Integrity Score 390
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Enter the Dragon: Chinese Invasion
of Tibet continues....
Prime Minister Nehru was, however, upset with the Tibetan Government because it had refused to accept the independent Government of India as the successor of the British Government of India and legal inheritor of the treaties, rights and obligations of British India. It had in fact written to the new Indian government asking for the return of the ‘lost territories’ of Darjeeling, Kalimpong , Sikkim and Tawang. This had caused Pt. Nehru to lose a certain amount of sympathy for Tibet. In mid-1949 the Indian government, including Prime Minister Nehru, was still of the view that Tibet was an independent country.
Pt. Nehru, however, was already convinced that: (1) Tibet would be invaded by Communist China (2) Nehru was not averse to some amount of socialist reforms in Tibet, which he believed that the ‘lama hierarchy’ was not capable of providing, and (3) he ‘was not frightened’ at having a new and powerful neighbour on India’s northern border.
This last later became a major point of difference between him and the Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
On July 9, 1949, the Chinese mission in Lhasa was formally and ceremonially expelled by the Tibetan government, after having been given just one day to pack up. However, the expulsion was courteously done, with a band accompanying them till out of Lhasa.
To be continued...