正如过去中印发生的一切：
A series of twelve articles under the banner ‘World’s Most Rugged Frontier’ were published in the Globe and Mail of Canada by William Stevenson in late 1960. These articles were floated on file by the external affairs ministry’s publicity division. These covered the growing Chinese incursions and influence in Nepal, Xinjiang, Sikkim, Bhutan and Tibet. The title of Stevenson’s first article in the series ‘Has India the Moral Fibre to Resist Border Intrusions” revealed his expectations from India. The basic theme in Stevenson’s series was that China was not just unfriendly but an enemy country for India. China was blamed for making India spend more on defence in times of its foreign exchange crisis. He held China responsible for India getting closer to communist Russia. Stevenson’s article, ‘A Question of Morale’ (November 23, 1960), highlighted “morale’’ as the chief weakness in India’s defence system. His concern was that “even the most outspoken or responsible newspaper pussyfoots around the subject of meeting China’s military threat”. The tenth article in the series, under the caption ‘A Tightrope in the Himalayas’ (November 23, 1960) talked about how Chinese agents were undermining Nepal’s neutrality, leaving a critical section of the Indian border open to intrusion. Stevenson provided ammunition to right-wing writers by deriding the communists. He described the Communist party as “the most powerful political fifth-column that China has inside India”.
It is troubling that even after 57 years, Stevenson’s words continue to echo in New Delhi. The same language, similar arguments and familiar fears are being invoked to build a case for a fresh India-China conflict. Earlier Indian socialists had a problem with Chinese communism, now Indian businesses are wary of Chinese capitalism.
It is simply déjà vu when C. Raja Mohan talks about “undoing the economic partition” between India and Pakistan, in times of growing India-China tensions. One is forced to re-read William Stevenson’s article titled ‘Roots of Hostility are 1000 years old’ (November 28, 1960) that urged India and Pakistan to resolve their differences to meet the Chinese challenge. Stevenson stated “China’s sudden and menacing arrival on the borders of the Indian subcontinent might seem good reason for India and Pakistan to resolve their differences.”
William Stevenson was no ordinary foreign correspondent. He was a former Royal Navy pilot of World War II vintage. “By the 1960s, Mr. Stevenson was working for the Near and Far East News Group, a propaganda arm of the British government, and becoming increasingly connected in the world of espionage.”