The following extracts from an article in the jugust . issue of the Economist show that that journal is very cynical about the hue and ery of the Indian government and others about the alleged build up of Chinese forces on the borders "These reports must evidently be assessed with the care that their alarming purport demands. But their context rather diminishes their solemnity for two reasom. First, there has been similar reports on a small scale for months, principally from Sikkim. The new reports were weightier and more widespread but the difference was one of degree only. The real difference was not in substance but in emphasis. Here the second doubt arises. The ¥ context in this case is not merely military. One must reckon with the Indian governments long record of zealous, if not always skilful attempts at news management... One recalls blaring headlines announcing the discovery of a Pakistani plot for a huge tribal invasion of Kashmir; these appeared the day before President Ayub Khan was due in Washington. And it would be extremely convenrom ient just now for New Delhi to be believed under the threat of imminent attack.
An Indian military mission in Moscow had, when the alarming reports appeared, got some but not all of what it wanted out of the Russians. The United States Congress ia discussing foreign aid amidst irritation about Indian fumblings and apparent lack of seriousness. After months of inaction, the"emergency" has become an object of cynicism. Simultaneousely there is mounting discontent over the heavy taxes it is supposed to justify, and about rising prices and food shortages. -Meanvhile the ruling Congress Party in several Indian states has drifted back to its old routine of mutual eye-clawing and back scratching. Nothing could suit the Party better at the moment than an external threat... Western diplomats take the reports seriously, though they discount fears of Pakistani intervention... Army officers too take the reports seriously. There is even said to be discussion- at headquarters one imagines, rather than in the ravines of the North East Frontier Agency- of the virtues of a pre-emptive strike. = If the Chinese troop concentrations are real, what is their purpose? At a guess, the Chinese find this an apt moment, after Indias agreement on joint air exercises with the West, the collapse of the Sino- Soviet talks, and the success of the nuclear test ban
to wave a mailed fist under Indias nose- but perhaps no more.