by Robert Ford
London
13 September 1994

"Since 1911 Lhasa has to all practical purposes enjoyed full independence. It has its own currency and customs; it runs its own telegraph and postal service; it maintains a civil service different from that of any part of China; and it even keeps its own army. In policy Lhasa often acts even more independently."
T.L. SHEN
"TIBET AND THE TIBETANS"
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS. 1953
1944-47 Head of Chinese Mission.,Lhasa.

I visited Tibet in 1945 as a Radio Officer with the British Mission in Lhasa and subsequently until 1947 with the Political Officer in Sikkim. The Political Officer in Sikkim was responsible for the conduct of all aspects of British India's relations with Tibet, Sikkim and Bhutan, the Mission with their day-to-day implementation as regards Tibet through the Tibetan Bureau of Foreign Affairs.

From 1948 to 1950, I was Radio Officer to the Tibetan Government, charged with installing Tibet's first Broadcasting Station and developing an internal radio communications system. I became the first foreigner ever to be employed by the Tibetan Government and was given an official rank in the Tibetan hierarchy.

I had a unique opportunity to live and travel widely in Tibet, particularly in Northern and Eastern Tibet until I was captured and imprisonment by the invading Chinese Communists in 1950. During my five years in Tibet, I had the opportunity to witness and experience at first hand the reality of Tibetan independence.

In 1946, I accompanied an official Tibetan Goodwill Mission to Delhi. The Mission was sent to India and China to congratulate the allies on their victory. It was received by the Viceroy of India, Lord Wavell, attended the Delhi Victory Parade. Its reception in China was predictably different. It was received by the "Commission on Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs" and tricked into attending the National Assembly as "delegates".

Tibet was also represented at the "Asian Relations Conference" in India in 1947, organised by the Congress Party of India. The Tibetans attended as a separate delegation under their own flag, much to the annoyance of the Chinese.

Later that year, a Tibetan Trade Delegation visited India, Britain, the United States and China. The delegates carried Tibetan passports which were accepted by all the countries they visited with the exception of China. The delegation had limited success on the commerce front but politically it had set another precedent supporting Tibet's independence.

1949 also saw the transfer of power in India with the departure of the British. India formally assumed all the British obligations and rights under the existing treaties with Tibet, including "special rights" and "most favoured nation" status. Relations between Tibet and India continued on the same footing as before. Newly independent India had simply inherited from the British the need to secure her northern frontier and, in doing so, willingly accepted the existing treaty relationship with Tibet.

Further evidence of Tibet's independence was forthcoming with the expulsion in 1949 via India of the Chinese Mission in Lhasa and a single Chinese official in Chamdo along with a number of Chinese traders. The Tibetans feared that, with the collapse of the Nationalist Government in China, allegiance might be switched to the Communists. It is interesting to note that Chinese officials travelling between Tibet and China invariably did so via India, to avoid the long arduous and sometimes dangerous overland route through eastern Tibet. It was accepted practice that when transit through India to Tibet was requested by China for its officials, the Delhi Government always sought Lhasa's approval for entry to Tibet.

Religion came to dominate every aspect of Tibetan life with the introduction of Buddhism in the 7th century and Tibet's former militarist and aggressive traditions withered and died. The Buddhist church assumed domination in secular as well as religious matters with the Dalai Lama, as supreme temporal and spiritual ruler. Tibet preferred to live in its own self-imposed isolation, having the minimum of relations only with its immediate neighbours India, China and Nepal. She never sought international recognition nor wanted to open diplomatic relations with other countries.

Tibet controlled her own affairs internally and externally, remained so until the Chinese Communist invasion of 1950.

Travelling into Tibet from India along the recognised trade route there was no frontier post, no officials, no police, no customs or immigration control. The Tibetans kept out unwanted visitors. The Government simply made it a serious offence for any of their subjects to provide food, shelter or transport to any foreigner who could not produce a "Lamyik" or travel pass issued by the Lhasa authorities. This system was in force throughout Tibet.

The next notable features on the India-Lhasa trade route were the British (later Indian after 1947) Trade Agencies at Yaltung and Gyangtse. They had been established under the Anglo-Tibet Trade Treaty of 1908 when Britain acquired these extra-territorial privileges, which also included the right to maintain small military garrisons at the agencies. These were still in operation during my time in Tibet, as was Post and Telegraphy service and staging bungalows between the frontier and Gyangtse installed and operated by British India. Here was practical proof that Tibet enjoyed the right to conclude treaties with foreign powers.

All departments of central and local government were wholly Tibetan and under the supreme authority of the Dalai Lama (or in his minority a Regent). Responsible to the Dalai Lama were the two Prime Ministers, one lay and the other monk. The principal executive body of the Tibetan Government was the Kashag or Council usually composed of three lay senior nobles and one senior monk. Below the Council and responsible to it were the various administrative departments, often headed by one lay and one monk official, such as Political, Finance, Army, Foreign Affairs etc.

Parallel with this was the administration of monastic affairs. The Lord Chamberlain was the highest religious official below the Dalai Lama and responsible to him was the Monastic Council. Of importance too was the National Assembly which represented all classes of Tibetan society, particularly that of the numerous monk population, through the abbots of the great monasteries. The National Assembly met only when summoned by the Council to present its views on specific matters of importance or at times of crisis. There was thus an elaborate, entirely Tibetan, system of government with checks and balances between the monk and lay elements.

Local government was effected through about 100 districts, each administered by two officials, one lay and one monk. They had wide powers locally, being guided by tradition rather than instructions from the centre, and were appointed for fixed periods. Exceptionally, Eastern Tibet was administered by a Governor General, often a member of the Lhasa Council, with his own officials, as was Western Tibet under a Governor.

I had personal experience of this system of central and local government both in the capital Lhasa where I was attached to the Foreign Affairs Bureau and in Chamdo in Eastern Tibet under the Governor-General. It was, however, effective government and generally accepted by the population at large. It is interesting to note that in all its history there is no record of widespread agrarian discontent, let alone of popular uprising against the government. That only occurred with the arrival of the Chinese Communist regime. There was much inequality but little envy. Poverty was widespread but there was never any starvation.

The Tibetan army numbered about 12,000 but by modern standards was only lightly equipped with mainly British-made rifles, machine guns, mortars and a few mountain guns. A large part of the army was stationed in the east where the main threat, from China, was perceived.

Tibet issued its own currency. All notes and coins bore the Government seal of the lion and the year of issue. Tibet as a whole lived in economic balance with its trading neighbours, was stable. My own salary was calculated and paid in local currency.

There was other evidence of Tibet's independence. During World War II, Tibet remained neutral and even rejected Chinese proposals to build a military supply route through Tibet from India to supplement the Burma Road, despite British support for the scheme. As a compromise, non-military supplies were allowed to transit Tibet but any plans to construct new supply routes were firmly resisted. At one stage, the United States sent a two-man mission to examine possible trans-Tibet routes. Permission for the mission to enter Tibet had to be sought from the Tibetan Government - a sharp reminder of the practical relationship between Tibet and China.

With its increasing contacts with the outside world, Tibet set up a Bureau of Foreign Affairs in 1942. The British Mission worked with this sensible and practical arrangement but the Chinese Mission, for obvious reasons, refused to do so, thus isolating itself from meaningful contact with the Tibetan authorities.

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