panchsheel and non aligned movement

• 1954-1991
• Nehru also firmly believed that India must develop and maintain a close friendship with its neighbours, especially with China as both countries have a long history of civilizational and cultural ties.
• This led to the signing of the [[Panchsheel Treaty]] between India and China in 1954 between Nehru and the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai.
• The Panchsheel consists of five principles with which the two nations would conduct relations between them.

This included;

• Respecting each other’s territory and sovereignty

• Non-aggression

• Non-interference in each other’s internal affairs

• Diplomatic equality and cooperation

• Peaceful Co-existence

• Despite the agreement, India and China eventually fought a war in 1962 on border disputes.

• The border dispute between the two nations stands till now and it is one of the top issues that determine India’s foreign policy.

• Attempts are onto resolve this issue through negotiations.

• Pandit Nehru, who held the position of Minister for External Affairs for 17 years (1947-64) was assertive about India having its own foreign policy without getting caught in the Cold War.

• This led to the formation of the [[Non-Aligned Movement]] (NAM) in 1961.

• [Bandung Conference] held on April 18-24, 1955 attended by 29 Heads of States are the immediate antecedent for the creation of Non-Aligned Movement.

• Nehru was one of the founding fathers of the NAM along with Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Ahmed Sukarno of Indonesia and Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia.

• Nehru repeatedly explained the concept of ‘Non-Alliance’ that it did not mean neutrality, Non-Alliance meant not committing militarily to any super powers or military bloc, but retaining independence to decide issues on the basis of merit and concentrating on peaceful cooperation among nations.

• It was this freedom of choice that enabled India to procure arms from western countries during its war with China, and enter into a diplomatic treaty with Soviet Union just before the Bangladesh war in 1971.

• The thought of not aligning with the two power blocs existed even before the formation of NAM.

• The Bandung Asian-African Conference held in 1955 had the principles of such a movement which later became the foundation of NAM in 1961.

• As a powerful advocate of decolonisation of Asia and Africa, Nehru’s India envisioned the NAM as an alternative to the USA and the Soviet Union blocs for newly emerging independent countries.

• This was the central idea of NAM which several new nations decided to be part of as they did not want their country to become a theatre for the cold war.