Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, on Tibet
(i) Address to the Lok Sabha, 7 December, 1950: IT is not right for any country to talk about its sovereignty or suzerainty over an area outside its own immediate range. That is to say, since Tibet is not the same as China, it should ultimately be the wishes of the people of Tibet that should prevail and not any legal or constitutional arguments. That, I think, is a valid point. Whether the people of Tibet are strong enough to assert their rights or not is another matter. Whether we are strong enough or any other country is strong enough to see that this is done is also another matter. But it is a right and proper thing to say and I can see no difficulty in saying to the Chinese Government that whether they have suzerainty or sovereignty over Tibet, surely, according to any principles, principles they proclaim and the principles I uphold, the last voice in regard to Tibet should be the voice of the people of Tibet and of nobody else. (ii) Statement to the Lok Sabha, 27 April, 1959: WHEN premier Chou En Lai came here two or three years ago, he was good enough to discuss Tibet with me at considerable length. We had a frank and full talk. He told me that while Tibet had long been a part of China, they did not consider Tibet as a province of China. The people are different from the people of China proper. Therefore, they considered Tibet as an autonomous region which could enjoy autonomy. He told me further that it was absurd for anyone to imagine that China was going to force communism on Tibet. Communism could not be enforced in this way on a very backward country and they had no wish to do so even though they would like reforms to come in progressively. 4 Even these reforms they proposed to postpone for a considerable time. (iii) His Last Letter, 24 May, 1964: Dehradun May 24, 1964 My dear Dr. Gopal Singh, Your letter of the 20th May. It is not clear to me what we can do about Tibet in present circumstances. To have a resolution in the United Nations about Tibet will not mean much as China is not represented there. We are not indifferent to what has happened in Tibet. But we are unable to do anything effective about it. Yours sincerely, (Sd) Jawaharlal Nehru.
