Every invasion needs a pretext, whether it's self-defense or the threat from weapons of mass destruction.
When China invaded Tibet in 1950, it did so, it claimed, as a way of liberating the country from Western domination. However, as reported in Lost in Tibet:
"At the time of the invasion, there were a total of just five Westerners in all of Tibet - a country the size of Western Europe. They were Heinrich Harrer, author of Seven Years in Tibet; his traveling companion, Peter Aufschnaiter; Hugh Richardson, who had earlier been head of the British Mission in Lhasa; Reginald Fox, a radio operator at the Mission (who had married a Tibetan and was hoping to live permanently in the country); and Robert Ford, another radio operator, also from England, whom the Chinese imprisoned as a spy."
The invasion had been a long time in the planning, and was known about in advance. The British and American governments were both aware that China intended to attack. In 1943, the British India Office in London wrote that 'China is bound to absorb Tibet at the end of the war, if not before, and we can do nothing effective to prevent it.' That same year, the US embassy in Chungking notified the US State Department that 'there have been increasing indications that the Chinese Central Government will attempt to extend its control over Tibet by force of arms.'
When China finally invaded, Tibet appealed for international help. However, by then, Britain had pulled out of India so no longer had a border it wished to protect. And the United States had given China 'renewed assurances of our recognition of China's de jure sovereignty or suzerainty over Tibet.'
"The United Nations condemned the invasion on three separate occasions," says Lost in Tibet, "but neither it nor any country was willing to give Tibet meaningful assistance. The Chinese brutalized the Tibetans into submission, and tried to crush the Buddhist religion that lay at the heart of Tibetan society. At the time of the invasion, there were about 6,000 monasteries in Tibet. All but a dozen were razed.
When China invaded Tibet in 1950, it did so, it claimed, as a way of liberating the country from Western domination. However, as reported in Lost in Tibet:
"At the time of the invasion, there were a total of just five Westerners in all of Tibet - a country the size of Western Europe. They were Heinrich Harrer, author of Seven Years in Tibet; his traveling companion, Peter Aufschnaiter; Hugh Richardson, who had earlier been head of the British Mission in Lhasa; Reginald Fox, a radio operator at the Mission (who had married a Tibetan and was hoping to live permanently in the country); and Robert Ford, another radio operator, also from England, whom the Chinese imprisoned as a spy."
The invasion had been a long time in the planning, and was known about in advance. The British and American governments were both aware that China intended to attack. In 1943, the British India Office in London wrote that 'China is bound to absorb Tibet at the end of the war, if not before, and we can do nothing effective to prevent it.' That same year, the US embassy in Chungking notified the US State Department that 'there have been increasing indications that the Chinese Central Government will attempt to extend its control over Tibet by force of arms.'
When China finally invaded, Tibet appealed for international help. However, by then, Britain had pulled out of India so no longer had a border it wished to protect. And the United States had given China 'renewed assurances of our recognition of China's de jure sovereignty or suzerainty over Tibet.'
"The United Nations condemned the invasion on three separate occasions," says Lost in Tibet, "but neither it nor any country was willing to give Tibet meaningful assistance. The Chinese brutalized the Tibetans into submission, and tried to crush the Buddhist religion that lay at the heart of Tibetan society. At the time of the invasion, there were about 6,000 monasteries in Tibet. All but a dozen were razed.
"The Chinese burned ancient Tibetan texts, destroyed libraries, smashed thousands of religious relics, and shipped hundreds of tons of crafted Tibetan metals to Beijing, where they were melted down. They also committed genocide on a scale that matched some of the worst atrocities seen in the 20th century. Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans were beaten, imprisoned, enslaved, tortured, shot, or starved."
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