India 'bottomless pit' for foreign aid: Former Chinese PM

While former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru coined the famous slogan 'Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai', China considered him "discourteous", and India to be a "bottomless pit" for foreign aid.

It also held the view that it was a "pity" that late prime minister Indira Gandhi "has also taken as her legacy the philosophy of her father embodied in the book Discovery of India," which China believes revealed his idea of a great Indian empire encompassing Malaysia and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) among others.

The comments were made by former Chinese prime minister Chou En Lai to former American president Richard Nixon, who famously called Gandhi a "bitch" and a "witch", while his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger called Indians "bastards".

The comments are now a part of the book Nixon, Indira and India: Politics and Beyond written by a senior journalist Kalyani Shankar.

The book, a compilation of the declassified American documents of the Nixon era, when US extended hands to China and India conducted the nuclear test, gives an insight into what America, China and Pakistan thought of the Indian political system as well as its future, besides the contentious issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

President Nixon, during his historic visit to China on February 23, 1972, accused India of diverting US aid to buy arms from Russia, while saying he will send "substantial" amounts of economic assistance to Pakistan, which it can use to acquire arms from other sources.

Nixon said, "The problem is to find some way that West Pakistan can find some military equipment and assistance. On our side, what we will do is supply substantial amounts of economic assistance to West Pakistan. This would enable West Pakistan to — we would think in the interest of its defence — to acquire arms from other sources."

He added, "As a matter of fact, that is the tragedy of our policy in India. We supplied almost 10 billion dollars in assistance to India in the last 20 years — very little was military assistance, it was economic — and relieved India so that it could purchase very substantial amounts of arms from the Soviet Union and also manufacture arms. That was not our intent, but that's what happened."

He said the US will now move "in a very measured way" when it comes to its aid to India for which Chou replied, "And India is actually a bottomless pit." This statement by Chou made Nixon laugh, the declassified documents say.

The former US president said if India tries to digest East Bengal (now Bangladesh), "it may cause indigestion which would be massive."

To this Chou replied, "That's bound to be so. It is also a great pity that daughter (Gandhi) has also taken as her legacy the philosophy of her father embodied in the book Discovery of India."