The Strategy of Fireworks

In India last week, an official of the Dalai Lama's court described the bloodless conquest of Tibet by the Chinese Communists. His story could be read as a sort of parable of how Communism vanquishes the isolated, the timid and the unwary.

Early last October 3,000 mountaineer soldiers, well-equipped by Tibetan standards with castoff British battle gear, held the vital frontier fortress of Chamdo, 370 miles east of Tibet's capital, Lhasa. They were preparing for an orthodox daylight attack by the invading Red Chinese.

The Chinese didn't play that way. Shortly after midnight on Oct. 19, the sleeping garrison of Chamdo was awakened by the crash of explosions on the night air. Bright lights "like tiny suns" shredded the sky, as Chinese troops concealed outside the city set off hundreds of rounds of rockets, star shells and other pyrotechnics. Terror-stricken civilians ran through the streets. The cry went up that Chamdo was surrounded and resistance hopeless.

Night Into Day. Commanding General Nga Beu, a man of action, galloped away from the enemy to warn Lhasa of the danger, leaving his men behind. Within a few hours most of his troops, their weapons scattered, were pounding down the road after him. None of them had fired a shot. Neither had the Chinese.

The next morning abashed Tibetans remaining in Chamdo discovered that they had been routed by a fireworks display. Commented the official: "The Chinese used skyrockets and other fireworks to turn night into day and to permit Tibetan officers and troops to see fear on each other's faces."

A courier overtook General Nga Beu with the news that the Chinese army outside the town seemed to have vanished. Rallying his men, the general marched back to Chamdo. Meanwhile, Chinese soldiers with real guns had infiltrated the town. They captured the general and his men.

The Communists treated their prisoners well. Officers were promised the Chinese equivalent of their pay and perquisites. The men were given $6 apiece and a persuasive offer to join the people's army. Most did. The Chinese Reds then entertained the new recruits with a generous demonstration of machine guns, bazookas and other non-Tibetan fireworks. General Nga Beu messaged Lhasa: "It is impossible to defeat the Communists."

Prayer & Meditation. With this, Tibet's national independence quietly evaporated. Demoralized by the loss of their fortress and rumors of huge Chinese armies, the population of 3,500,000 waited helplessly for their conquerors. The Reds, anxious not to disturb their future victims in India, superseded military operations with a thorough propaganda campaign of "friendship and peaceful intentions." By December local agents had raised Mao's five-starred flag over the old Chinese residency in Lhasa.

After a despairing conference with his advisers, Tibet's ruler, the 16-year-old Dalai Lama, made a hasty flight from his capital. Ahead of him went a thousand-mule train carrying 75 tons of the palace treasures. Before leaving, the Lama's government notified Chinese Communist headquarters that it was defenseless and ready to sue for peace. The new rulers of Tibet radioed back instructions to all government officers to stay on the job.

On Jan. 2, the Dalai Lama reached Yatung, near the Indian border, where he secluded himself for prayer and meditation. Seventeen days later the court official reached India, "to seek," he said, "a peace of my own."

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