FUTURE OF TIBET

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29145, 4 March 1960, Page 16

FUTURE OF TIBET

U.S. Reaffirms

Policy

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, March 2. The United States has strongly reaffirmed its stand that the people of Tibet should determine their own political future. The State Department last night released an exchange of messages between the fugitive Dalai Lama, now in India, and the Secretary of State. Mr Christian Herter. Replying to a Note from the Dalai Lama written from Balrampur. India, last January 5. Mr Herter said: “As you know, while it has been the historical position of the United States to consider Tibet as an autonomous country under the suzerainty of China, the American people have also traditionally stood for the principle of self-determination.

“It is the belief of the United States Government that this principle should apply to the people of Tibet and that they should have the determining voice .in their pwn political destiny,” Mr Herter said.

The United States position was aimed at Communist China, which has repressed the Tibetan effort for autonomy in a drive to communise the so-called roof of the world, the American Associated Press said. The Dalai Lama’s message to Mr Herter thanked the United States for its active support during the United Nations debates on the Tibetan problem last year.