Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence
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The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence or Pancha Sila (also spelled Panch Sila) are a series of agreements between the People's Republic of China and India. After the People's Liberation Army occupied Tibet, China came into increasing conflict with India, culminating in the Sino-Indian War. However, both nations were newly-established and interested in finding ways to avoid further conflict. Therefore in 1954 the two nations drew up the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence:
- Mutual sovereignty and integrity respected
- Non-aggression
- Non-interference
- Equally and mutual benefit
- Peaceful co-existence
They were first put forth by Premier Zhou Enlai in his talk to the Indian delegation at the start of the negotiations that took place in Beijing from December 1953 to April 1954 between the Delegation of the Chinese Government and the Delegation of the Indian Government on the relations between the two countries in the Tibet region of China.
Later, the Five Principles were formally written into the preface to the "Agreement Between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of India on Trade and Intercourse Between the Tibet Region of China and India" concluded between the two sides. Since June 1954, the Five Principles were contained in the joint communique issued by Premier Zhou Enlai of China and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India, and have been adopted in many other international documents. As norms of relations between nations, they have become widely recognized and accepted throughout the world.