While former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru coined the famous slogan 'Hindi Chini Bhai Bhai', China considered him "discourteous" and India to be "bottomless pit" for foreign aid.
It also held the view that it was a "pity" that Nehru's daughter and 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, Ceylon 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 Indian conducted nuke 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. PTI
