ABSTRACT
Jawaharlal Nehru had emphasized that the choice of non-alignment policy was determined by the very situation in India as one of the large countries in terms of population and territory and also as one of the economically backward states of Asia. Nikita Khrushchev had floated the peaceful coexistence and peaceful competition strategy in the historic 20th Communist Party of the Soviet Union Congress held in 1956 and was experimenting with the concept in the case of India. Implementing this strategy that was not to the liking of Chinese leadership, Khrushchev had heralded a new era in the history of Indo-Soviet relations. The Soviets never wanted the Sino-Indian conflict to escalate and advised both sides to find a peaceful political solution to the border dispute through negotiations. The Soviet Union was more inclined than the United States to blame China for India’s recalcitrance regarding the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
