‘A sense of Asian cooperation’: A new book recreates Nehru’s landmark visit to China in 1954

Determined to strengthen India’s ties with its giant neighbour, Nehru left New Delhi’s Palam Airport in the early morning of 15 October 1954 on an Indian Air Force Dakota plane. Despite having a slight temperature due to a cold, he was reportedly in a “very cheerful mood.” Among those who turned out to see him off were the President of India, Rajendra Prasad, Cabinet ministers, chief ministers, service chiefs, members of parliament, government officials, heads of foreign missions, the Chinese vice minister for Foreign Trade and the Chinese chargé d’affairs. The presence of so many notables was no doubt a sign of the importance attributed to the visit.

The Times of India, the country’s largest daily, captured its significance in a brief opinion piece published the following day. Describing the visit as “a mission on behalf of peace and understanding,” it told its readers that one of its key aims was to probe Chinese sincerity about peaceful coexistence and the concept of a peace area. According to the paper, “no sentimental or exaggerated concept of Asianism” should conceal the fact that the two nations held different values. India was a democracy, whilst China was a communist state. The former’s ideational identification with...

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