The Consultation And Difference Between Britain And The United States On The South Asia Crisis In 1971

In the south Asian crisis of 1971,the United States and Britain reacted accordingly,based on different interests.In the early stages of the crisis,both countries took a neutral stance.However,the East Pakistan crisis caused a large number of refugees to pour into India,and India began to intervene in the crisis and promoted the crisis to become an India-Pakistan crisis.During this process,Britain and The United States held discussions on the refugee issue and economic assistance for many times,and reached some consensus,but there were also some differences.The signing of the treaty of peace,friendship and cooperation between the Soviet Union and India was the turning point of the policy differences between Britain and the United States.The United States was strongly opposed,while Britain showed great "understanding" of the Soviet-Indian treaty.This marks the prelude to the contradiction between the British and American,the United States "bias" in Pakistan,the British "bias" in India.The outbreak of the third India-Pakistan war further widened the differences between the two sides.On the one hand,the United States announced to cut off economic and military aid to India,on the other hand,through the United Nations security council urged India to cease fire and withdraw troops.Britain,while ostensibly saying it would maintain a detached attitude,actually further cut off the aid to Pakistan,and even abstained from voting twice in the UN general assembly,saying it did not agree with the withdrawal plan proposed by the United States.At this point,the British government began to "favor" India,which formed a sharp contrast with the "favor" of the United States to Pakistan.and the two sides eventually become antagonistic.This paper argues that the primary reason for the different attitudes and policies between the Edward heath administration and the Nixon administration in dealing with the South Asia issue is that the two sides have different interest demands in South Asia.The second is the shift in the centre of gravity of Anglo-American relations.During the crisis,while Britain was estranged from the United States,it became closer to Europe,and the United States also focused its diplomatic efforts on the "thaw" with China.Finally,the personal emotions of leaders also play a role.It was the confluence of factors that led to the divergence between Britain and America in this crisis.It is noteworthy that the two sides "reconciled" quickly after the crisis ended and continued to maintain a "special relationship" in other areas and international events.This shows that,despite the conflicts of interest between the Britain and The United States,in some regions,global cooperation based on national interests is still the main theme of the relationship between the United States and Britain...