IOR/L/PS/12/2175

The file contains correspondence regarding the supply of arms, ammunition and training by the British to the Tibetan Government. The details of the 1921 agreement between Britain and Tibet, the quantity of munitions to be supplied, and the intended use of the arms (for internal policing or external policy) are debated throughout the correspondence.

The principal correspondents are: the Political Officer at Sikkim (Frederick Williamson, later Basil Gould); the Resident at Sikkim (James Leslie Rose Weir); the British Mission to Peking [Beijing]; and the Government of India Foreign and Political Department. The file also contains notes and memoranda on the above, made by the Foreign Office and the India Office Political Department. A number of translated telegrams from the Chief Ministers of the Tibetan Government, and Thub-bstan-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIII (1876-1933), are also found within the file.

Correspondence dated 1932-1933 concerns the following: clashes between Tibet and China at Kanze [Ganzi] in eastern Tibet; a request for the final supply of arms under the 1921 agreement; the financial situation of the Tibetan Government; and Chinese requests for details of the 1921 agreement.

Correspondence dated 1936-1939 concerns the following: Sir Basil Gould's mission to Lhasa; rejection by the Tibetan Government of Britain's intervention in the settlement of the dispute with the Tashi Lama; the supply of munitions and training of Tibetan officers in India; and an incident in which the brother of a Tibetan trade agent passed arms to China.

Correspondence dated 1943-1947 concerns the following: the provision of arms and ammunition beyond the amount specified in the 1921 agreement; the extension of Government of India control in areas immediately south of the Indo-Tibet frontier (McMahon line); and the assessment of the importance of Tibet to the security of India's north-eastern frontier. A memorandum found at folio 70 provides a summary of all of the arms supplied following the 1921 agreement; folios 33-68 consist of extracts from intelligence reports, documenting arms traffic within Tibet; and a Chiefs of Staff Committee Report at folios 16-26 provides an assessment of Russian and Chinese military threats to Tibet, and possible Tibetan and British responses.

The file includes dividers which give lists of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the end of the correspondence (folios 2-3).