India on Tuesday (November 10, 2009) snapped back at China for mocking at India by repeatedly saying that India had not learnt its lesson from the 1962 war. India’s Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor called the Chinese media’s comment silly and added that India is not what it used to be in 1962 and that history does not always repeat itself.

Mr. Tharoor responded to China’s expressive vocal dissatisfaction with Dalai Lama’s visit to Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, which is considered by China a part of what China calls “south Tibet.” Tharoor said that India is not ill-prepared for war like it was in 1962 and that Chinese media’s language is not helpful in normalizing the ties between the two countries.

Tharoor’s comments were specifically directed at the criticism of India by Hu Shisheng, a researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, who stated that India is once again taking the wrong track and seems to have forgotten the lesson of 1962 when it provoked a military conflict between the countries. India has recently ignored China’s repeated requests about stopping Dalai Lama’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh and China is very dissatisfied with this situation.