The Long Game Quotes

“In the talks, China’s strategy was to secure the full, final and unambiguous acknowledgement from India about Tibet as a part of China; to end all special privileges for India in Tibet; and to put off any discussion about the frontier until a later date. This had already been substantially achieved on the ground, but China wanted it to be agreed upon bilaterally, in the form of a treaty.”
― Vijay Gokhale, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India

“order to achieve this objective, they pursued two strategies—to deter collusion between America and India, and to prevent Indian assistance to the Tibetan government. Tactics were decided accordingly.”
― Vijay Gokhale, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India

“In October 1947, the Nationalist government in Nanking informed the Indian Embassy of its wish to modify such agreements as were entered into between Great Britain and Tibet, including the Simla Agreement, 1914, that defined India’s frontier with Tibet. In the same month, the Dalai Lama’s government in Lhasa had also addressed a letter to India’s Prime Minister seeking the return of ‘all our indisputable Tibetan territories gradually included into India’, which included parts of modern-day Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Darjeeling, Sikkim and Bhutan.”
― Vijay Gokhale, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India

“The Government of India also made another presumption, which was erroneous and would prove disadvantageous to India in the negotiations. India assumed that its official declaration recognizing the People’s Republic of China would automatically mean that both sides had also established formal diplomatic relations. This led the Government of India to believe that there would still be time and opportunities after the recognition of the new regime, to raise matters of concern or pursue national security objectives through diplomatic channels. In other words, whereas the Chinese saw the process of recognition as a matter of substantive negotiation, India considered it simply a matter of protocol. The idea was to win Chinese goodwill as soon as possible.”
― Vijay Gokhale, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India

“The Government of India also made another presumption, which was erroneous and would prove disadvantageous to India in the negotiations. India assumed that its official declaration recognizing the People’s Republic of China would automatically mean that both sides had also established formal diplomatic relations. This led the Government of India to believe that there would still be time and opportunities after the recognition of the new regime, to raise matters of concern or pursue national security objectives through diplomatic channels.”
― Vijay Gokhale, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India

“India’s strategy was far less clear than that of China, although it had the stronger hand to play.”
― Vijay Gokhale, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India