Office of the Historian

793B.00/3–2751: Telegram

The Ambassador in India (Henderson) to the Secretary of State

secret
New Delhi, March 27, 1951—6 p. m.

2586. Kennedy1 and Steere2 called Foreign Secretary Menon today. Queried re Tibet, Menon said Tibetan del3 saw him yesterday, Nehru today. His conversation had been largely generalities. Discussing Chi terms for agreement; i.e. control foreign affairs and border defense, Menon said Tibet had no foreign affairs except with India and that on tenuous basis. He thought Tibetans likely reject Chi defense Tibetan borders and said if he had been asked, he wld have advised they point out Chinese that Tibetan foreign frontier entirely with India and Nepal, which countries friendly both Tibet and China.

Queried re position if Tibetan-Chinese negotiations breakdown, Menon said he thought there might then be advantage dealing with case UN.

Henderson
  1. Donald D. Kennedy, Deputy Director of the Office of South Asian Affairs.↩
  2. Loyd V. Steere, Counselor of Embassy in New Delhi.↩
  3. Two members of a Tibetan Delegation en route to Peking for negotiations concerning Tibet’s status had arrived in New Delhi on March 24.↩