A new book details the long, complicated history of China, Pakistan’s wars with India over Kashmir

The geographical location of Kashmir was crucial for China, too, along with Pakistan, and the Indian government realised this. In 1949, the Communists had won the civil war in China. They had captured Tibet and Xinjiang. Ladakh neighboured Xinjiang though its precise boundaries had not been determined till then. China now began interfering in the Ladakh region. According to many scholars, the fact that Nehru did not react harshly enough to the closure of the Indian Consulate in Xinjiang in 1950 was a lost opportunity in the strategy of neutralizing China. The Five-year Agreement (also known as the Panchsheel Agreement or Sino-Indian Agreement), singed in 1954, was an effort to amend the troubled relations between India and China. The aim of the Panchsheel Agreement was to ensure that both nations respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty. That they do not interfere in one another’s internal affairs.

But China entered Ladakh again in 1962. It wanted to construct a road in Ladakh which would connect Xinjiang and Tibet. The Indian Army fought and lost. Ceasefire was declared after a month. China had by then occupied Aksai Chin. It is important to note that in 1959 India had provided asylum to the Dalai...

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