Struggle for the Roof of the World
Violence marked most of the world's trouble spots last week: bloodletting in Algeria, upheaval in Argentina, a shadow war in South Viet Nam, a coup d'état in Syria. Almost unnoticed was an event of moment among the towering peaks of the Himalaya Mountains (see color pages), where India is struggling to hold back Red China's hordes. The event was the spring thaw.
With the melting snows, man once again can emerge from shelter, and the weird,
bloodless battle on the heights can resume along the obscure, 2,500-mile frontier between the two giant lands of Asia. From April to October, Chinese mountain troops will prowl the lofty boundary, seeking new undefended peaks or valleys on which to plant the flag of Peking. Near by, Gurkhas and turbaned Sikhs will try to head them off. But since it is essentially a struggle of nerves, each side is more likely to stare than to shoot.
Shattered Illusion. China's push into the Himalayas is of great importance in Asia; at stake is India's prestige, indeed its political security, for no one doubts that the reason for Mao Tse-tung's mountain grabbing is to open the route for further southern penetration.
The dispute has shattered India's comfortable illusion that the Himalayas are an impenetrable line of defense. Since 1954, Red China has occupied 14,000 sq. mi. of Indian territory in the Ladakh area of Kashmir, clamored for an additional 32,500 sq. mi. in the North East Frontier Agency near Burma's border. Other smaller chunks claimed by the Chinese brought the total to some 52,000 sq. mi.
The reaction of India to all of this has been curiously torpid. In his on-again, off-again role as man of peace, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has belittled the Chinese land grab. In the past, he and Defense Minister Krishna Menon have described the aggressions as "minor and petty," called the area occupied by the Chinese only "barren mountaintops where not even a blade of grass grows." Such remarks have brought angry charges against the government in New Delhi's Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament), where one opposition critic has accused Nehru and Menon of ordering India's border guards not to fire on the Chinese invaders. When, at last, Menon was forced to acknowledge the extent of the Chinese aggressions ("a stab in the back"), he nevertheless continued to pussyfoot when it came to finding a way of forcing the Chinese to "vacate their aggression." Explains Nehru, ever fearful of a war he might not win: "You have to think of the next step."