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the next nine years he worked to organise a guerrilla uprising. In 1949, before the Chinese invasion, he merged his Tibetan Communist Party with Mao's Chinese Communist Party. He played an important role in the party's administrative organisation in Lhasa, and as he was fluent in Chinese and comfortable with Chinese culture he was made the translator for the young Dalai Lama during his famous 1954-55 meetings with Mao Zedong. In the 1950s, Phunwang was the highest-ranking Tibetan official within the Communist Party in Tibet. So there were Tibetan Buddhists who were spies within Tibet for either side of this Great Game. the next nine years he worked to organise a guerrilla uprising. In | enemy imperial powers. Laird suggests that the communist 1949, before the Chinese invasion, he merged his Tibetan government may have had a point. He cites his reconstruction of Communist Party with Mao's Chinese Communist Party. He a little-documented CIA mission into Tibet that was intended, at played an important role in the party's administrative least in part, to keep the country's uranium stores from falling organisation in Lhasa, and as he was fluent in Chinese and into Russian hands. comfortable with Chinese culture he was made the translator for As proof of this, Laird traces the story of two CIA agents, the young Dalai Lama during his famous 1954-55 meetings with | Douglas Mackiernan and Frank Bessac, sent on an intelligence Mao Zedong. In the 1950s, Phunwang was the highest-ranking expedition to Tibet in 1949-1950 at the height of US concern Tibetan official within the Communist Party in Tibet. about the Soviet Union's nuclear experiments and the spread of So there were Tibetan Buddhists who were spies within Tibet | communism in China. Mackiernan, who was killed during the for either side of this Great Game. mission, was the first undercover CIA agent to die in the line of duty, and Bessac, with several other cohorts, trekked through The CIA's Secret Campaign in Tibet Tibet on foot, gathering nuclear intelligence and establishing We also have the first-hand accounts of several US spies regional contacts. The mission was part of a US attempt to arm within Tibet who were playing out this New Great Game, too. Tibet, and Laird argues that the American presence may have "That the free Tibetan community has been able to survive and _ precipitated China's invasion of the country. The US abruptly even thrive...and the Tibetan issue has a higher profile today than abandoned Tibet by cutting off covert funding after establishing at any time since the 1959 flight of the Dalai Lama, is owed inno _ diplomatic relations with China in the 1970s. It then abandoned small part to the secret assistance channelled by the United the Tibetan freedom fighters, many of whom were monks and States..." This quote is taken from the book The CIA's Secret were arrested by the Chinese. The mission was a failure on all War In Tibet, by former CIA agents Kenneth Conboy and James counts, and the surviving participants were carefully hidden Morrison, which details matters such as: away. Half a century later, the CIA will not "confirm or deny" * the CIA's secret campaign in Tibet was a vital part of that Douglas Mackiernan was "shot dead on the borders of Tibet contemporary Tibetan history; and Sinkiang", as much of the source material remains classified. + the CIA's radio agents aided the Dalai Lama to arrive safely Is it possible that the monks and nuns imprisoned by the in exile; Chinese during this period may not have been imprisoned in his early years on Indian soil, the Dalai Lama relied on because of religious reasons at all? It does seem strange to me CIA assistance to get settled; and that China, with a large Buddhist population, even under « though the CIA-supported guerrilla army in Mustang proved communist rule, would take exception to Buddhist religious ineffectual on the ground, the mere fact that there were Tibetan _ practices. Arresting people who practise the same religion as you troops under arms was a significant boost to morale in the but who are trying to overthrow the government makes more refugee community. sense. What could they gain by lying and claiming religious The Great Game took a different swing when uranium was persecution as the only reason for their arrest? What has a discovered in Tibet. Thomas Laird has written an interesting supposedly pacifist religion gained from participating in this book called Into Tibet, detailing his work as the CIA's first great political play? nuclear spy and his secret mission into Lhasa. China invaded The Tibetan Buddhists have achieved a massive spread in that land in 1950, accusing Tibet of playing into the hands of | Tibetan Buddhism. All these factors helped carry the diaspora and its leadership through the darkest years of exile when their cause might otherwise have been forgotten. In addition, their coffers have been filled with world currency and they have gained immense political clout by creating and actively participating in a collective victim- consciousness and psychology of suffering, even though these things seem to run contrary to the Buddha's doctrines. Where would they learn such methods? It began with the invasion of Tibet by Colonel Younghusband. Younghusband's Influence Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband (1863-1942) was a very interesting character. He was a distinguished British Army officer, mountaineer and explorer as well as the youngest member of the Royal Geographic Society, receiving its coveted gold medal in 1890 at the age of twenty-seven. He Members of the (Sikkim) Tibet Mission Force (escort to Colonel Younghusband's worked in the Indian arm of the British Mission to Tibet, 1903-04). Younghusband is seated in the centre of the photograph, Secret Service and then became a political wearing the fur coat and hat. © Royal Geographical Society reformer and the first to campaign for The CIA's Secret Campaign in Tibet We also have the first-hand accounts of several US spies within Tibet who were playing out this New Great Game, too. "That the free Tibetan community has been able to survive and even thrive...and the Tibetan issue has a higher profile today than at any time since the 1959 flight of the Dalai Lama, is owed in no small part to the secret assistance channelled by the United States..." This quote is taken from the book The CIA's Secret War In Tibet, by former CIA agents Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison, which details matters such as: * the CIA's secret campaign in Tibet was a vital part of contemporary Tibetan history; * the CIA's radio agents aided the Dalai Lama to arrive safely in exile; * in his early years on Indian soil, the Dalai Lama relied on CIA assistance to get settled; and * though the CIA-supported guerrilla army in Mustang proved ineffectual on the ground, the mere fact that there were Tibetan troops under arms was a significant boost to morale in the refugee community. The Great Game took a different swing when uranium was discovered in Tibet. Thomas Laird has written an interesting book called Into Tibet, detailing his work as the CIA's first nuclear spy and his secret mission into Lhasa. China invaded that land in 1950, accusing Tibet of playing into the hands of Edward 54 * NEXUS www.nexusmagazine.com AUGUST —- SEPTEMBER 2006