Chapter 22 Tibetan Disaster Dalai Exodus 1959

Journalist: “You caused the Dalai exodus from Tibet?

Mao: “Yes, in 1951, we signed the so-called agreement of 17 articles for the peaceful liberation of Tibet, ‘Tibetans ruling Tibet,’ which did not change the political system of Tibet and allowed the Tibetan army to remain, and the Beijing government was only responsible for defense and foreign affairs. This was my expedient plan, and I could not afford to settle Tibet in one step.

In 1956, when the domestic socialist transformation was completed and the road to Tibet was repaired, our army marched in large numbers to the Tibetan plateau, and the noble upper class, pulling their families together, made long journeys and fled to Lhasa. 17 articles were fully negated, and the Tibetans said I was a big liar, and that my 100,000-strong army had been in Tibet for several years.

In the spring of 1959, the situation in Lhasa was unprecedentedly tense, and I conspired to take advantage of the Dalai’s attendance at the military district to watch a cultural performance to control the Dalai and other high-level figures and send them to Beijing under house arrest for sustenance, so that he could live in Tibet according to my instructions.

1959.3.17. Late at night the Dalai fled, I intended to let him go, stay in my hands is not good to do, tens of thousands of Tibetans ran after him, along the way and a large number of Tibetans joined, a team of more than 100,000 Tibetans after 2 weeks long trek, over the Himalayas, into the territory of India, en route many times by our army chase, but was repelled by the Dalai guards, fleeing Tibetans too much, had to let go.

Dalai fled at the same time, the communist army artillery, machine guns captured the Potala Palace, Da Zhao Temple, etc., killed a large number of protest Tibetans, the battle of Lhasa ended.’

Journalist: “How did you deal with the Tibetan issue? “

Mao: “Tibet has a population of 3 million, 2.75 million Tibetans and 250,000 Han Chinese. Qinghai, Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu Tibetans, adding up to 3.3 million. The entire Tibetan population is about 6 million people. The first time I spoke to Stalin in Moscow about Tibet on January 22, 1950, I asked him to send planes and airlift troops to attack Tibet, as there was no way through at that time. Stalin’s opinion was also to subdue Tibet by force, and he also advised me to emigrate to Tibet, saying that less than 5% of the Chinese people in Xinjiang should be increased to 30%. He said that all frontier areas should migrate more Han Chinese to them, and this became my later policy.”

Journalist: “Oh, you based on the fight, Stalin also, but also a large number of Han Chinese migrate to?”

Mao: “Yes, 1950-1951, I ordered 20,000 troops into Tibet, and then send more have difficulties, no road to transport troops and logistical supplies, troops at once not used to the plateau climate, the Tibetan people armed can not be taken lightly. I decided to first engage in negotiations, temporarily give autonomy, recognize the Dalai leader status, send his favorite gift movie projectors and the like, and say good things to the Tibetan delegation. Meanwhile, the construction of two roads to Tibet was stepped up.

When the Dalai came to Beijing to attend the People’s Congress in 1954, I kept him in Beijing for six months, during which I met him amiably more than 10 times to make him unsuspecting. He was only 19 years old at that time, and knowing that he was interested in science and liked new things, I said that I also liked science and we had much in common. I also lectured him as a monarch that religion is an opium that poisons people. The Dalai asked to join the Communist Party based on protecting his interests and those of Tibet, and I didn’t agree.”

Journalist: “Oh, you tricked the Dalai first and tricked him into asking to join the Communist Party?”

Mao: “Yes, after the Dalai returned to Tibet, he wrote to me with a Tibetan flower, and I wrote back to him in my handwriting saying: Dear Dalai Lama, I received the letter dated July 6, 1955, and I am very happy that I miss you from time to time and miss the pleasant situation you had together in Beijing, when can I meet with you again? I am glad to see the Tibetan flowers you enclosed, and I am enclosing one for you as well.

In 1956, when the three major socialist reforms were completed and the road to Tibet was open to traffic, the conditions for marching to Tibet were in place. I instructed those reforms be carried out first in the Tibetan areas of Khampa, struggling against the upper class, seizing guns, beginning to levy taxes, and confronting the monasteries. 500,000 Tibetan riots broke out, and by the end of March the Tibetans had raised an armed contingent of 60,000 people, and armed riots spread in other Tibetan areas. I used a large number of troops to suppress, siege, send aircraft bombing, put down the resistance.”

Journalist: “When the road was repaired and opened to traffic, you marched in? Half a million Tibetan riots broke out? You suppressed it?”

Mao: “Yes. In October 1956, the Dalai went to India to attend the celebration of the 2,500th year of Buddha’s birth. I estimated before the trip that the Dalai might not return under the current situation, so I instructed to prepare for war and build forts. 1956, Sichuan, Yunnan and other Tibetan areas, in the three major reforms, the struggle to carry out the situation, widespread panic, riots and riots occurred, thousands of deaths, 100,000 people fled to Lhasa.”

Journalist: “Wow, in 1956 you suppressed the Tibetan riots, thousands of people died, 100,000 people to go to Lhasa?”

Mao: “Yes. The Dalai stayed in India for a few months and did not return. I ordered Zhou Enlai and He Long to go to India to intervene. Zhou Enlai approached the Dalai several times and said that he would not change for 6 years and when to change in the future, then with your permission. He Long advised him to return to Lhasa, saying that a lion on a snowy mountain becomes a dog when it reaches the flat land; it is only a lion when it returns to the snowy mountain. Zhou Enlai talked to Indian Prime Minister Nehru twice, exerting pressure, and Nehru, under my pressure, was unwilling to accept the Dalai in exile, leading to the Dalai’s return to Lhasa in April 1957.”

Journalist: “Oh, India, under your pressure, did not accept the Dalai’s stay in India, and the Dalai was forced to return?”

Mao: “Yes. The Tibetan army was strong and warlike, and could not be solved at once. I could not see when the solution to Tibet was in, and had to wait again. Two years passed, the Great Leap Forward in 1958, there was a Great Famine, and the Tibetans rebelled in armed riots in several settlements, they had horses and guns and were able to organize secretly. The Tibetans in Qinghai armed rebellion, throughout the province, troops mass arrests, arrested 10% of the Tibetans. June 24, 1958, I instructed severe suppression, not afraid of rebellion, the bigger the chaos, the better. January 22, 1959, I instructed again: always come to a general showdown, in order to completely solve, they are serious enemies, and finally war to solve.”

Journalist: “You are at all costs, war to solve Tibet?”

Mao: “Yes, on March 10, 1959, when Tibetans were rumored that the Dalai was about to be abducted to Beijing, thousands of people in Lhasa demonstrated and shouted for the Chinese to get out! The demonstration developed into a riot. The next day, I ordered the troops not to harm the Dalai and to let him go. I considered that if the Dalai was killed, world opinion would be unfavorable to me, and India and the surrounding Buddhist countries would have difficult relations. on the night of March 17, the Dalai and his entourage of 600 armed men escaped from Lhasa and ran to India, with tens of thousands of Tibetans following him. on March 31, the Dalai and his party arrived in the Dhawan region of India and established a government in exile. After the Dalai’s escape, I ordered the gathering and destruction of the remaining Tibetan armed forces in Lhasa.”

Journalist: “Oh, you released the Dalai and wiped out the other Tibetan forces?”

Mao: “Yes, when Khrushchev came to Beijing for a visit in September 1959, he said: ‘the Tibetan incident is your fault, the Dalai escaped, you let him go for nothing, if it were me, I would not have let him go.’ I shrugged it off and said: ‘We can’t arrest him, the Sino-Indian border is long and he can cross the border from anywhere.’ I was embarrassed to admit to Khrushchev that I had intentionally let him go.”