‘Stability First’: CDS Anil Chauhan Maps Jawaharlal Nehru’s Panchsheel Pact With China

Last Updated:February 13, 2026, 17:33 IST

General Chauhan highlighted that while the border in Uttarakhand is currently perceived as peaceful, it was here that the earliest disputes with China germinated

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan suggested on Friday that former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru likely pursued the 1954 Panchsheel Agreement as a stabilising measure to address deep-seated border ambiguities. Delivering the keynote address at the Bharat Himalayan Strategy Forum (BHISHM) in Dehradun, General Chauhan provided a rare military perspective on the historical reasoning behind the recognition of Tibet as part of China.

The Logic of ‘Stability First’

General Chauhan noted that upon the departure of British colonial forces, India was tasked with defining its own “fronts" amid a landscape of inherited claims and vague boundaries. He speculated that Nehru’s drive for the Panchsheel Agreement—officially the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet Region of China and India—was a pragmatic attempt to formalise a northern border that lacked a definitive treaty.

“Nehru probably knew that we had something as the McMahon Line in the east, and we had some kind of a claim in the Ladakh area, but it was not here," the CDS remarked, referring to the “Middle Sector" or the Uttarakhand-Tibet boundary. He explained that at the time, both New Delhi and Beijing sought stability; the Chinese had recently moved into Lhasa and Xinjiang, and the border regions were “extreme at both ends." By signing the pact, India operated under the strategic assumption that it had effectively settled its northern boundary.

Distinguishing Borders from Frontiers

A significant portion of the General’s address focused on the conceptual difference between a “border" and a “frontier". He argued that while a border is a precise, political, and legal line on a map agreed upon by nation-states, a frontier is a diffuse, rugged zone shaped by tradition and custom.

Frontiers: Zones of civilisational interaction and exchange.

Borders: Fixed lines of exclusion that separate sovereign states.

General Chauhan highlighted that while the border in Uttarakhand is currently perceived as peaceful, it was actually here that the earliest disputes with China germinated—even before the 1954 agreement.

The ‘Evaporated’ Buffer

The CDS also reflected on the geopolitical shift that occurred after China’s takeover of Tibet. He noted that once the “Himalayan buffer" between India and Tibet evaporated, the frontier was transformed into a live, guarded boundary. This historical assessment comes as India continues to rethink its Himalayan security, treating border communities not as “last villages" but as the “first line of defence" for national sovereignty.

News india ‘Stability First’: CDS Anil Chauhan Maps Jawaharlal Nehru’s Panchsheel Pact With China

Read More