Why Xi Praised Nehru Era Panchsheel Pact That Didn't Stop China From Attacking India In 1962

why xi praised nehru era panchsheel pact that didn't stop china from attacking india in 1962

New Delhi: At a conference participated by former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and several political leaders from allied countries, Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighted the relevance of 'Panchsheel' or the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence to expand influence in the Global South amid its tussle with the West. "The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence answered the call of the times, and its initiation was an inevitable historic development," Xi, 71, said.

The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, termed 'Panchsheel' by India, formed part of the legacy of the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Chinese counterpart Zhou Enlai as they unsuccessfully tried to find a solution to the vexed boundary issue in the 1950s. The 'Panchsheel' pointers were first formally enunciated in the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India signed on April 29, 1954, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

Two months later, Premier Zhou Enlai and Prime Minister Jawaharlal, through a Joint Statement, elaborated their vision of Panchsheel as the framework, not only for relations between the two countries, but also for their relations with all other countries. This vision caught the imagination of the peoples of Asia and the world.

"The Chinese leadership in the past specified the Five Principles in their entirety for the first time, namely, 'mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity', 'mutual non-aggression', 'mutual non-interference in each other's internal affairs', 'equality and mutual benefit', and 'peaceful coexistence'," Xi Jinping said at the conference in Beijing to mark its 70th anniversary.

"They included the Five Principles in the China-India and China-Myanmar joint statements which jointly called for making them basic norms for state-to-state relations," he said.

Conceptualised in India, 'Panchsheel' was incorporated into the Ten Principles of International Peace and Cooperation enunciated in the Declaration issued by the April 1955 Bandung Conference of 29 Afro-Asian countries.

The 'Panchsheel' or Five Principles were also adopted by Non-Aligned Movement founded by Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1960s.

"The Five Principles have set a historic benchmark for international relations and international rule of law," he said, highlighting their relevance to ending the present-day conflicts, news agency PTI reported.

After being elected for an unprecedented third five-year term in power last year, Xi has taken several initiatives to enhance China's global influence.

Some of the iniatives like the billion-dollar pet project the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted allegations of debt diplomacy as many countries struggled to pay back loans taken from China.

Beijing is also facing increasing strategic competition from the US and EU. China is also caught in border disputes with India in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.