When India tried 'Mango Diplomacy' with China in 1955 ...

New delhi date. 08 June 2022 Wednesday

India is the world's largest mango producer. China is currently one of the largest mango producing countries in the world, but did you know that mangoes were almost unknown to the Chinese people until the 1960s? Do you know India's diplomacy with China on Kerry issue? How India started diplomacy on the Kerry issue in the 1950s.

Why was the proposal postponed?

According to the initial plan, the mangoes were sent to the People's Park in Guangzhou in the winter of 1954 for planting. However, the Indian Embassy in Beijing advised the External Affairs Ministry that this is not the right time to plant mangoes in China. The proposal was postponed for a few days.

Work on the scheme resumed in 1955

Work on the project resumed in May 1955. The Beijing embassy asked the Foreign Ministry to arrange for mangoes soon. Preparations began and it was finalized that the trees would be sent to China with a cultural delegation. It was initially decided that 11 trees would be sent to China and later 8 were cut down. On May 30, the Ministry of External Affairs informed the Indian Embassy in Beijing that two crates with samples of 8 mangoes would be sent to Hong Kong on June 5.

India sent mangoes but did it really arrive?

"We are informing the Chinese side but the number of trees should be increased as 8 is considered too low," the Beijing embassy said. In the end, considering the quality of the trees, etc., the Ministry of External Affairs agreed to send 3 Dasheri, 2 Chausa, 2 Alfanjo and 1 lame mango, but the details are not in the public record.

It took 50 years to send fruit to China again ...

A war broke out between the two countries in 1962, a few years after Mango was sent to China. Sweet relations turned sour. After which it took almost 50 years for India to send mangoes to China. The first official consignment from India landed in China in 2004 with Ambrosian fruit after the two countries signed an agreement under the WTO bilateral agreement during former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to China in 2003.