ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the varied relationships and competition of Peking and Moscow in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in regard to India and Pakistan, and how the Sino-Soviet conflict has apparently affected their respective perceptions, policies, and actions. In late 1953, New Delhi decided to sound out Peking about negotiating an understanding on trade and cultural intercourse between India and the Tibet region of China, which Jawaharlal Nehru hoped would lead to a rapprochement with Peking. China readily welcomed the proposed idea of a small Indian delegation’s being sent to Peking. A number of views have focused on the latter theory and the matter of Sino-Indian competition in Third World affairs as an explanation. The diplomatic efforts of some third parties continued, notably those of a group of nonaligned countries headed by Ceylon, but they were of no avail in achieving a solution to the Sino-Indian border conflict.
