Dragon In the Land of Snows by Tsering Shakya

Author:Tsering Shakya
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House
Published: 1999-01-20T16:00:00+00:00

Tibetan Resistance

CIA involvement with the Tibetans was not supported by everyone. The American Ambassador to India, Kenneth Galbraith, and H. Rositzke, the CIA station chief in India, were opposed to any commitment in the Himalayas and wrote a memorandum advising the State Department to terminate CIA aid to the Tibetans.29 They felt that American involvement in the region would jeopardise the USA’s relationship with India, and Galbraith writes that ‘our relations with India would have been poisonous’.30 If the Indians had known of the extent of CIA involvement, they would have objected to it.31

The Chinese could not believe that the Indians were not involved with the American aid to the Tibetans, and the American aid to the groups must have played a significant part in Chinese thinking. The main Tibetan resistance group, ‘Four Rivers, Six Ranges’, was facing difficulties, with many of its members beginning to drift away, seeing their fighting days as over. The promise of CIA funding meant that the group could now afford to pay its men and obtain other necessary provisions; previously individuals had been responsible for their own food and transport. The group now came under more direct influence from Gyalo Dhundup, who had become the main political figure among the Tibetans in India, acting as ‘special envoy’ of the Dalai Lama and dealing with the appeal to the UN. The Tibetans did not want the Dalai Lama associated with the resistance movement; it was imperative they keep resistance activities separate from those of the Dalai Lama’s government. In reality both were under the influence of Gyalo Dhundup, and the Americans regarded him as the main political mover. It is interesting to note that, two days after they arrived at the CIA training base, all recruits were given a lecture during which the CIA officials showed slides of Andrug Gonbo Tashi, who was referred to as ‘the Commander’, and of Gyalo Dhundup, referred to as ‘Your Prime Minister’.32

In mid-1960 Gonbo Tashi arranged a meeting in Darjeeling to discuss the logistics of setting up a permanent base. (Gyalo Dhundup had already informed the CIA that the Tibetans were unable to maintain a base inside Tibet. He had asked his friend Lhamo Tsering to oversee these meetings and form the main link between the resistance group and himself. From that time Lhamo Tsering became the main person in charge of the Mustang guerrilla base and all clandestine activities inside Tibet.) It was attended by Lhamo Tsering and thirty other Khampa leaders.33 Gonbo Tashi also had first his personal interview with CIA officials – a China specialist named Mac and a CIA officer stationed in Delhi who used the codename John.34 The meeting was ostensibly to debrief Gonbo Tashi on his activities in Tibet, but it is likely that the officers also wanted to know his intentions for the future.

Andrug Gonbo Tashi knew well the pilgrim route from Lhasa to Mount Kailash in western Tibet, which is one of the most revered religious sites for Buddhists and Hindus.

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