Saturday  2002-06-15   World

Tibet and its place in the world

Two articles from "The New Left Review" "Reflections on Tibet" (from issue 14) and its rebuttal "Blood in the Snows" (15) together provide a digest of modern Tibet history in 60 pages. With all the attention over current tension between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, it should be remembered that China and India fought a war in 1962 over Aksai Chin (a portion of Kashmir occupied by the Chinese since 1950) and, by extension, Tibet (occupied by the Chinese since 1951). The original strategic aim of Indian nuclear weapons was deterence against the Chinese, who in turn helped Pakistan develop its weapons. No wonder Iranians want to keep up with their neighbors Pakistanis, Indians, not to mention Iraqis and Israelis.