CHINESE IN TIBET

Press, Volume C, Issue 29504, 4 May 1961, Page 15

CHINESE IN TIBET

Civilians Leaving

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON, May 3. Hundreds of Chinese civilians were leaving Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, for China in a mysterious transfer operation, the “Daily Telegraph” reported from Darjeeling. The most persistent reason being given in official circles in Lhasa was that it was just a routine order, giving them a change. This was unlikely, said the report. More credible was the underground whisper that it was because there would shortly be war. In Lhasa today there were far mpre military than civilians, the city was one huge armed camp, the report said. Since the collapse of the Tibetan revolt and the escape of the Dalai Lama, rebels in Tibert had confined their activities to east Tibet. However. for several months now they had again extended their activities into central Tibet and from Nepal’s borders into West Tibet. In January there was heavy fighting north of Lhasa. The report said the Tibetan guerrillas were now doing everything in their power to stop supplies reaching the Chinese in Tibet. The Tibetans had insufficient arms to fight on the previous scale and were now trying the desperate expedient of starving their enemies and their own fellowcountrymen, too. The advantage was with the Tibetans, who could live for years at high altitudes on meagre supplies. To the Chinese the environment was killing and the food, when it could be found, was inedible. The Chinese had retaliated by depriving the Tibetan civilians and prisoners of food so as to feed their own troops, the report said.