Fifty Thousand Troops Being Used For The Attack

Wanganui Chronicle, 31 October 1950, Page 5

Fifty Thousand Troops Being Used For The Attack

The Indian newspaper "Statesman” said today that the Tibetan delegation which has been trying for weeks to get to Peking to discuss Chinese intentions towards Tibet, left New Delhi yesterday for Kalimpong. The delegation’s leader said they would return within a week and go to Peking by way of Hongkong, but many New Delhi officials believe they will not be permitted to cross the Chinese frontier until the forces reported inside Tibet have consolidated their positions. Reuter’s Hongkong correspondent says that, according to a reliable Chinese source with Tibetan connections. Ihe well-known one-eyed Chinese Communist commander-in-chief of the

Second Field Army, General Liu Po Chen, is employing 50,000 troops for the attack on Tibet. The informant said the Communist army crossed into Tibet a week ago, and it was not expected Tibetans would be able to offer any resistance. If no outside aid is forthcoming, the People’s Liberation Army would be able to occupy Tibet within the next five weeks. “Negotiations between the Tibetan delegation and Peking will be fruitless,” he said. “It is only a gesture, and Peking will ask for complete surrender.” The informant said he was ol the opinion Lhasa will he under Peking jurisdiction before the forthcoming negotiations with the Tibetan delegation are completed.