afro-Asian leaders met, was matched
by the spirit of Geneva where Eisenhower and Khrushchev met at an
agreeable summit. In the same year Khrushchev and President Bulganin
paid a memorable visit to India. Nehru’s old vision of a friendly and
peaceloving Soviet Union seemed to come true. Moreover, this friendly
superpower backed him to the hilt both against Pakistan and against
Indian Communists.

The Chinese challenge

The successful year 1955 was, however, soon followed by darker years full
of problems. Nehru’s strong reaction against Western intervention in Egypt
was in striking contrast with his vague words about the Soviet intervention
in Hungary. At the same time India became dependent on Western
development aid because the country’s sterling balances were exhausted.
The Aid to India Consortium met for the first time in 1957 in order to
decide about financial help for India’s five-year plans.
In those years the border conflict with China also emerged, though it
did not yet come into the limelight of public debate. This happened only
after the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 and Nehru was irked by
questions asked in the Lok Sabha, which finally forced him to publish a
White Paper that plainly showed how more and more acrimonious notes