On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Chinese occupation of Tibet and Dalai Lama’s flight to India, the UK Times has an entire section dedicated to this event. Dalai Lama’s arduous flight to India has been captured in these unique photos. [Times UK]
Also of interest is this news clip from the Times published in 1959. [News Clip]
The article talks about Chinese troops crossing the border into Tibet and occupying a fortress. Among other reasons, the article cites a rising suspicion by China of Tibet being used as a based against China by “imperialistic U.S. and U.K.”. Another reason seems to be the “loss of face” suffered by the defeat of North Korea, forcing China to beat up on Tibet just to stress its supremacy.
At that point, India was supposedly so concerned with maintaining peace with China that India was actually urging Tibet to accept some measure of Chinese suzerainty. India had even gone as far as campaigning for China’s permanent spot on the U.N. Security Council. New Delhi’s reaction to the Chinese occupation of Tibet was one of shocked resignation. It would be worthy to note that this was the same reaction expressed by New Delhi when China invaded India.
Subsequently, Dalai Lama accompanied by a few armed guards fled Tibet and plodded his way at a whopping speed of 12 miles a day through the Himalayas seeking refuge in India, angering Mao Zedong, perhaps sowing the seeds for China’s 1962 invasion of India.
It is indeed fascinating to read a news report from the past. Far from the businesslike language used in modern day news reports, the writer doesn’t seem to shy away from mixing news with opinion, making it read like a, you guessed it, blog, albeit an über polished one. Given the slow demise of newspapers, maybe they can still reverse the trend?
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