Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1950. VALUABLE PRIZE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 210, 21 June 1950, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 1950. VALUABLE PRIZE

A recent message from Hong Kong stated that the Chinese Communists had offered “regional autonomy” to Tibet, providing it joined the' Communist regime peacefully. Tibet for many years has been under the nominal suzerainty of China, but has been independent for all practical purposes. Last June it expelled a Chinese Nationalist mission. The Communists have been making alternately threatening and cajoling gestures and the recent offer was a combination. Peking radio quoted a broadcast beamed to Tibet from Sining by Hsijao Chiatso, vice-chairman of Tsinghai Province. Hsijao said .that if Tibetans and their ruler, the Dalai Lama, would achieve peaceful liberation, they could have regional autonomy. Hsijao then warned that Tibet was “certain to be liberated” anyhow. There is more than a threat in this warning, and it is interesting to see why the Communists want this country where every man in five is a monk. Quite recently the Russians discovered large deposits of rare uranium ore in Western Tibet, and they want to lay their hands on it for atomic purposes. Thus Tibet has become a valuable prize in the atomic race, quite apart from any place it might hold in the Soviet expansion policy. Six months ago the Tibetans discovered a group of Russian explorers in Western Tibet. Leaders of the expedition were the famous scientist Professor Alexander P. Vinogradov (the chief of the Laboratory of Geochemical problems at Moscow), and the geologist Andrev Grigoriev. The local Tibetan authorities confiscated the gold the foreigners had found —Western Tibet is rich in gold—-but did not touch many samples of “dirty earth” in the Russian baggage. Now the Gashak (Tibetan Government) fears that the “dirty earth” was really rare uranium ore. Since the Tibetans in 1948 turned down a request by a group of seven Soviet and three Chinese scientists for permission to enter the country, the Soviets have parachuted several expeditions into the wild mountains of Western Tibet. The Vinogradov expedition had entered the country in that way. Western Tibet is only three flying hours from the Soviet frontier. And the atom bomb material found bv this expedition is one of the reasons why four crack Chinese divisions, under the command of General Liu Po-cheng (nicknamed “Little Sword”) are massed along the frontier of Tibet. General Liu has sent an ultimatum to the [Tibetan Government demanding Tibet’s unconditional surrender. The general threatened he would use “all the terror of modern warfare” if the Tibetan Government resisted his troops. This ultimatum followed the respectful letter of kind friendship” which the Chinese Communist chief, Mao Tse-tung, sent to Lhasa last January. If the Chinese Communists invaded Tibet they would meet little resistance from Tibet’s regular army, which is only 20,000 strong, is ill-equipped and badly trained. Persuasion has so far failed, and the Communists may yet march.