Enter the Dragon: Chinese Invasion
of Tibet begins....

The Chinese invasion of Tibet needs to be seen against the Han Chinese world-view and attitudes. The knowledge, attitudes, behaviour and practices of the Chinese have a distinct pattern, which helps in an understanding of the Chinese state even today. Had India’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru, recognized and understood this perhaps the entire history of Sino-Indian relations since 1949 would have been different. It is characteristic of China that if a region once acknowledged her nominal suzerainty even for a short period, she would regard it as a part of her empire for ever and would automatically revive her claim over it even after a thousand years whenever there was a chance of enforcing it.

Therefore, whenever the Chinese empire was strong it would demand tribute from the vassal states and to insist on the performance of kowtow in front of the Emperor. In the case of refusal there was always the possibility of sending an imperial army to the vassal.

Having seen that continuing with the claims to Tibet, Eastern Turkestan, Mongolia and Manchuria as ‘always’ having been part of China was a matter of ‘face’ for the Chinese government, it needs to be seen how they decided on their boundaries.

The idea of China (Zhong￾guo or the ‘Middle Kingdom’) having fixed boundaries is itself a
modern construct. The concept can be traced to Prof. Tan Qixiang (1911-1992) and his team of historical geographers who produced the first Historical Atlas of China between the 1950’s and the 1980’s.

To be continued.....