Evening star., 1950-11-11
Possibility Of Holding
Korea Against United
Asia Held Dubious
Chinese Push in Tibet
Means Fall of Another
Keypoint to Red Allies
By Dorothy Thompson

By Dorothy Thompson
This column anticipated the
news about Tibet by more than
three weeks, predicting that the
next move of the Russo Chinese,
front would be there; that Chinese
troops already within Tibetan
frontiers would take the country;
that the Dalai Lama, temporal
and religious leader of the theo-
cratic state, would flee to India
and be replaced by the Panshen
Lama, a 13-year-old boy already
in the hands of the Chinese armies
and converted to the Chinese and
Communist cause; and that Tibet
would revert to a more servile
status than it had under the old
Manchu Chinese dynasties.
These developments were i'm
plicit when negotiations between
representatives of the Dalai Lama
and Of Mao Tse-tung's emissaries
in Delhi were suspended and the
Tibetans ordered to resume them
in Peiping. The brush-off OF
India occurred then.
This column also revealed the
ultimatum already handed the
Tibetans in Delhi, the acceptance
of which would have spelled un-
conditional surrender. including
as it did the banning of all
foreigners-every one not Chinese
from Tibet, and the institution
of a Chinese military institute to
train a Tibetan army.
Would End Autonomy.
Acceptance of these conditions
(and others unknown would have
ended every vestige Of Tibetan
autonomy. They were rejected.
The Russo Chinese alliance was,
therefore, certain speedily to
translate its political policy into
military action.
So although the United Nations
Assembly has just taken steps to
enable mobilization to repel ag-
gressions, another keypoint in
Asia has fallen to the Russo
Chinese front, while resistance in
Korea has aiarmingly stiffened
and the retreat of French forces
in Indo-China is even more dis
quietjng.
In the long run the possibility
Of holding the Korean peninsula
against united Asia allied with
Russia along a contiguous land
front seems dubious. This column
is not accustomed to let it's hopes
influence its analyses. The prom
1Sed reconstruction of Korea with
hundreds of millions of American
money will only make it a greater
future prize; the prolonged pres
ence OF foreign troops, or a for
eign trusteeship. will furnish a
point of Nationalist discomfort
for Communists and others: and
U. N. withdrawal almost certainly
will result in resumption of guer-
rilla war.
Nehru Policy ChimericaI.
Meanwhile. Nehru's policy. based
on the hope Of cooperation with
the Russo-Chinese while retain
ing national independence. has
in the Tibet affair. as
numerical as the policy of the
3enes- -Masaryk regime in Czecho- |
;lovakia, to which 1t bears a strik-
ng resemblance. CzechoSlovakia |
vas a small country; India is a |
great one. But it is not so great
4 one as it was before the with
drawal of the British. Then the
Indian peninsula was united. To-
day there are three states there.
India's difficulties with Pakistan
remain intense. Tension between
them over Kashmir is just short
OF war-and India has rejected
a U. N. plebiscite. The Indian
army which under the British raj
was the strongest, best disciplined
force in Asia, is now relatively
weak. Nehru was compelled to
reject the Tibetan petition for
armed support for the Dalar
Lama's cause.
The Tibet putsch will particu-
larly alarm the Nepal province,
which Is not, believe. too friendly
to the Indian government as it
is. Should Indo- China, Malaga
and Burma fall, the economic
crisis in India land Britain) would
be staggering. as these are India
rice bowl and the chief source of
Britain's dollars.
The Tibet affair also casts light
on the probable results of policies
advocated for Fornosa, where, it
has been proposed. Chinese "suz-
erainty'' be recognized, while the
island is otherwise granted au-
tonomy. That was precisely Neh-
rus proposal for Tibet. What
failed in one place Is unlikely to
succeed in the other.
tReleased by the Bell Syndicate. Inc.)
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