ashdoc
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This what I remember from an article i had read in newsweek magazine maybe 10 years ago---- that of the khampa rebellion in eastern tibet which led to the dramatic escape of the dalai lama.
----Ashdoc
this matter is normally not talked about in the american media largely because of the americans own irresponsilble role in it.at that time however china was being looked as the future big threat to america due to its stellar economic growth rate. the provocative book ' the coming conflict with china ' had been released at that time , and the tibet had become the new cause celebre.osama and his minions had not yet made their debut on the american horizon, and the war in iraq and afghanistan not in the offing yet. in this atmosphere newsweek published the article.
this what i remember from the article
it was in the late fifties that the CIAs beureau chief of asia was summoned by the CIA director in a hurry.he said that communist china was rapidly becoming a threat and president eisenhower himself had asked for some action against it in tibet.
then the CIA director took the asia chief to a large map on the wall above a sofa and said ''well, lets first locate where tibet is!''. he pointed to a place in eastern europe and said this is where tibet probably was!he probably thought that all communist nations were located in eastern europe.the asia chief had to show him where it actually was. they both eventually ended standing on the sofa 'looking' at the theatre of operations.
india was to be the springboard of operations, and kalimpong near sikkim the headquarters. even though nehru was a sinophile and he regularly fulminated against america,he had to keep quiet on this one because india was critically dependent on america for aid and for food supplies to keep its evergrowing population from the brink of starvation.(this was the state of nehruvian socialism.). he did go so far as to call kalimpong ' that nest of spies.'
a band of americans with real balls and also tibetians in exile agreed to go to tibet to train the rebels.dakota aircraft began to fly across the NEFA border- todays arunachal pradesh- to send weapons to the rebels - tough khampas of eastern tibet-and to train them.
they carried out many hit and run attacks against chinese convoys carrying soldiers taking advantage of tibets rough terrain. in one of the raids they killed a chinese brigadier general and captured important papers which contained detailed plans to produce atom bombs and test them at lop nor in quinghai adjasent to tibet- a region over which tibet has a claim.this was the first indication to the west about chinas plan to manufacture nuclear weapons.
however the plan was doomed from the start.the rebels were still armed with antiquated weapons and china had overwhelming superiority. after a few months the asia chief was again summoned to the CIA director and told that relation with china were improving and the americans must withdraw- leaving the rebels in the lurch obviously.
the rebels continued the hopeless battle with china alone.without american help however they were doomed.the end came when they were caught in a mountain pass and annihilated. some fightting bravely to the bitter end.
the rebellion was a useless sacrifice of brave men ready to lay their lives on the line for religion , king and country. tibet had to pay a terrible price for it. the monasteries were closed and the chinese tyrannys increased. worst of all the chinese pushed millions of chinese into tibet and converted tibetians into a minority in their own land.
and what happened to their king?the chinese govt decided that keeping him in tibet was too risky.and decided to move him to peking -as beiging was known then- and keep him under close guard. he learnt of this and decided to escape.......
when the CIA learnt that the dalai lama was fleeing it promptly went to nehru and asked him to give asylum-fortunately he made one of the few and rare honourable decisions of his life and agreed immediately to give it without the formalities it required- cutting miles of red tape.
indias role in the rebellion musnt have endeared itself to china and may have provoked it to teach india a lesson- already in 1959 clashes occured between indian and chinese troops.1962 was not far away........
----Ashdoc
this matter is normally not talked about in the american media largely because of the americans own irresponsilble role in it.at that time however china was being looked as the future big threat to america due to its stellar economic growth rate. the provocative book ' the coming conflict with china ' had been released at that time , and the tibet had become the new cause celebre.osama and his minions had not yet made their debut on the american horizon, and the war in iraq and afghanistan not in the offing yet. in this atmosphere newsweek published the article.
this what i remember from the article
it was in the late fifties that the CIAs beureau chief of asia was summoned by the CIA director in a hurry.he said that communist china was rapidly becoming a threat and president eisenhower himself had asked for some action against it in tibet.
then the CIA director took the asia chief to a large map on the wall above a sofa and said ''well, lets first locate where tibet is!''. he pointed to a place in eastern europe and said this is where tibet probably was!he probably thought that all communist nations were located in eastern europe.the asia chief had to show him where it actually was. they both eventually ended standing on the sofa 'looking' at the theatre of operations.
india was to be the springboard of operations, and kalimpong near sikkim the headquarters. even though nehru was a sinophile and he regularly fulminated against america,he had to keep quiet on this one because india was critically dependent on america for aid and for food supplies to keep its evergrowing population from the brink of starvation.(this was the state of nehruvian socialism.). he did go so far as to call kalimpong ' that nest of spies.'
a band of americans with real balls and also tibetians in exile agreed to go to tibet to train the rebels.dakota aircraft began to fly across the NEFA border- todays arunachal pradesh- to send weapons to the rebels - tough khampas of eastern tibet-and to train them.
they carried out many hit and run attacks against chinese convoys carrying soldiers taking advantage of tibets rough terrain. in one of the raids they killed a chinese brigadier general and captured important papers which contained detailed plans to produce atom bombs and test them at lop nor in quinghai adjasent to tibet- a region over which tibet has a claim.this was the first indication to the west about chinas plan to manufacture nuclear weapons.
however the plan was doomed from the start.the rebels were still armed with antiquated weapons and china had overwhelming superiority. after a few months the asia chief was again summoned to the CIA director and told that relation with china were improving and the americans must withdraw- leaving the rebels in the lurch obviously.
the rebels continued the hopeless battle with china alone.without american help however they were doomed.the end came when they were caught in a mountain pass and annihilated. some fightting bravely to the bitter end.
the rebellion was a useless sacrifice of brave men ready to lay their lives on the line for religion , king and country. tibet had to pay a terrible price for it. the monasteries were closed and the chinese tyrannys increased. worst of all the chinese pushed millions of chinese into tibet and converted tibetians into a minority in their own land.
and what happened to their king?the chinese govt decided that keeping him in tibet was too risky.and decided to move him to peking -as beiging was known then- and keep him under close guard. he learnt of this and decided to escape.......
when the CIA learnt that the dalai lama was fleeing it promptly went to nehru and asked him to give asylum-fortunately he made one of the few and rare honourable decisions of his life and agreed immediately to give it without the formalities it required- cutting miles of red tape.
indias role in the rebellion musnt have endeared itself to china and may have provoked it to teach india a lesson- already in 1959 clashes occured between indian and chinese troops.1962 was not far away........
and indulge in self made myth such as "China stabbed India in the back in 1962" ?? Or that story was created for inspiration and mobilization of Indians?
