AH chalenge-Sino-Indian Friendship

with the WWI going more or less like in OTL and some possible changes in WWII get China and India to become really friendly, and forge a regional Aliance, possibly swalloving up smaller states like Bangladesh or Nepal

what would such an India be like ideologically?
is it easier to do this with a koumintang or maoist China?

anyway the olnly guideline is India should be about as militant as China is, and the wars with Pakistan should develop acordingly, possibly with Indian wictory
 
with the WWI going more or less like in OTL and some possible changes in WWII get China and India to become really friendly, and forge a regional Aliance, possibly swalloving up smaller states like Bangladesh or Nepal

what would such an India be like ideologically?
is it easier to do this with a koumintang or maoist China?

anyway the olnly guideline is India should be about as militant as China is, and the wars with Pakistan should develop acordingly, possibly with Indian wictory

The wars in Pakistan were mostly Indian victories- it was a conscious decision on the part of the Indian leadership not to follow through. The entire dynamic of Indo-Pakistani relations before both sides got the bomb was that if India chose to, it could steamroller Pakistan. The disparity was so huge it was laughable. For example in '71, India beat up on West Pakistan while simultaneously crushing it's second larest field army in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

I think to have a friendly India and China before the 90's, you need to take away Nehru's silly idealism. He felt that as a socialist country, India didn't need to emphasise the military. This was one reason why the Indian army was steamrollered by the PLA in the early 60's. Keep India militarised and Mao will have second thoughts about pushing them along the border.

However, the Sino-Soviet Split will affect matters- India was Soviet-aligned and so relations with China deteriorated.
 

Jasen777

Donor
Is a communist India plausible? They could be a bloc witih China on uneasy terms with the Soviet Union.
 
Is a communist India plausible? They could be a bloc witih China on uneasy terms with the Soviet Union.

Depends- I think with the number of power-blocs that made up the Indian political scene a revolutionary state, an Indian People's Republic or an Union of Indian Soviets isn't going to be plausible. Successful Indian Communists have tended to work within the democratic framework (such as the Communist governments of Kerala or West Bengal which is why India was Socialist but never took any further steps.

Also a Communist India would be very unlikely to align with China- Communism in India was always very Marxist-based and Maoism never really took off.
 
During Nehru's early years in office, he went to great lengths to try and forge some kind of relationship between India and China. Initially it was a mild success, but the border wars of the early 60's put an end to the budding relationship. An interesting POD would be 1961, assuming no border wars at this point. Nehru is keen to force the stubborn Portuguese out of Goa. Despite a UN resolution in 1960 condemning imperialism, Portugal refuses to budge. Eventually, in December, Nehru orders Goa to be taken by force. Luckily, the Portuguese military commanders in Goa surrender without a fight, but international opinion is now against India.
What if the Portuguese had put up a fight? What if Lisbon had declared war as a matter of principle? With blood on her hands, India could have found herself even more isolated then in OTL. Perhaps Nehru would seek new allies in China and the USSR. The latter had, after all, been quitely supportive during the Goa crisis.
 
what if a few PODs before or during WWII make for a more agressive India, with a legaci of armed resistance and a number of important political figures that come from an active military or guerrilla backround already in 1947

theres the often cited Japanese involvment in India during WWII and the Ghandi assasinated cliche

could this or other similar PODs affect things in such a way that the Indian side capitalises on its military sucess in the 1947 kashmir war, ocupying all of kashmir, or possibly even capturing pakistani territory?
foloving this could India anex east Pakistan into a larger Bengal as it treathened to do right after Goa?

perhaps the 1960 conflict could be avoided if India gives the disputed regions to China in exchange for arms, or economic partnership or trade agrements
or perhaps more Indian military presence in those regions might make the Chinese think twice and decide a diplomatic solution is preferable

also how would a Koumintang China differ in its relation to India, if this was a ATL in wich Mao and the CPC lose the civil war?
 
A Nationalist China is very unlikely to allow its relations with India to reach such lows, even if Nehru provides moral support to the Chinese Communists and establishes close links with the USSR. The OTL rivalry originated with Mao's warped sense of insecurity - Nehru was burgeois, therefore an inevitable enemy no matter what he did.
 
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