R. K. Nehru

Ratan Kumar Nehru entered the Indian Civil Service in 1925. His career subsequently moved from the colonial administration into the diplomatic service of independent India, including senior responsibility for relations with the Commonwealth and China. ¹

As chargé d'affaires in Washington in July 1948, Nehru pressed the State Department on the Dutch-Indonesian conflict. He supported American and Australian proposals for a settlement and warned against a federal Indonesia constructed without the Indonesian Republic. Explaining India's concern, he pointed to the experience of Partition and the danger of another divided Asian state. American officials assured him that the Renville agreements envisaged the Republic's inclusion in the proposed federation. ²

Nehru became Commonwealth secretary in 1952 and foreign secretary from 1952 to 1955, followed by ambassadorships to China and the United Arab Republic. As secretary-general of the External Affairs Ministry from 1960 to 1963, he remained involved in the deteriorating relationship with Beijing. During a 1961 visit he discussed the rival boundary reports with Zhou Enlai, who said he would examine them and pursue the matter through diplomatic channels. The exchange produced no settled boundary. ^{1, 3}