Algerian Revolt

Press, Volume C, Issue 29511, 12 May 1961, Page 3

Algerian Revolt

Sir, —Some facts about Tibet. Tibet was part of China until 1912, when it obtained its independence on the fall of the Manchu Empire. It remained independent until the Chinese invasion of 1950. The Chinese “right” to Tibet was therefore the same as any “right” Austria may have to Czecho-

slovakia, or Turkey to Egypt, or England to Calais. China’s true title to Tibet depends on military conquest. Would “P.J.A.’s" protestations have been the same had Tibet been a socialist State and the invader the China of Chiang Kai-shek? I cannot follow’ “Cosmosian’s” suggestion that that discreditable British expedition of 1904 justifies the discreditable subjugation of Tibet by China in 1950. Yours, etc., H.R.G. May 11, 1961. Sir,—For the third time in three years Right-wing Army officers led a revolt against France in Algeria. General Challe, with the arrival of General Salan from exile in Madrid, led three paratroop regiments, one from the Foreign Legion comprising mostly Germans and Hungarians, and seized Algiers' without bloodshed. Challe. inviting the support of Admiral Querville, commander of the Mediterranean fleet, told, him: “If you don’t do it this way we’ll have a Communist-backed government here in six months.” Querville replied: “If we do it this way the Communists will be here sooner than that.” Between the two protagonists of cold war propaganda, it is well sometimes to balance our own interests and prospects. In the light of Dr. Finlay’s suggestion for Labour to extend its vision and activity into the international realm, the strike of 10 million French workers demonstrating their loyalty to de Gaulle helped considerably to resolve the crisis.— Yours, etc., LIDICE. May 10, 1961.