CHINA AND TIBET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 794, 18 April 1910, Page 4

CHINA AND TIBET.

OPENING OF A NEW CHAPTER

"Tlie occupation of Lhasa by a Chinese army and the flight of tha Grand Lama aro ovents of the first magnitudo in tho history of Asia, both as revelations, of-hidden forces that have been. at. work, and as forces in them•selves that may have a vast influence on tho history of mankind," says tho "livening Standard " The' Chinese expedition :is a revelation of the progress made by'the Celestial army under German and Japanese guidance., Undeterred by : tho immense 'deserts of ico and snow that had to be traversed and by tho slashing attaclcß Of nomad: tribes, the littlo army pushed steadily on. from- 1 tho.-frontier of Szechuan to the. capita] of Tibet, deposing on its way with true Western foresight the feudal lords and replacing them with Chinese officials. To effect its passage the arniy had provided itself with hundreds of mountain guns of the very latest patternthe rank and file had 1 boen trained for their arduous task by cadets who had thimsolves 'sat at the fo?t of-'Japanese instructors, and at Chentu, tho capital of Sze-chuan, which Was the base of, the expedition, 7000 men w;orked night and day in an arsenal filled'' throughout with German machinery. '.■

'.'Furthermore, as they knew that the telegraph wires would certainly be cut by th.o nomads, this most iip-to-date expedition provided itself with wireless telegraphy. • Can. anything be more symptomatic of the incalculable strength of China 1 when slid once thoroughly adopts. Western science' and . Western military- training? This expedition will be carefully-.rioted. by all future historians of mankind. It'-is the opening of a new, chapter,' the beginning' of a new epoch..". ~ ■

Lord Morley stated in the Lords that |tbe Dalai Lama left Peking oii : DecemJbpr 21,- 1908, and arrived at Lhasa,- on .'December. 25, 1909. On February 17, 1910, Chinese troops reached Lhasa, and the Dalai Lama fled'the same night in itho direction of India;. All his baggage was <s!tptured. England will be strictly nffntral when-he reaches India. The has' notified that the interior administration of Tibet will bo;.unchanged.-";' . • ' • ■ Thei/'Telegrapli" . says that "for tho .first .time since wo-took over the government of India we shall have, probably ■; in permanence, 'the forces of -China encamped at'our .very gates, and we shall be fortunate, indeed if the new Northern • Frontier question .will-riot soon prove to. be as constant and as .costly a source of anxietjff to Indian .statesmen'as was ever the more famous North-West." .

- Dr.. Sven. Hedin,; who, has travelled so much in Tibet, says that "as long as China has the Dalai, Lama [who is the head -of the Buddiit faith] in its power it can keep the Mongols in check, while in other, circumstances tho Dalai Lama .could stir them up .to , insurrection against China.: And Mongolia is also the buffer 'State between China and Russia." .-. '