Why is Asia locked in a competition to be ‘most humiliated nation’?
Devesh Kapur says the India-China border dispute reflects how, amid the rise of nationalism in the region, each country is crafting a version of history that plays up its own suffering while ignoring the pain it inflicted on others
The current Chinese leadership sees in the 1962 conflict the price an uppity neighbour had to pay for not acceding to its territorial demands. But, for India, that conflict was a humiliation that has rankled the country for more than a half-century. The reminder of it is therefore likely to have the opposite effect than Wu anticipated.
China, India border dispute bubbles over once more, but no one is quite sure why
In international relations, to be humiliated means more than to be embarrassed. It amounts to a denial of a bid for status and the establishment of a clear hierarchy. Wars provide the opportunity for humiliation in very stark ways, because defeat on the battlefield tends to bring not just ridicule and derision, but also clear losses, particularly of territory.
Watch: Xi Jinping speaks in Hong Kong to mark the 20th anniversary of the handover
Hongkongers should heed Xi Jinping’s words and re-educate themselves on Chinese history
Despite this acute awareness of the enduring impact of its own humiliations, China often fails to recognise how its own past actions might have spurred similar feelings in others. Its 1962 defeat of India was the culmination of a decade-long competition for leadership of the newly independent countries that had emerged from decolonization. It therefore amounted to a devastating blow to India’s aspirations to be the undisputed leader of the Non-Aligned Movement.
In Vietnam, the phrase ‘1,000 Years of Chinese Domination’ has as much resonance as ‘100 Years of Foreign Humiliation’ has in China
India is far from the only country that has been humiliated at the hands of China. In Vietnam, the phrase “1,000 Years of Chinese Domination” has as much resonance as “100 Years of Foreign Humiliation” has in China.
But China is not the only country to have been humiliated and humiliated others in turn. While India was humiliated by China in 1962, it also inflicted what its neighbour Pakistan remembers as a humiliating defeat nine years later. Since independence in 1947, Pakistan had vied to establish itself as India’s equal in South Asia, joining alliances led by the United States or cosying up to China to demonstrate its strategic relevance. The 1971 Indo-Pakistani war, which led to the independence of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), crushed those hopes.
Yet Pakistan, too, remains oblivious to the humiliating impact of its own actions: its nearly four-decade-long history of interference in Afghanistan to secure “strategic depth” will leave Afghanistan traumatised for years to come.
Such humiliations, as we have seen with China, have a long-lasting impact. Indeed, they can create an all-consuming desire for vengeance that overwhelms more sober foreign-policy motivations. That is why, for example, Pakistan’s army is prepared to undermine all other institutions in the country it is sworn to defend, in the name of wounding India.
Chinese nationalism is a double-edged sword for global ambitions
With nationalism on the rise across Asia, leaders have strong incentives to craft a version of history that advances their cause, and few historical memories are as effective for this purpose as those of traumatic humiliation. China has mastered this art, but it can be seen elsewhere, too, including in India. The key is to create a hierarchy of humiliations, according to which those inflicted on one’s own country are regarded as vitally important, and those inflicted on others are diminished, remembered only to reaffirm the status hierarchy.
Yet, as the ongoing dispute in Doka La makes clear, such an approach can create serious risks. After the first world war, when Europe failed to address adequately its legacy of humiliation, the results were catastrophic. After the second world war, however, Europe rose to the challenge, setting the stage for unprecedented regional cooperation. One hopes that Asia takes a similar tack – before simmering anger over historical humiliations boils over.
Devesh Kapur is the director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of India at the University of Pennsylvania. Copyright: Project Syndicate
