1962: The War That Wasn't

by Shiv Kunal Verma

The Chinese attack on Eastern Tibet even while the Simla Convention was in effect may have had a major role to play in the Tibetans agreeing to give up certain areas that were under their control. In the exchange of notes attached to the convention, Tawang was made a part of India. Though not formerly acknowledged, the British negotiators did not want to make any direct payment for Tawang, for it would ‘make us a party to interference with the integrity of Tibet’. In the agreement with Lonchen Shatra, it was agreed that money would be paid later, ‘for some supposedly unconnected purpose’. In the event, a month after the convention was signed and Tawang ceded to British India, the Tibetans were given 5,000 Lee Enfield rifles and 500,000 rounds of ammunition. The annexation of the Chumbi region into British India did not happen only because at the time it did not have a border with India, flanked as it was to the southwest by Sikkim, and the southeast by Bhutan. The handing over of Tawang to the British did not go down particularly well with the Loseling College of Drepung Monastery which had lost a major source of income. To further complicate matters, London was adamant about the strict adherence to the 1907 Anglo-Russian Treaty. By the time this policy was changed, with fighting breaking out between the Tibetans and the Chinese in 1917, British officers in India had already taken the decision to keep the 1914 Simla Convention under wraps. The Simla Convention was badly ha...