China Quelling Tibet “Once And For All”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28866, 10 April 1959, Page 11

China Quelling Tibet “Once And For All”

(N.Z. Press Association—Copynght) (Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW DELHI, April 9. The Chinese Government had decided to put down the Tibetan rebellion once and for all, according to a high-ranking Chinese official.

The “Times of India” quoted the official as saying this in the Indian border town of Kalimpong, where China has a trade agency.

The newspaper said fighting in Tibet was slowly receding to the countryside from the neighbourhood of the central Tibetan towns and was widespread, though scattered.

Roads to and from Lhasa are still blocked.

In a dispatch from Gangtok, capital of Sikkim State, the ‘‘Times of India” said reports reaching there suggested that the rebel Khamba tribesmen were fast running out of arms and ammunition and were seeking to buy arms abroad to keep up the struggle. The newspaper “Statesman” in a dispatch from Gangtok, said Chinese troops were reported to be moving rapidly into Western Tibet to blockade all routes leading to Nepal and India so as to stop refugees leaving Tibet. It said hundreds of people had been arrested last week in the lower Chumbi Valley, which borders Sikkim, and that many were injured in a clash between Chinese troops and the fugitives.

The "Statesman” said that reports in Gangtok spoke of a great increase in Chinese aerial activity over Tibet as well as of the movement of armoured vehicles into Tibet.

Dalai Lama’s Journey The Dalai Lama rode out of Towang monastery on a mountain pony to begin a five-day trek which will bring him down from the Himalayas to the plains of Assam. Official sources said it would take the Tibetan ruler at least five days to cover the 62 miles from Towang, close to the Tibetan border, to the small town of Bomdila, where he is likely to rest for one or two days before going on by jeep to the tbwn of Foothill.

On his arduous trek along mountain bridle paths, the Dalai Lama will cross the 14,000 ft Sela Pass. Buddhist inhabitants of the village along his route will stand outside their squat stone dwellings to receive his blessing as he passes. According to Peking Radio, the Panchen Lama said recent events had led the people of Tibet on “the early socialist road to prosperity and happiness,” when he presided over the first meeting in Lhasa today of the preparatory committee of the Tibet autonomous region set up to exercise the functions of the Tibetan Government.

AUSTRALIA’S ATTITUDE Reference To U.N. Opposed

(Rec. 9 p.m.) CANBERRA, Apl. 9. Australia should not "at the moment” refer the disturbance in Tibet to the United Nations, the Attorney-General and actingMinister of External Affairs, Sir Garfield Barwick, said in the House of Representatives today The utmost sympathy, he said, was due and was given to the Tibetan people in this situation. He did not think, however, that Australia should send a message of congratulation to the Indian Prime Minister, Mr Nehru, for sheltering the Dalai Lama. A Government back-bencher, Mr R. L. Dean, asked for information on the situation in Tibet and also what action the United Nations was likely to take.

Sir Garfield Barwick said: "The information that is available from Tibet grows a little more certain day by day. It is plain that there has been the suppression of at least a disturbance, if not a revolt, in Tibet by singularly ruthless and inhuman means.

“I hope that our Asian neighbours who live under the fear and threat of the imperialist expansionism of the Communist regime of mainland China, will bear in mind and observe exactly what credit can be given to a Communist assertion that the autonomy of a country will be respected. Our Asian neighbours should also observe what recognition of basic human rights is accorded by that regime.”