Nehru’s Folly and the ‘Loss’ of Tibet continues....

He wanted to convey to the Tibetans that if they wanted American arms aid they would need to ask for it in writing, whether formally of informally through him, which he could convey back to the American authorities in India.

The idealistic and anti-Chinese 28 year-old Bessac probably saw himself in a position similar to the 18th Century French revolutionary Marquis de Tallyrand who spoke for American independence during the American Revolution. The US wanted to see Tibet covertly armed, but without the Chinese hearing of it. The Tibetan government was seriously worried that if the Chinese came to know of their request, they would most probably hasten their invasion. Some very senior members of the Tibetan government believed that some members of the Tibetan government itself had been secretly bought over by the Chinese and were reporting everything back to them. There were, therefore very worried about leaks to the Chinese. This not wanting to state things openly and not wanting to put their request in writing did not help matters at all for the Tibetans.

There was, therefore some substance in the allegations of the Chinese regarding ‘imperialist forces’ at work in Tibet, even though the Indian government was unaware of it. The Chinese believed that the Indian government was colluding with the ‘imperialists’.

But in fact it remained unaware of this till much later, because its own envoy in Lhasa, H.E. Richardson, was a believer in Tibetan independence, and was the same person who had been the envoy of British India.

Since he spoke fluent Tibetan, though with a slight Oxford accent, could read and write the language, and knew everything and everyone in Lhasa, he was retained there as India’s envoy, mainly because India had nobody better at the time. Obviously he kept some facts to himself, while also sending reports to the British government in London. Nevertheless, the number of foreign ‘imperialists’ in all of Tibet at the time was just nine.

To be continued...