Crosswinds

The establishment of a communist regime in China upended Western plans for the post-WWII Asian order. As the United States of America and Great Britain grappled with the implications of this new China in terms of their strategic and economic interests in the western Pacific, significant divergences also emerged. A newly independent India seeking to define its place and role in the region under conditions of Cold War was hoping to enlist China as partner. This book, based on archival material, outlines India’s efforts to craft a foreign policy in the context of the Anglo-American competition in the Far East. The roles played by the towering personalities of that era--Jawaharlal Nehru, Zhou Enlai, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, Winston Churchill, Anthony Eden and Krishna Menon.

Vijay Gokhale retired as foreign secretary in 2020. He dealt extensively with China during his diplomatic career, including as ambassador in 2016- 2017. He is author of three previous books on China, including The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India. He lives in Pune with his wife, Vandana, and devotes his time to research on China.