Sure, China beat us in 1962... but they still held a deep grudge against India. Our diplomats ended up paying the price for that grudge. It was 1967. Two Indian diplomats, P. Vijay and Krishnan Raghunath, were taking photos of some temple ruins in China when Chinese police grabbed them. They were accused of spying in front of a crowd of 15,000 people. A Chinese court immediately expelled them from the country and had them rushed to the airport to fly back to India.
The moment they got to the airport, a mob surrounded them and started pelting them with sandals. Then the Red Guards stationed there kicked them and spat on them. Chinese police dragged them straight through that same mob and onto the plane, sending them off to Delhi.
Once the story hit international newspapers, India fired off a letter to China saying, "You didn't do yourselves any favors by humiliating us like this." India then accused a Chinese diplomat at the Chinese embassy in Delhi, Chen Lu Chih, of espionage, and expelled another Chinese diplomat, Shi Cheng Hao, from the embassy. Both were given 72 hours to leave the country.
Just as the two Chinese diplomats were about to leave, opposition leaders gave a statement to the press: "Over there, they dragged our people out of China and kicked them around — and here we are, sending Chinese diplomats home with dignity and respect."
That set off a crowd outside the Chinese embassy in India. People smashed the embassy windows with stones, jumped the gate, and stormed inside. They started beating the Chinese staff with sticks. In the chaos, seven Chinese nationals were injured and rushed to the hospital.
As a result, the Chinese government sent a letter to India's former Foreign Secretary, Sathe, saying they were no longer taking responsibility for the safety of the Indian embassy in China. Almost immediately after, a mob attacked Sathe's own home. Then Chinese police surrounded the Indian embassy and blocked anyone from leaving — they even cut off supplies of milk and essential food. Sixty-three people — men, women, and children — were trapped inside the embassy. Other countries' embassies in China tried to help, but they were chased off too.
The Indian government sent a letter asking China to please disperse the crowd, warning that things would get ugly otherwise. China ignored it.
So India deployed armed soldiers outside the Chinese embassy in Delhi and barred any Indian staff from entering — meaning the Chinese personnel inside were now effectively trapped too.
Trying to cool things down, the Chinese government wrote to India saying they wanted to send a plane to fly their seven injured citizens back to China, and asked for landing clearance in Delhi. India said, "Fine — but first, lift the blockade on our embassy, and let us send a plane too, to bring our injured diplomats home. You give us the same clearance."
China rejected the offer. Instead, they said a plane was already on its way from eastern India and demanded landing rights. India shot back: "If your plane comes even an inch inside our airspace, our fighter jets will be there to greet it."
Then China tried a different move — booking two tickets on an Air Nepal flight from India to Kathmandu.
India got intelligence that China planned to drive both its diplomats to Palam Airport in a car, along with the head of the Chinese mission. Indian authorities tailed them all the way there. Just as the two Chinese diplomats were about to board the plane, they were seized. One of them — the one who'd simply been expelled — was allowed to board. But the other, the one accused of spying, was taken to a corner of the airport and forced to march across the runway flanked by two police officers.
Photos of the whole thing were taken and sent straight to the international press. The next day, when the world woke up to headlines about a Chinese "spy" marching across an Indian runway, it was a massive embarrassment for China.
After that, China finally lifted the blockade on the Indian embassy and wrote to India: "We've pulled back — now it's your turn." India pulled its soldiers back from the Chinese embassy too, then wrote back: "We've lifted our blockade as well. But after the way you mistreated our diplomats, our people are still furious. So while the blockade is over, we're not taking responsibility for what happens to Chinese nationals now."