"Not only did the Nehru government betray Tibet, but it also severely destabilized India's national security. In 1947, India had special rights in Tibet, a legacy of the British Raj. In 1949, though clearly aware of China's strategic interests in Tibet, Nehru failed to get any assurance from China that it would not invade the region." Says Claude Arpi , who has written "The Fate of Tibet: When big insects eat small insects" the most incisive books written about the Tibetan situation. Talking to Dishaa Ganapathy he says that only an undoing of the division of the Indian subcontinent can bring about a permanent solution to the problem of Kashmir and the Indo-China border dispute.

Born in Angoulême, France, Claude Arpi decided to come and live in India, since his graduation in dental surgery from Bordeaux University. He lives with his wife and a young daughter in South India. His interest in Tibet dates from the early seventies when he first met the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. He has spent a considerable amount of time researching the history of Tibet and China as well as the sub-continent. He is the author of The Fate of Tibet (Har-Anand Publications), Tibet; le pays sacrifié (Calmann-Lévy, Paris), La politique française de Nehru: 1947-1954 (Pavilions Publications) and several articles on Tibet, China, India and Indo-French relations. Dishaa Ganapathy spoke with him on the Indo-China border problem and China's involvement in Kashmir.

To what extent is the present Indo-China border problem, a result of India's foreign policy in the 1950's?

Till October 1950, India's neighbor was Tibet 'verging independence', as Nehru himself wrote in a secret note in November 1950. When, for the sake of an illusory friendship with China, India decided to accept China's invasion of Tibet as a fait accompli, she neglected not only Tibet's interests, but also her own. This was despite the repeated warnings of Sardar Patel, who unfortunately passed away in December 1950.

With Tibet gone, the game took a different turn. To take the example of the McMahon Line, which was the accepted border between Tibet and India since the 1914 Simla Convention. Soon after the Chinese established themselves in Tibet, they declared, "We do not recognize agreements signed by imperialists (British India)". Therefore they stopped recognizing the McMahon Line and it was the beginning of their claim on Indian Territory.

rest of the article is at http://news.indiainfo.com/spotlight/jammuandkashmir/interview.html

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