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==Influence== ==Influence==
Maxwell has been called the authority on the Sino-Indian War.<ref name="Rediff"/><ref name=arpi/> J. W. Garver wrote that Maxwell's conclusion, also reached by American scholar Allen S. Whiting, that "in deciding for war, China's leaders were responding to an Indian policy of establishing Indian military outposts in territory claimed by both India and China but already under effective Chinese military occupation", has become the orthodox scholarly view regarding China's perception of and response to India's Forward Policy.<ref name="garver">{{Wayback |df=yes|date=20090326032121 |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~johnston/garver.pdf |title=China's Decision for War with India in 1962 |first=John W. |last=Garver}}</ref>{{rp|29}} US President ] and Secretary of State ] both read his ''India's China War'', which influenced their decision to ] in 1972.<ref name=arpi/><ref name="chowdhury"/> Scholars like ], ] and ] have criticised the idea that Indian policies were to blame for the war, which is Maxwell's conclusion. They state, instead, that Mao waged war against India in order to regain domestic support after his ] campaign caused a famine in China.<ref>{{cite book|last1=MacFarquhar|first1=Roderick|title=The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, Volume 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm 1961-1966|date=1997|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|url=https://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-11083-9/the-origins-of-the-cultural-revolution}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=‘Maxwell’s Approach To The War Is Superficial’|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/Maxwells-Approach-To-The-War-Is-Superficial/290091|publisher=Outlook|date=14 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=A Debacle Disinterred|url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article/A-Debacle-Disinterred/290090|publisher=Outlook|date=14 April 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Chellaney|first1=Brahma|title=The art of war, Chinese style|url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2012/12/13/commentary/the-art-of-war-chinese-style/#.VCQkQvmSwwA|publisher=The Japan Times|date=13 Dec 2012}}</ref> One commentator in India declared that “No account of the 1962 war would be complete without Neville Maxwell's authoritative analysis. “<ref name="Rediff"/> American political scientist John Garver wrote that Maxwell shaped the orthodox scholarly view, also reached by American scholar ] regarding China's perception of and response to India's Forward Policy, namely that "in deciding for war, China's leaders were responding to an Indian policy of establishing Indian military outposts in territory claimed by both India and China but already under effective Chinese military occupation.". Garver also pointed out that Maxwell did not have access to Chinese documents or archives which would have given him insights into the policy making process.<ref name="garver">{{Wayback |df=yes|date=20090326032121 |url=http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~johnston/garver.pdf |title=China's Decision for War with India in 1962 |first=John W. |last=Garver}}</ref>{{rp|29}} ] scholar ], however, is among those who emphasize that what he calls “Mao’s India War” was in part a reaction to India’s forward policy and reluctance to negotiate, but also that Mao saw the war as building domestic support after his ] campaign caused a famine in China.<ref>{{cite book|last1=MacFarquhar|first1=Roderick|title=The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, Volume 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm 1961-1966|date=1997|publisher=Columbia University Press|location=New York|url=https://cup.columbia.edu/book/978-0-231-11083-9/the-origins-of-the-cultural-revolution}} p. 308.</ref>

United States President ] and Secretary of State ] both read ''India's China War'', and discussed it with Chinese premier ] on their ].<ref name=arpi/> In a 2014 interview Maxwell said Zhou Enlai related Kissinger’s remark, “Reading that book showed me I could do business with you people.” Maxwell added that “my revelation” that blaming China for the war was “a frame-up” came like “a flash of light everywhere.” At a banquet in Beijing, he continued, Zhou publicly told him “Your book did a service to truth which benefitted China.” <ref name="chowdhury"/>


==Selected publications== ==Selected publications==

Revision as of 19:02, 2 October 2014

Neville Maxwell
Born1926 (age 98–99)
London, England
OccupationJournalist
CitizenshipAustralia
Alma materMcGill University
University of Cambridge
SubjectSino-Indian War
Notable worksIndia's China War
Website
Neville Maxwell's Blog

Neville Maxwell (born 1926 in London) is a retired Australian-British journalist and scholar who authored the 1970 book India's China War, which is considered an authoritative analysis of the 1962 Sino-Indian War. However, he has been criticised for his pessimistic views on Indian democracy.

In March 2014, Maxwell leaked the Henderson Brooks–Bhagat Report, which was written by two Indian army officers in 1963 to examine India's defeat in the Sino-Indian War and had been kept top-secret by the Indian government for over 50 years.

India's China War

An Australian born in London, Maxwell was educated at McGill University in Canada and the University of Cambridge in England. He joined The Times as a foreign correspondent in 1955 and spent three years in the Washington bureau. In 1959 he was posted to New Delhi as the South Asia correspondent. In the next eight years he travelled from Kabul to East Pakistan and Kathmandu to Ceylon, reporting in detail the end of the Nehru era in India and the post-Nehru developments. During the 1962 Sino-Indian War, Maxwell wrote for The Times from New Delhi, and was the only reporter there who did not uncritically accept the official Indian account of events. This eventually led to his "virtual expulsion" from India.

In 1967, Maxwell joined the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London as a senior fellow to write his book India's China War. He was with the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at Oxford University at the time when the book was published in 1970. The book draws extensively from India's top-secret Henderson Brooks–Bhagat Report, which Maxwell obtained a copy of. Due to the lack of available information from China, Maxwell, like other foreign scholars, had to rely on inferences based on official Chinese statements with regards to China's perceptions. He did not attempt to evaluate the accuracy of these perceptions.

The book was widely praised across a diverse range of opinions, including British historian A. J. P. Taylor, Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. On the other hand, Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew considered it "revisionist, pro-China history". In India, Maxwell is perceived as hostile to the Indian narrative of victimhood and received ferocious personal attacks. The Indian government charged him with breach of Official Secrets Act, forcing him to stay out of India to avoid arrest, until the charges were annulled by Prime Minister Morarji Desai eight years later.

View on Indian democracy

In the 1960s Maxwell incorrectly predicted that India would not remain a democracy for much longer. While serving as the South Asia correspondent of The Times of London, Maxwell authored a series of pessimistic reports filed in February 1967. In the atmosphere leading up to the 4th Lok Sabha elections, he wrote that "The great experiment of developing India within a democratic framework has failed. in the fourth—and surely last—general election."

Leak of the Henderson Brooks-Bhagat report

On 17 March 2014, Maxwell posted the first part of the Henderson Brooks–Bhagat Report on his website. The report was written by two Indian army officers in 1963 to examine India's defeat in the Sino-Indian War. It has been classified as top secret by the Indian government, but Maxwell acquired a copy and his India's China War contains the gist of the report. After the Indian government refused to release the report for over 50 years, Maxwell decided to make it public. Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief of The Indian Express, who said he had been brainwashed into detesting Maxwell as an India-hater, praised Maxwell as a "relentless journalist and scholar".

Influence

One commentator in India declared that “No account of the 1962 war would be complete without Neville Maxwell's authoritative analysis. “ American political scientist John Garver wrote that Maxwell shaped the orthodox scholarly view, also reached by American scholar Allen Whiting, regarding China's perception of and response to India's Forward Policy, namely that "in deciding for war, China's leaders were responding to an Indian policy of establishing Indian military outposts in territory claimed by both India and China but already under effective Chinese military occupation.". Garver also pointed out that Maxwell did not have access to Chinese documents or archives which would have given him insights into the policy making process. Harvard University scholar Roderick MacFarquhar, however, is among those who emphasize that what he calls “Mao’s India War” was in part a reaction to India’s forward policy and reluctance to negotiate, but also that Mao saw the war as building domestic support after his Great Leap Forward campaign caused a famine in China.

United States President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger both read India's China War, and discussed it with Chinese premier Zhou Enlai on their 1972 visit to China. In a 2014 interview Maxwell said Zhou Enlai related Kissinger’s remark, “Reading that book showed me I could do business with you people.” Maxwell added that “my revelation” that blaming China for the war was “a frame-up” came like “a flash of light everywhere.” At a banquet in Beijing, he continued, Zhou publicly told him “Your book did a service to truth which benefitted China.”

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ "Remembering a War". Rediff. 8 October 2002. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  2. ^ Arpi, Claude (January 2011). "1962 War: Why keep Henderson Brooks report secret?". Indian Defence Review. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  3. ^ Kai Friese (22 October 2012). "China Was The Aggrieved; India, Aggressor In '62". Outlook India. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  4. ^ India's China War
  5. ^ Gregory Clark. "Book review: India's China War". Retrieved 8 May 2013.
  6. ^ Pandalai, Shruti (2 April 2014). "Burying Open Secrets: India's 1962 War and the Henderson-Brooks Report". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  7. ^ Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Today newspaper (23 September 2013). "What's the Big Idea?". Today (Singapore). Retrieved 26 December 2013.
  9. ^ Debasish Roy Chowdhury (31 March 2014). "Neville Maxwell interview: the full transcript". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 31 March 2014.
  10. Ramachandra Guha (17 July 2005). "Past & Present: Verdicts on India". The Hindu. Retrieved 13 May 2007.
  11. ^ Unnithan, Sandeep (18 March 2014). "Henderson Brooks report lists the guilty men of 1962". India Today. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  12. Shekhar Gupta (21 March 2014). "Who's afraid of Neville Maxwell?". The Indian Express. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  13. MacFarquhar, Roderick (1997). The Origins of the Cultural Revolution, Volume 3: The Coming of the Cataclysm 1961-1966. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 308.

External links

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