Khrushchev blasted Mao for 1959 skirmish
Beijing, August 5
Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev squarely blamed China’s Mao Zedong for the 1959 border skirmish with India and the subsequent escape of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, absolving then Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru of any blame, a media report said today.
According to a transcript of a stormy meeting between Khrushchev and Mao published by Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, the Soviet leader bluntly told the then chairman of China’s ruling Communist Party that he was responsible for the situation in Tibet and tension with India.
The meeting towards the end of September that year — a little over a month after the skirmish between Indian and Chinese troops — reportedly forced the Soviet leader cut short his visit to Beijing. The Post attributed the Cold War International History Project of Wilson Centre as the source of the transcript. — PTI
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