Exuberance

Red China, with the weak theocratic government of Tibet under its thumb, now controls all the major passes through the towering Himalayas into India and Nepal. Travelers back in India from Tibet last week said that well-armed Chinese troops along the 2,000-mile frontier are entrenched in market towns, have replaced Indian rupees with Chinese currency, are interfering with traders and religious pilgrims, who for centuries have crossed and recrossed the Indo-Tibetan border without hindrance.

Although the worried Indian army is strengthening its own frontier posts, Prime Minister Nehru is determined not to be worried by this growing Red threat on his back porch. His official stand: since Red China has promised to respect India's "cultural, commercial and political interests" in Tibet, there is nothing to be alarmed about.

Nehru made his attitude quite clear when, discussing another item of business, he told his Parliament last week that head-hunting Naga tribesmen from Burma had raided an Indian border village, killing 93 persons, burning 400 houses and granaries, destroying crops and livestock. The Prime Minister added: "The incident had no geographical importance. It was an exhibition of exuberance which occurs annually."

Evidently, the Chinese Communists are also just being exuberant.

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