ABSTRACT
The nature of the information dealing with China and the technical qualities of the network that gathered and processed this information contributed significantly to the rise of misperceptions. The central foreign policymaker, Nehru, was extremely active in all the other areas, too. He was at once prime minister, minister of External Affairs, head of the Atomic Energy Commission, head of the Planning Commission, leader of the Congress Party and a member of Parliament, and a sort of Indian ambassador at large who was frequently away from home on missions of mediation and conciliation. The Chinese leadership was probably not aware of how far its verbal warnings had lost effectiveness as a deterrent. The misunderstanding of processes within the Indian political system also blinded the Chinese leadership to the degree to which Nehru was restricted and to the inevitable gap between his verbal commitments and what could be effected.
