Himalayan Times (1962)

Eight

Himalayan Times January 14, 1962

subjected to such tactics
before also, ' he Chinese,
in their great endeavour
to equate China with
India which has established
air and road links with
Kathmandu, bay* never
relaxed their presure ou
Nepal to allow them to
run an air service between
Kathmandu and Lhasi
and to allow tbem to
build a highway cooneo
ting Nepal with Tibet.

First Bitter Taste

The Nepalese, who
were plaoed in the posi-
tion of a satellite in re-
lation to China by the
1792 treaty, had their
first bitter taste of Chi-
nese diplomacy in 183<>,
when oertain Lepcha in-
surgents, who • bad laid
claim to the sovereignty
of Sikkim, withdrew to
Nepal. The \epale*e then
found it. very hard to
refuse compliance with
the Chinese demand for
their return to Sikkim
Again, on the ocoasion of
the . Nepal-Tibet ' oon-
fliot in the summer of
1835, the Amban adopted
a highly threateniug atti-
tude towards the Nepal
Durbar. If the Nepalese
did not agree to conclude
peace with the Tibetans,
the Amban wrote to the
King of Nepal, he would
bring down a large Chi-
nese army to attack Ne-
pal, oarry him to China
and present him there to
the great IStnperor in his

most angry mood.

On this oocasion the
Amban also ordered the
Ruler of Sikkim to olose
all passes and stop all
communications between
Nepal and Sikkim threa-
tening him with the dire
consequence of the attach-
ment of his ancestral es-
tates in South Tibet in
oase of disobedieuoe.

This, including the
harsh treatment met by
the quinquennial Hinbassy
whioh Nepal sent In China
in 1862 to offer reepeots
to the Bodhisstiva Man-
jushri in the person of
the Ktjjperor and pay tri-
bute under the 1792 treaty,
greatly impaired the tra-
dition nf Chinese supre-
macy over Nepal Grow-
ing oordiality between
Nepal and the British did
the rest. The Government
of Nepal sent no embassy
to China in 18a7 and
13B2. And only very
clever manoeuvring on the
part of the Amban in
'the early !860's. especially
his greet efforts to .revive
the custom of the five-
yearly tribute^ mission,
could repair the breach
in the political connection
between China, and Nepal.
The oonf rment of the
high Cninese title of Thong
lie pin ma ko kang wang
syara by the Chinese Em-
peror on Maharaja Jung
Bahadur, in 1871, also
bad its own effect in
restoring the status quo

between the two countries.

Jung Bahadur accep-
ted the proposal to revive
the tributary mission in
1865 solely to obtain from
China reciprocal presents
of great value suoh as
brocades, silks and satin,
jade, poroelain and other
ourioa. I he Chinese al-
ways gave valuable pre-
sents to the Nepalese
envoy and bis suite 'in
manifestation of the great
bounty and tender con-
descension" of their Celes-
tial Emperor. The Chinese
always feted and enter-
tained these missions, ac-
cording to the regulations
of the Li Fan-yuan, De-
partment of Mongolia and
Tibet, besides providing
free transport from Nepal
to Peking and back. Jung
Bahadur's acceptance of
the Chinese title was per-
haps influenced by his
desire to flourish it along-
side the Grand Cross of
the Bath conferred by
Quean Victoria for bis
great servioes to the Bri-
tish in 1867.

In the spring cf 1911,
China raised the question
of Nepal's vassalage under
tho 1 92 treaty. The
British Government im-
mediately (on May 10,
1911) opposed this Chi-
nese olaim on Nepal. And,
despite a highly flattering
message of thanks from
the Amban to Maharaja
Chandra Sbumsher on
Aug. 13, 1912, for the