Panchsheel

It was on April 29, 1954, that Panchsheel, or the Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence, were first formally enunciated in the Agreement on Trade and Intercourse between the Tibet region of China and India. It was stated in the preamble to this agreement that the two governments had resolved to enter into the agreement on the basis of five principles, namely,

(i) Mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty

(ii) Mutual non-aggression

(iii) Mutual non-interference

(iv) Equality and mutual benefit

(v) Peaceful co-existence.

In June 1954, when the Chinese premier, Zhou Enlai visited India, he and his Indian counterpart, Jawaharlal Nehru in a joint statement elaborated their vision of Panchsheel as the framework for the relations between the two countries as well as the basis on which relations with other countries should be maintained. The two leaders expressed the hope that Panchsheel “will also help in creating an area of peace which as circumstances permit can be enlarged thus lessening the chances of war and strengthening the cause of peace all over the world.”

Historical Perspective on Panchsheel

In the classical language, the word ‘sheel’ doesn’t mean ‘principle’ but ‘character’. The term is taken from the Indonesian usage of the word — and Indonesians may have been influenced by Buddhist use of the word ‘sheel’. Most Indians think ‘Panchsheel’ was Jawaharlal Nehru’s valuable contribution to the world, as it first received world attention when he and Zhou Enlai issued a joint statement in Delhi on June 18, 1954. In fact, the credit for formulating these principles should go to Zhou. While receiving the Indian delegation to the Tibetan trade talks on December 31, 1953, he enunciated them as “five principles governing China’s relations with foreign countries”.

T.N. Kaul, a joint secretary in the external affairs ministry at the time or Director General for Asian Affairs in Delhi, was impressed and conveyed his appreciation and the significance of these principles to Nehru, with whom he enjoyed a close rapport. Nehru agreed and Kaul took the initiative to mention them at the very outset of his draft text of agreement. That was in January 1954. However, the response from the Chinese foreign office was in the negative. At the time Zhou wasn’t in China.

When Zhou returned to Peking, he, with his native genius for compromise, found a via-media. He suggested that the five principles may not be included in the main text prominently, but could appear in the preamble. India accepted the compromise. But two months later, when Zhou visited Delhi, Nehru and Kaul emphasised these principles in the joint statement issued on June 18, 1954. China’s hesitant formulation caught worldwide attention because of Indian sponsorship. Zhou propounded the principles but Kaul picked them up and Nehru propagated them. Nehru enjoyed high regard in the NAM and soon other Asian countries like Burma and Indonesia followed suit.

Nehru and Zhou were leaders who strove hard to forge close ties between India and China and usher in a better world order through Panchsheel. Their efforts, however, were undermined and undone by the machinations of self-seeking or vindictive colleagues and they died disenchanted men.

Source: An article by V.V. Paranjpe, formerly Chinese language expert to the Government of India, in the Hindustan Times of June 2004.

As per the documents of the Ministry of External Affairs, Panchsheel was incorporated into the Ten Principles of International Peace and Cooperation put forward in the Declaration issued by the April 1955 Bandung Conference of 29 Afro-Asian countries. The universal relevance of Panchsheel was emphasised when its tenets were incorporated in a resolution on peaceful co-existence presented by India, Yugoslavia and Sweden, and unanimously adopted on December 11, 1957, by the United Nations General Assembly. And in 1961, the Conference of Non-Aligned Nations in Belgrade accepted Panchsheel as the basic principles at the centre of the Non-Aligned Movement.