SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The first chapter examines the influence of geography on Tibet's social and economic life; it also analyses the country's social structure and political institutions. The second traces the course of Anglo-Tibetan relations in the 18th and 19th centuries and examines such external influences on it as the ties between Lhasa and Peking, and Britain's relations with China and Russia. The third chapter examines the aims of Curzon's Tibetan policy, and the factors that determined the Horae Government's attitude to the problem. The fourth chapter analyses Morley's Himalayan policy and the resurgence of Chinese power in Tibet. In the fifth, Hardinge, as Viceroy, is compelled by force of circumstances to initiate a set of positive responses to China's persistent attempts to extend her influence in the Himalayan borderlands. Hardinge's efforts led to the Simla Conference and the drawing-up of the McMahon Line along part of the Indo-Tibetan border. The final chapter shows the continuing inability of the British Government to frame a cohesive Tibetan policy. As in the past, Tibet's pleas for help were disregarded in the interests of pressing British diplomatic needs elsewhere. The British failure was one of political leadership, for the Home Government's advisers were generally expressing themselves in favour of a firmer attitude towards China on Tibet, and recommending greater military and political help to Lhasa in its efforts to thwart China's predatory designs.