From the Archives, 1950: China invades Tibet

First published in The Sydney Morning Herald on October 30, 1950

RED INVASION OF TIBET
Threat Seen To Lhasa

LONDON, Oct. 29 (A.A.P.). - Chinese Communist troops have launched a full-scale invasion of Tibet, according to latest reports from New Delhi.

The British-owned New Delhi newspaper, “The Statesman,” quotes reports from Lhasa (capital of Tibet) that the invaders are now well across the border of the disputed province of Sikang.

A general view of the imposing residence of the Dalai Lama, in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. March 5, 1953.Credit: Camera Press

The Diplomatic Correspondent of the "Sunday Dispatch" attributes the Chinese Reds' moves to hidden rivalry between China and Russia. He says the Russians are convinced that there are uranium deposits in north-west Tibet.

The Indian Ambassador to Peiping, Sarsar Pannikkar, confirms that units of the Chinese Army have been ordered into Tibet.

Indian Government sources in close touch with Lhasa say that the Red troops have entered almost inaccessible mountain fastnesses in eastern Tibet.

The Tibetan Government fears that the Chinese, if unchecked by heavy snowfalls and landslides, will reach Lhasa within three or four weeks.

The “Sunday Times” correspondent in Calcutta says that a Chinese invasion column is reported to have driven Tibetan regular troops from the trading town of Riwoche, on the caravan route to Lhasa.

Riwoche is 150 miles from the strategic Dongma Pass, north-eastern gateway to Tibet, seized by an invading force a fortnight ago.

The Chinese resumed their advance last week, the main column avoiding the fortified town of Chamdo, keystone of Tibet’s north-eastern defences.

Rules of Tibet: The Panchen Lama, a boy of 11, is the spiritual leader of the Tibetan hierarchy. Behind him stands the 73-year-old Regent while on either side are the spiritual instructors. The present Panchen Lama is the 10th reincarnation. He lives with the Regent, Lo-ch'ang-chan, at the lamasery of Kumbum. April 22, 1950.Credit: Camera Press

Tibet's Status

Tibet, a plateau seldom lower than 10,000 feet between the Himalaya and Kunlun Mountains, is bounded by China, Nepal, Burma, India, and Pakistan.

It has a population of about three million, and one in every four male Tibetans is a monk.

The status of Tibet is not clear. Textbooks describe it as nominally under the rule of China, but Tibetans regard it as an independent feudal theocracy ruled by the reincarnation of their principal deity - Chen-re-zi-the Dalai Lama.

China has regarded Tibet as part of its territory since the early 18th century.

SIMLA CONVENTION

In 1914 the Simla Convention between Britain, China, and Tibet made Tibet an autonomous State under nominal Chinese suzerainty. China failed to ratify the convention.

When the Chinese Communist armies occupied Chinghai, China's most westerly province on Tibet's north-eastern border, in autumn 1949, they found there an 11-year-old boy who claimed to be a reincarnated Panchen Lama-the second spiritual head of Tibet.

Lhasa has never acknowledged this boy as the true Panchen Lama. Peiping, however, installed the boy as "President of the Provisional Government of Tibet" at Sining, Chinghai.

Since then Peiping Radio has quoted almost every day "messages and petitions from the oppressed Tibetan people begging to be liberated."