Tibet: The Last Months of a Free Nation India Tibet Relations (1947-1962) : Part 1

by Arpi, Claude

• ISBN13: 9789386457219
• ISBN10: 9386457210
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2017-09-05
• Publisher: Vij Books India

Summary

Though Tibet's system of governance had serious lacunas, the Land of Snows was free and independent. In October 1950, Mao's regime decided to ‘liberate' it. ‘Liberate' from what, was the question everybody asked.

Though some in Delhi did not realise it, it would soon be a tragedy for India too, as it had to suddenly live with a new neighbor, whose ideology was the opposite of Buddhist values.

The narrative starts soon after Independence and ends with the signing of the 17-Point Agreement in Beijing in May 1951 when Tibet lost its Independence …and India, a gentle neighbour.

Using never-accessed-before Indian archival material, this book is the first of a series of four books on the India-Tibet Relations (1947-62).
The next volumes will respectively cover the periods 1952-1954, 1954-1957 and 1957-1962.

Author Biography

Claude Arpi was born in 1949 in Angoulême, France. Since 1974, he is settled in South India. He is the author of several books and more than one thousand articles on Tibet, China, India, defence and border issues and Indo-French relations.

Claude holds the Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa Chair of Excellence of the United Service Institution of India for his research on India-Tibet Relations.

His website (http://www.claudearpi.net) carries the largest number of historical documents on topics such as the Indo-China relations, the flight of the Dalai Lama in 1959 and the consequences of the 1962 Sino-Indian war for India, etc. His blog (http://claudearpi.blogspot.in) is popular with those interested in defence and international relations issues, particularly related to Tibet and China.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 An Assessment of the Situation on the Roof of the World
2 Indian Military Escorts in Tibet
3 When China goes Communist: KM Panikkar in Nationalist China
4 Nationalist China tries to trick Delhi
5 The Secret Visit of Major ZC Bakshi to Tibet
6 An Indian Eyewitness in Tibet in 1949
7 Lhasa's Reluctance to Accept India
8 The Communists Take Over China
9 The Escort after India's Independence
10 1950: the Year of the Iron-Tiger
11 The Months Before the Invasion
12 Change of Indian Staff in Tibet
13 The Negotiations That Never Were
14 When Panikkar Changed India's Tibet Policy
15 Tibet Invaded: The Battle for Kham
16 A View From South Block
17 The UN Fiasco
18 Mr Sinha Should be Enlightened
19 The Situation on the Borders
20 The Takeover of Tawang Administration
21 Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet?
22 Concluding Remarks

Annexures
1 Officer Commanding Trade Agent's Escort Gyantse
2 Main Military Actors in Tibet
3 Extracts of the Chinese account of the ‘Liberation' of Tibet

List of Maps
1. Political and Ethnic Tibet (source: Hugh E. Richardson, of Tibet and its History)
2. The McMahon showing the Indo-Tibet border as agreed by Sir Henry McMahon, Foreign Secretary of India and LonchenShatra, Prime Minster of Tibet in March 1914 at Simla
3. People's Liberation Army's advance into Tibet 52 from four directions - Oct 1950
4. Sketch of the Battle of Chamdo - October 1950