Tianjin: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in China for the 25th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit has evoked memories of another defining chapter in India-China relations Jawaharlal Nehru’s historic 1954 visit to Beijing. More than seven decades ago, India’s first Prime Minister called it “the most important foreign mission of his life,” an expedition that carried hopes of shaping Asia’s post-colonial future.
In April 1954, Nehru became the first non-communist leader to step into the People’s Republic of China since Mao Zedong’s takeover in 1949. The visit was received with enormous enthusiasm. Streets of Beijing overflowed with cheering crowds, waving banners and chanting “Long live peace.” Accompanied by his daughter Indira Gandhi, Nehru met Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, journeying across Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Guangzhou.
At the heart of his mission was the signing of the Panchsheel Agreement, which emerged from negotiations over Tibet. Inked on April 29, 1954, by Indian Ambassador N. Raghavan and Chinese representative Chang Han-fu, the agreement laid down the “Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence”:
1. Mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity
2. Mutual non-aggression
3. Mutual non-interference in internal affairs
4. Equality and mutual benefit
5. Peaceful coexistence
These principles were formally endorsed two months later by Nehru and Zhou, who presented them as a framework for Asia’s diplomatic future. For India, Panchsheel was both a declaration of friendship and a geopolitical gamble. For the first time, New Delhi formally recognised Tibet as the “Tibet Region of China,” marking a profound concession.
The path to Panchsheel was far from smooth. Between late 1953 and early 1954, Indian and Chinese negotiators sparred over border passes and trade routes. New Delhi pushed for recognition of several Himalayan trade corridors, but Beijing conceded only six, rejecting others including India’s request to include Demchok in Ladakh. Despite compromises, Nehru viewed the pact as a breakthrough that could anchor peace across Asia, steering the region away from Cold War rivalries.
But the optimism proved short-lived. By 1962, only months after the Panchsheel Agreement lapsed, India and China were locked in a bitter border war. The Five Principles, once hailed as Asia’s diplomatic manifesto, collapsed under the weight of territorial disputes in Aksai Chin and along the McMahon Line.
As PM Modi attends the SCO summit in Tianjin his first visit to China in seven years Nehru’s journey serves as a reminder of both the promise and fragility of India-China engagement. For a nation that once cheered “Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai,” history underscores how quickly slogans of friendship can unravel amid geopolitics.