For many thousands of years, India (including Tibet) had a natural well established Himalayan defense. Tibet is a landlocked country. Ladakh was the hub of its trade routes to the rest of India and world during 19th century. Even during the late 1940’s, irrespective of whirlwind changes everywhere else on the planet, life in Lhasa was going on as usual. As Asian or African people talked about Revolution, Independence or the end of Imperialism, these notions meant nothing in Tibet.
Tibet was an independent country until 1950, recognized by India, UK, USA and China. Tibet’s independence were recognized by Kuomintang. During the period of the civil war, Mao also acknowledged the alien status of Tibet. After the fall of the Manchus when the nationalist government of China invited Nepal and Tibet to join China, both of them refused.
The Tibetan national flag carried by the Tibetan army in 1936 at the military garrison, Drapchi
In 1947, India had a strong presence in Tibet with a full-fledged Mission in Lhasa and Indian trade marts managed by agents with military escort posted in Gyantse, Yatung (near the Sikkim border) and Gartok (Western Tibet). The Post and Telegraph Service, a chain of rest-houses and the principality of Minsar (near Mt Kailash) were also under the Indian Government’s control.
In the first week of September 1946, Nehru was sworn in as head of an Interim or Provisional Government as part of the process towards freedom. Strangely, at the top of his mind was not on national unity, but one on Asian amity. Within days of taking a transitional office, Nehru announced that an Asian Relations Conference would be convened in March 1947. It was obvious to him that China’s presence would be vital to its success. Tibet also participated as an independent nation.
A small delegation of Tibetans reached Delhi by horseback after a month long journey crossing treacherous snow packed Himalayan passes . The Tibetans raised their flag. The Chinese officially protested at the seating of the Tibetan delegates. To please China, Nehru made sure that the conference discussed just cultural and economic issues and not the political matters.
The Chinese lobby in USA was a powerful group that included members of Congress, the Catholic church, business leaders and financiers.
The picture shows two Tibetan delegates (front right) during the Conference in Delhi in 1947 as Mahatma Gandhi speaks (far left). A Tibetan flag is seen in front of them along with flags of other participating countries.
The Tolstoy/Dolan mission
During early 1940s, Tibetan plateau was largely an unexplored landscape with no supply route towards China. During WW2, the supply route between India and China via Burma was cut off by the Japanese in 1942. Tibet refused the request to open a military supply route through Zayul (Southern Tibet), fearing that the Chinese may acquire a permanent home in Tibetan roads. But under pressure from USA, Tibet agreed for a small party to transit to China.
The Tibetans were under the impression that America might indeed be helpful, if the relations with China deteriorate further. In 1942, President Roosevelt sent Strategic Services (OSS) officers to Tibet. OSS is the forerunner of present CIA.
The OSS spies Ilia Tolstoy, the grandson of Leo Tolstoy, and explorer Capt. Brooke Dolan were sent to Tibet to traverse and explore the hidden country. Seems OSS got inspiration from the spy work of Lawrence of Arabia during WW1. They were operating under instructions from Donovan (head of OSS and founder of CIA) and General Stilwell. They were asked to proceed to OSS HQ and wartime capital of Chiang Kai-shek in Chungking (Chongqing) via Tibet. The hidden motive was to survey the land as a possible field for future activities, secure allies, discover enemies and locate strategic targets. A description of this mission can be found in declassified document Psychological Warfare Undertakings. Read More
Brooke Dolan and Ilia Tolstoy traveling to Lhasa (still from Inside Tibet, Records of the Office of Strategic Services)
OSS worked in close co-operation with the Chinese, first with Kuomintang and then with Mao. The Western friends of Chiang Kai-shek abandoned him after WW2 because he was a nationalist. Mao was picked up to play puppet leader. The opium funded Yale Divinity School had established a network of schools and hospitals throughout China that also served as an intelligence network. One of Yale in China's most important students was Mao Zedong.
Tibet had better friendly relations with British India than with the India after independence. The Chinese lobby applied pressure on Indian leaders to stay away from Tibetan matters. The creation of Pakistan and the first Indo-Pak war (1947) had an impact on the Tibetan trade via Ladakh route. China promised help. The Chinese built the infrastructure in Tibet free of cost through the route that was surveyed and explored by OSS. The same roads and bridges were used to transport the Chinese army men in disguise into Tibet. Mao's troops routed the militarily weak Tibetan resistance at Chamdo. A trade delegation from Lhasa was in Delhi at that time; it had no clue.
The picture shows The American Mission to Tibet crossing the Melo La Pass. The expedition carried the American flag while going through the Melo La
Soon after the Chinese overran Tibet, Nehru and Krishna Menon started talking in public that India and China had lived in peace for 3,000 years, implying thereby that eternal peace would reign. Tibetan autonomy vanished into thin air after signing the Panchasheela treaty. India became the first non-socialist country to recognize the Communist government after Mao Zedong seized power in late 1949 and Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan. Nehru's ambassador to Beijing seemed more comfortable justifying China than conveying India’s concerns to Beijing.
the Dalai Lama at Karpo Pass on March 28, three days before reaching sanctuary in the free zone of India. His flight began on March 17, 1959
The supreme art of war, according to Sun Tzu, is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Communism captured Tibet purely through Psychological warfare.
OSS in Tibet - Videos
Panchasheela
The properties in Tibet handed over to China at a reasonable price are (1) 12 rest houses (2) the postal, telegraph and public telephone services together with their equipment operated by the Government of India in Tibet Region of China (3) all lands used or occupied by the Government of India other than the lands within its Trade Agency compound walls at Yatung.
The same day, through an exchange of letters, India gave up her extra territorial rights in Tibet such the military escorts in Gyantse and Yatung; post offices, telegraph and telephone services and 12 rest houses.
Reference
The Book Tibet: An Unfinished Story By Lezlee Brown Halper, Stefan Halper
The book Reminiscences of the Nehru Age by MO Mathai
Images from an Independent Tibet - https://sites.google.com/site/legalmaterialsontibet/home/photographs
Across Tibet from India to China - http://www.thelongridersguild.com/stories/tolstoy.htm
