In 1997, Tibet scholars Lezlee Brown Halper and Stefan Halper were invited to visit Tibet as guests of the Chinese government. The Tibet they saw was shockingly different from the Shangri La’ myth. The only way to see the place was to sneak out of their hotel window, past their Chinese guards at 3 a.m.
This prompted their academic careers in Asian and Tibetan studies, as well as work at The White House and with the U.S. State Department.
This book, is actually is a chronicle of how the world betrayed Tibet, how the betrayal took place, how the Western world created its myth of the Shangri-La, a land of fantasy in the hidden Himalaya that offers a timeless refuge from the problems and pains of modern, materialistic life.
Drawing on declassified CIA and Chinese documents, the authors reveal Mao's collusion with Stalin to subdue Tibet and deconstruct Tibetan culture. Stalin had earlier annexed the entire East Europe into communist fold.
The book tries to explore about three main points
- First, why was Tibet unable to become an independent state even though colonialists retreated from all nations around it?
- Second, the game played by US, India, China, Russia and Britain?
- why is Tibet’s story relevant to global affairs today?
During 1930s, Tibet had captured the imagination of explorers, adventurers, seekers of spiritual enlightenment and even the Nazis, during 1930s. The main reason was the immensely popular, bestselling adventure fiction, Lost Horizon (1933) and its 1937 film adaptation. The mystery of the Himalayas, the gold-digging ants and brilliant depiction of Shangri-La quickly was too captivating. In 1939, Himmler dispatched an expedition consisting of anthropologists, sociologists and ethnographers.
The book was released during the truce period between two world wars. The Great economic Depression of the 1930s had created a climate of economic insecurity around the world. The humanity was at its worst. West had not learned enough from the tragedies of WW1.
Hilton had never visited Tibet but wrote the fiction out of imagination and reading about the place, its history, religion, customs, travelogues and Tibetan material from the British Museum Library.
President Franklin Roosevelt was so enamored with Shangri-La that on selecting his new presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountains near Washington he said: This is Shangri La’. The idea of sending spies to Tibet was unfolded during the discussion with OSS chief Donovan in this retreat. The place was later renamed Camp David after President Eisenhower’s son.
President Roosevelt and OSS chief Donovan had special interest in ShangriLa during WW2. Roosevelt personally wrote to Dalai Lama seeking permission for the OSS spies Ilia Tolstoy, the grandson of Leo Tolstoy, and explorer Capt. Brooke Dolan to traverse and explore the hidden country.
Nehru was the sole authority in all decision making regarding Indo-China-Tibet. He acted as Mao's mentor, justifying China within India as well as in international stages. All congress men in the parliament except a very few minions were against the Chinese occupation.
Presidents Truman and later Eisenhower initiated a covert CIA program to support the Dalai Lama and resist Chinese occupation. The double-dealing by Nehru, the brilliant diplomacy of Chou en Lai, Nehru’s non-alignment policy and the infamous China Lobby of Chiang Kai-shek restricted international maneuver in Tibet.
But Tibet is a land locked country that until then depended fully on Indian subcontinent. Ladakh was the hub for trade to outside world. This route was closed after the first indo-pak war. 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 Postal, Telegraph and public telephone Services, a chain of rest-houses and the principality of Minsar (near Mt Kailash) were also under the Indian Government’s control.
The Halpers relate one instance when Nehru yelled at Tenzin Gyatso, the new Dalai Lama, upon being told that Tibet must have independence. "That is not possible!" the Indian prime minister exploded, "You say you want independence and in the same breath you say you do not want bloodshed. Impossible!" At first glance a hypocritical outburst from a man who had, with MK Gandhi, led India to independence through non-violent means, careful and objective consideration reveals that Nehru did not believe that non-violence was possible with an enemy.
History of Opium Trade and China Lobby
During 19th century China was in great turmoil because of opium addiction forced by the British, the opium wars, cultural clash with evangelic conversion mafia and colonial anarchy.
Before the opium wars the British were not permitted to sell the addictive drug in China. But they operated through the mafia created through the female Kaifeng Pirate by name Ching Shih. She commanded over 80,000 outlaws and the 1,800 pirate ships under her command was called the Red Flag Fleet. The parallel deep state mafia distributed opium all over China. Chinese middle and upper class were forced at gunpoint to smoke opium. These called as command performances, persisted until addiction took over. In the film, Pirates of the Caribbean part 3 ( 2007 ) she has a mention.
The economic crisis after the Opium Wars resulted in the peasant revolt and devastating civil war. The rebels attempted social reforms and the replacement of Confucianism, Buddhism and Chinese folk religion with a form of Christianity during the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864). Warriors in this army of 500,000 were incredibly disciplined and hugely fanatic. They sported red coats with blue pants and had large numbers of women in their ranks. Ironically, Britain and France came to the aid of the Qing Dynasty and destroyed the rebels. By the end, between 20-30 million people (mostly civilians) died in one of the deadliest military conflicts in history. The scars from the rebellion are still felt today.
The 1911 revolution ended the Qing dynasty. Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of Nationalist Kuomintang that ruled China until 1949, was a Taiping sympathizer, whose ideology was based on the Bible and Christian principles. Chiang’s Christian commitment found expression in his diaries, his public statements, regular church attendance, and the open support of both Chinese and foreign Christians. USA fully supported Kuomintang by providing arms. The left wing of the group formed the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the early 1920s.
The Japanese aggression during WW2 greatly strengthened the CPC. After the war ended the rivalry between the KMT and CPC exploded into full scale civil war. America supported KMT while the Soviet Union supplied funds and weapons to the CPC.
When Chiang was fighting against Japanese invasion, Mao was secretly organizing the red army. That was another communist treachery. Mao had even thanked Japanese. See this link
The island Formosa (Taiwan) was under Japanese rule from 1895 through 1945. After WW2, the allied forces left the occupation of Taiwan to Chiang. The Kuomintang mainlanders ruled the Taiwanese with iron fist. The 228 Incident on February 28 1947 still Haunts Taiwan. The event was the beginning of 40 years of repressive martial law on the island.
Chiang Kai-shek died in 1975 and Mao Zedong died the next year. Afterwards China began to adopt free-market reforms and Taiwan started to move towards democratization, lifting martial law in 1987.
Nixon was the most ardent supporter of China Lobby. Later it became Taiwan Lobby. Its stranglehold on U.S. foreign policy continued until 1972, when President Nixon finally opened talks with Beijing to help end the Vietnam War. On January 1, 1979, Chinese Vice-premier Deng Xiaoping visited the United States for the first time and told American president Jimmy Carter: "The little child is getting naughty, it's time he gets spanked". China invaded Vietnam on 17th February the same year.
The narcotics business has been an important factor in the activities and permutations of the China Lobby. Several prominent Americans have participated in and profited from these transactions. Many officials were engaged in the illegal smuggling of narcotics with the full knowledge and connivance of the Nationalist Chinese Government.
There is no other outfit to which the China Lobby can be compared, with its hard core fanatical, full-time underground operators who dutifully report to central headquarters, its legion of naive misled fellow travelers, its front organizations and officials in their payroll with diplomatic immunity.
Through its hard-hitting propaganda campaigns, the China Lobby prevented U.S. diplomatic recognition of the People’s Republic of China for more than two decades. Such lobbying was responsible for the irrational warmongering policies in Korea and Vietnam.
Gold Wars
The Kerala Gold Scam ( first week of July 2020 ) simply reminds the deadly Gold wars of previous century. The equivalent of war in a democracy is general elections.
The involvement of Red Flags (Communism) can be seen in all the gold wars. The Bolsheviks, National Socialists (nazis), democrats in USA and CCP had created more world wars during the previous century.
The preparations for Bihar election campaign has started. The Chinese Communists are keenly watching the outcome of US presidential election and Bihar election results. The porous Nepalese border is also used by smugglers.
Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple at Thiruvananthapuram is considered as richest temple in the world.
Before WW2, Paper money was not yet widely accepted. The vast majority of payments were made in specie (coins minted from gold and silver). The specie collected from across the world were lent to the British government by the East India Co. during the Napoleonic Wars that were highly expensive.
Before 1757, England was a gaming, robbing nation, without principles, genius, character or allies. After the Battle of Plassey (1757), England turned into a sink of Indian wealth. Robert Clive looted all the gold and silver coins from Bengal treasury.
See link 1757 transition of world
The Mysorean treasury was virtually bankrupt in 1757. Hyder Ali was a petty officer in the Mysore army. The unaccounted money looted from Bengal was used (secretly through French) to groom Hyder Ali Khan as the ruler of Mysore.
It should be remembered that the French and British traders in India were not enemies after 1757. After 1757, the British in India became predominantly powerful and the French had no option except to accept the British hegemony. After the third Carnatic war, the French agreed to support British client governments. They mutually communicated and helped each other. The Second Opium War (1856-1860) against China was jointly fought by the British and French forces.
In 1758 Hyder Ali led successful campaigns against Marathas and Malabar and by 1759 he was in command of the entire Mysorean army. He became the de facto ruler of Mysore as Sarvadhikari (Chief Minister) by 1761.
Tipu's cavalcade in North Malabar was led by the French Commander Monsieur Lally.
In Malabar, the dirty undignified job of temple vault breaking, temple foundation digging, ornament snatching were done by Tipu Sultan with the aid of his local Moplah spies and the booty was accumulated at a convenient spot like bees gathering honey from flowers far away. The French generals closely monitored Tipu, all his activities.
The French allies of Tipu remained neutral in all his conflict with the British. But for Tipu's campaigns in Kodagu and Kerala against native kingdoms, his French allies had extended their military, financial, political, diplomatic support and equipped him with modern weapons like highly armed cannonade contingent. This can be proved by the endless iron cannon balls that can be found in the Nalnad region of Kodagu even today.
Coorg was strategically, a buffer zone which linked Mangalore and Malabar. Kodavas were the master of the guerrilla warfare hence they succeeded every time in ambushing the enemy. Tipu first invaded Kodagu with his well-equipped 15000 army men carrying French Cannon with an intention of conquering Kodagu overnight. The troop of 5000 Kodavas retaliated, defeated Tipu’s army and chased them out of Kodagu. Likewise Tipu was defeated by Kodavas 31 times.
Tipu decided to conquer Coorg by hook or by crook. So he hatched a cowardly plan with the the French. Tipu with the help of General M. Lally requested Kodavas to make peace stating his real enemies are the British and Marathas and not the Kodavas. He invited all Kodavas unarmed for a friendly feast. On 13th December 1785, more than 125 thousand Kodavas gathered at Devattparamb on the banks of Cauvery river. When the sun set behind the mountains of Kodagu, the French forces and Tipu’s soldiers hiding behind forest shrubs attacked the unarmed Kodavas and slaughtered them in cold blood like how Colonel dyer killed people at Jallianwallah bagh.
This pillage turned entire Coorg into a graveyard. Over 60,000 Kodavas were massacred in Devattparamb and around 65,000 Kodava survivors including women and children were captured. Among them the women were raped and children were forcefully converted. The scale of the massacre was so huge that the water in the Cauvery river turned red for 12 consecutive days
The gold looted from temples during the Malabar campaign was stored in the Treasury at Srirangapatanam. After defeating the Mysore army in 1799, the British lifted the entire gold and carted away in clipper ships to Europe. It is preserved in the underground vaults of Bank of England.
For the British, the tax income from American colonies were not significant as compared to the riches obtained from Bengal. America was not an industrialized nation then. Distinguished generals like William Medows, Sir Eyre Coote, Archibald Campbell, Charles Cornwallis etc. started their career in America and then headed for India. The colonies separated from Britain in 1776.
The industrial revolution in Europe started soon after the Plassey victory. The wealth from the subcontinet and precious vedic knowledge were stolen and used for their commercial advancement. The museums in London and Germany are keeping many of the stolen relics and artefacts from India.
The plot for French Revolution was also hatched in London. The gold looted from Kerala and Kodagu by Tipu's French allies were used for funding the Jacobins Club of Paris. The Reign of Terror (1793 – 94) by Jacobins resulted in the death of tens of thousands of innocent people. Also Read Tipu and Red Jihad
When the Jacobins Club lost its acceptance among people of Europe, especially after its reign of terror, the club was dissolved. Napoleon was promoted instead. Napoleon was expected to do a deadly campaign of loot and plunder in Europe just like how Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan conducted their military campaign in North Malabar. Instead Napoleon turned against the practice of usury or money lending and soon became an enemy of the British.
The British war against Napoleon was enormously expensive. Troops had to be paid, and weapons, rations, and ships had to be purchased. The vast majority of this payment had to be done in specie - coins minted from gold and silver.
Paper money was not yet widely accepted, and a steady flow of hard cash was essential for the British war effort. The BEIC came forward to lent money to the British government and gold and silver coins from across the world poured into England.
Not many are aware about the Red Flag Fleet, the pirates that ruled the South China Seas during 17th century and early 18th century. See link
China was a hostile nation then for the British traders. But the British converted China into a nation of opium addicts. How?
They first created a mafia under the Chinese female Kaifeng Pirate by name Ching Shih (or Zheng Shi). She commanded over 80,000 outlaws and the 1,800 pirate ships under her command was called the Red Flag Fleet. They were invincible with the expanding reserves of loot and the long range guns they used. In Pirates of the Caribbean part 3 ( 2007 ) she has a mention. Opium distribution was done by a Chinese mafia controlled by Kaifeng pirates. Chinese middle and upper class were forced at gunpoint to smoke opium. These called as command performances, persisted until addiction took over.
After years of notoriety on the South China Seas Ching Shih finally retired by accepting an offer of amnesty from the Chinese government, but not without first negotiating to maintain the riches and power she earned as a pirate lord.
After the Beor war or gold war (1901), the British controlled the entire gold and diamonds of South Africa. This finally resulted in the first world war and Bolshevik revolution.
Also there are spies trained in using the gold as a weapon for tender trapping. The British spy TE Lawrence is the man who had created trouble wherever he went during early 20th century. He visited North Malabar just a few months before the bloody 1921 Khilafat riots. Before that he had a similar assignment in the Arabian peninsula during WW1 and gave the Brits an easy victory against Ottomans.
He had lured the ruler of Hejaz (Present Saudi) sherif Hussein to revolt against the Ottomans. His skills in fomenting tribal conflict among the rugged but rival factions of various tribes in the middle east Arabian peninsula were highly regarded.
When the British were desperate to topple King Anamullah in Afghanistan they brought Lawrence to India in January 1927.
Read more - Lawrence of Arabia
