Aksaichin and Sino - Indian conflict

The question continues to be asked whether there is a simple explanation of the Sino-Indian war of 1962. Krishna Menon attributed it to Chinese expansionism; others blamed it on Indian obstinacy in pursuing untenable claims to. the border territory of Aksaichin; yet others have suggested that India had a watertight case and that China failed to heed clear evidence of tradition and natural features' which had already determined the boundary between the two countries. Their representatives have since had eight rounds of talks, but a final resolution of the border question has eluded them. '
The author has been deeply concerned with
this 'problem since he was Dewan of Sikkim from 1949 to 1954. He saw the Chinese 'Liberation' of Tibet at close quarters. In 1958
he joined India's Defence Ministry under Krishna Menon. Once again he was a close range observer of the drift to war. In recent
years he has made a study of. original sources in London and New Delhi relating to the attempts by the British and Chinese
to define the boundary in various sectors of the Himalayan border. He has also had the good fortune of consultations with concerned diplomats and military officers, as well as academics:
The differences over Aksaichin, or the "White Desert", are of central importance to the border issue. Was the historical evidence on an area described by Nehru as a barren desert conclusive? To what extent were Sino-Indian differences affected' by nternational an strategic factors? Is it possible to make an assessment of policy management by both . sides? Can the Indian military defeat be attributed to policy failure, milita incompetence or, as Krishna Menon was ." say, 'because at the time we didn't have an over-all policy except in the most gene 'al terms'? These are some of the questions considered in the book. .