Lesson of an Escape

SUBLIME mysticism and nonsense is apt to pour from many a pen as soon as Tibet is mentioned. The Dalai Lama's success in escaping has even been attributed (not too solemnly, one is glad to grant) to spiritual forces that may have conjured up a belt of cloud to hide his fleeing retinue from the Chinese air force. This is splendid stuff, but it diverts attention from the real significance of the escape. It is a point of agreement between the conflicting versions of the Tibetan revolt that the Dalai Lama left Lhasa on March 17th and reached India on March 31st. For two weeks, then, his party of about eighty people was plodding over the plateaux and passes with Chinese troops and aircraft in pursuit. Yet, according to Peking, he was being abducted by rebels whose total strength throughout a country of over a million inhabitants was only 20,000, most of whom had merely been intimidated into joining the revolt; while the great mass of Tibetans, "who all love the [Chinese] People's Liberation Army," were enthusiastically helping it to mop up rebel remnants. That simply will not wash. The "cloud" that really helped the Dalai Lama in his remarkable escape was evidently the unity of the Tibetan people in their hatred of Chinese military rule.