https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Five_Fingers_of_TibetFive Fingers of Tibet - Revision history2026-07-31T19:26:52ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Five_Fingers_of_Tibet&diff=499194&oldid=prevNskschool at 21:51, 29 April 20262026-04-29T21:51:07Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|Chinese foreign policy}}<br />
{{Infobox Chinese|c=西藏的五指|p=[[Tibet Autonomous Region|Xīzàng]] de wǔ zhǐ}}<br />
The '''Five Fingers of Tibet''' ({{zh|c=西藏的五指|p=Xīzàng de wǔzhǐ}}) is the incorrect interpretation of Chinese territorial claim to the [[Himalayas|Himalayan]] region bordering [[India]], misattributed to [[Mao Zedong]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/action/cookieAbsent |access-date=2026-04-29 |website=www.tandfonline.com |doi=10.1080/14736489.2024.2423543}}</ref><br />
[[File:China's "Tibet's palm and five fingers" map.png|thumb|China's "Tibet's five fingers" map]]<br />
It considers [[Tibet]] to be China's right hand palm, with five fingers on its periphery: [[Ladakh]], [[Nepal]], [[Sikkim]], [[Bhutan]], and [[North-East Frontier Agency]] (now known as [[Arunachal Pradesh]]) that are considered China's responsibility to "liberate".<ref name="Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies"><br />
{{Cite web |title=India, China and the Nathu La India, China and the Nathu La Understanding Beijing's Larger Strategy towards the Region |publisher=Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies|url=https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/159755/IB204-CRP-Teshu-NathuLa.pdf |access-date=2020-06-29 }}<br />
</ref><ref name="the-hindu-haider"/><ref name="LSE"><br />
{{Cite web |first=Sarina |last=Theys |title=Running hot and cold: Bhutan-India-China relations |publisher=London School of Economics |date=25 January 2018 |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/southasia/2018/01/25/running-hot-and-cold-bhutan-india-china-relations-doklam/ }}<br />
</ref> It has never been official Chinese policy.<ref name=":0" /> It is now been interpreted to be dormant,<ref name="grover" /> but concerns have often been raised over its possible continued existence or revival.<br />
<br />
==Background==<br />
Singh states that the claim that "Mao articulated [the Five Fingers policy] remains heresay".<ref name=":0" /> [[Imperial China]] claimed [[suzerainty]] over [[Kingdom of Nepal|Nepal]], [[Kingdom of Sikkim|Sikkim]], and [[Bhutan]] as an extension of its claim over Tibet.<ref><br />
{{cite book |last1=Jain |first1=Girilal |authorlink1=Girilal Jain |title=Panchsheela and After: A Re-Appraisal of Sino-Indian Relations in the Context of the Tibetan Insurrection |year=1960 |publisher=Asia Publishing House |page=158 |chapter=Threat to India's Integrity |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/panchsheelaafter0000jain/page/158 |via=archive.org |chapter-url-access=registration}}<br />
</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=March 2024|reason=not [[WP:HISTRS]]}} These claims were asserted by the [[List of Qing imperial residents in Tibet|Chinese amban in Tibet]] in 1908, who wrote to the Nepalese authorities that Nepal and Tibet, "being united like brothers under the auspices of China, should work in harmony for mutual good." He suggested the "blending of five colours" representing China, Tibet, Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan as part of his program to assert the Chinese claim in the face of [[British Raj|British]] opposition.<ref name="jain-nepal"><br />
{{cite book |last1=Jain |first1=Girilal |title=India meets China in Nepal |year=1959 |publisher=Asia Publishing House |pages=105–106 |chapter=Consequences of Tibet |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/indiameetschinai0000giri/page/105 |via=archive.org |chapter-url-access=registration}}<br />
</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=March 2024|reason=not [[WP:HISTRS]]}} On 15 November 1939, the founding [[chairman of the Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP), [[Mao Zedong]] termed Bhutan and Nepal as China's tributary states.<br />
<br />
{{blockquote|After having inflicted military defeats on China, the imperialist countries forcibly took from her a large number of states tributary to China, as well as a part of her own territory. [[Japan]] appropriated [[Korea]], [[Taiwan]], the [[Ryukyu Islands]], the [[Pescadores]], and [[Lüshunkou District|Port Arthur]]; [[British Empire|England]] took [[Burma]], Bhutan, Nepal, and [[Hongkong]]; [[France]] seized [[Annam (French protectorate)|Annam]]; even a miserable little country like [[Portugal]] took [[Macao]] from us. At the same time that they took away part of her territory, the imperialists obliged China to pay enormous indemnities. Thus heavy blows were struck against the vast feudal empire of China.<ref><br />
{{cite book |last1=Schram |first1=Stuart R. |authorlink1=Stuart R. Schram |title=The Political Thought of Mao Tse-tung |year=1969 |publisher=Praeger Publishers |page=375 |chapter=China and the Underdeveloped Countries |isbn=978-0-275-67073-3 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/politicalthought0000unse_k1v5/page/375 |via=archive.org |chapter-url-access=registration}}<br />
</ref>{{efn|The official version—in Mao's Selected Works, Vol III—omits mentions of Korea, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, and Annam.}}|Mao Zedong}}{{better source|date=January 2026}}<br />
<br />
==Emergence in the 20th century==<br />
The "Five Fingers of Tibet" policy has been widely attributed to Mao's speeches in the 1940s,<ref name="muni"><br />
{{cite book |last1=Muni |first1=S. D. |title=India's Foreign Policy: The Democracy Dimension |year=2009 |publisher=Foundation Books |isbn=9788175968530 |page=31 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/indias-foreign-policy/F1F04841C04EEB6E509ACC3680D65FA9 |chapter=The Nehruvian Phase: Ideology Adjusts with Realpolitik }}<br />
</ref><ref name="the-hindu-haider"><br />
{{cite news |last1=Haidar |first1=Suhasini |title=History, the standoff, and policy worth rereading |url=https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/history-the-stand-off-and-policy-worth-rereading/article31854822.ece |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=18 June 2020 }}<br />
</ref><ref name="news18"><br />
{{cite news |last1=Srivastava |first1=Sanjay |title=India-China Face-off : क्या है चीन की 'फाइव फिंगर्स ऑफ तिब्बत स्ट्रैटजी', जिससे भारत को रहना होगा अलर्ट |url=https://hindi.news18.com/news/knowledge/what-is-china-dangerous-five-fingers-of-tibet-strategy-to-india-should-alert-3155525.html |publisher=[[News18 India]] |date=19 June 2020 |language=hi }}<br />
</ref> but has never been discussed in official Chinese public statements.<ref name="grover"><br />
{{cite book |last1=Grover |first1=B. S. K. |title=Sikkim and India: Storm and Consolidation |year=1974 |publisher=Jain Brothers |pages=152–153 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.pahar.3456/page/152 |via=archive.org}}<br />
</ref> This construct considered Tibet to be the palm of China's right hand, with Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and [[North-East Frontier Agency]] (now known as [[Arunachal Pradesh]]) being its five fingers. In 1954, Chinese officers in Tibet claimed that they would "liberate Sikkim, Bhutan, Ladakh, and the NEFA, which were wrongfully being held by the Indian imperialists."<ref name="belfiglio"><br />
{{cite thesis |type=PhD |last1=Belfiglio |first1=Valentine John |title=The Foreign Relations of India with Bhutan, Sikkim and Nepal Between 1947–1967: An Analytical Framework for the Study of Big Power-Small Power Relations |date=1970 |publisher=[[University of Oklahoma]] |url=https://shareok.org/handle/11244/2727}}<br />
</ref>{{rp |55}} <br />
<br />
In 1954, the Chinese government published a book called "A Brief History of Modern China" for school students, which included a map showing the territories allegedly taken by "imperialist powers" between 1840 and 1919, terming them as "portions of China that must be reclaimed." This map included Ladakh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and the entire [[Northeast India]].<ref name="grover"/> This was noted in the memoirs of Indian diplomat [[Triloki Nath Kaul]] who was serving in [[Peking]] (now known as Beijing) at that time.<ref name="the-hindu-haider"/> Scholar B. S. K. Grover said that this map was a "serious reflection of Peking's ambitions" and not mere propaganda or "idle-boasting".<ref name="grover"/><br />
<br />
The claims over the "five fingers" were asserted "emphatically and frequently" from 1958 to 1961 over the Peking and [[Lhasa]] radio systems.<ref name="belfiglio"/>{{rp|96}}{{efn|The author does not cite any source.}} During a mass meeting in Lhasa in July 1959, Chinese lieutenant general [[Zhang Guohua (politician, born 1914)|Zhang Guohua]] said: "Bhutanese, Sikkimese and Ladakhis form a united family in Tibet. They have always been subject to Tibet and to the great motherland of China. They must once again be united and taught the [[Communism|communist]] doctrine."<ref name="grover"/><ref name=Benedictus><br />
{{citation |last=Benedictus |first=Brian |title=Bhutan and the Great Power Tussle |newspaper=The Diplomat |date=2 August 2014 |url=https://thediplomat.com/2014/08/bhutan-and-the-great-power-tussle/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222212344/https://thediplomat.com/2014/08/bhutan-and-the-great-power-tussle/ |archive-date=22 December 2015 |df=dmy-all }}<br />
</ref>{{efn |The statement attributed to [[Zhang Guohua (politician, born 1914)|Zhang Guohua]] (Old spelling: Chang Kuow-Hua or Chang Kuo-Hua), the head of the Chinese Mission in Tibet, made in a public meeting in Lhasa on 17 July 1959. This passage was apparently deleted from the version reported in ''China Today'', but it was reported by [[George N. Patterson]], the [[Kalimpong]] correspondent of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' and also published in the ''[[Hindustan Times]]''.<ref><br />
{{citation |last=Moraes |first=Frank |title=The Revolt in Tibet |publisher=Macmillan |location=New York |year=1960 |url=https://archive.org/details/revoltintibet031130mbp |via=archive.org |page=193}}<br />
</ref><ref><br />
{{citation |editor1-last=Palat |editor1-first=Madhavan K.|title=Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Second Series, Volume 51 (1–31 August 1959) |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1984 |url=https://archive.org/details/HindSwaraj-Nehru-SW2-51/page/n481 |at=p. 452, note 82}}<br />
</ref><ref><br />
{{citation |title=The Eastern Economist, Volume 33, Issues 1-13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d90nAAAAMAAJ |year=1959 |page=228 |quote=Well, Mr. Chang ... seems to have delivered a speech in the mountain fastnesses of Tibet which had a passage (deleted from 'China Today') reading: "Bhutanese, Sikkimise and Ladakhis formed a united family in Tibet; they have been subjects of Tibet and the great motherland of China and must once again be united and taught the Communist doctrine". This has been duly reported in "The Daily Telegraph" abroad, and most people in Delhi will agree is unlikely to have been invented; it must have been printed in a Tibetan paper avidly read in Kalimpong.}}<br />
</ref>}}<br />
Alarmed, Bhutan closed off its border with China and shut off all trade and diplomatic contacts.<ref name=Benedictus/> It also established formal defence arrangements with India.<ref name=Bharadwaj><br />
{{citation |author=Sandeep Bharadwaj |title=Doklam may bring Bhutan closer to India |newspaper=livemint |date=9 August 2017 |url=http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/GXIc4NLACn5jxHv6RkkX7I/Doklam-may-bring-Bhutan-closer-to-India.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170816110000/http://www.livemint.com/Opinion/GXIc4NLACn5jxHv6RkkX7I/Doklam-may-bring-Bhutan-closer-to-India.html |archive-date=16 August 2017}}<br />
</ref><br />
<br />
==Relevance to 21st century policy==<br />
The policy is officially dormant now. However, fears have been expressed regarding its revival.<ref name="bradsher"><br />
{{cite journal |last1=Bradsher |first1=Henry S. |date=1969 |title=Tibet Struggles to Survive |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]] |volume=47 |issue=4 |pages=752 |doi=10.2307/20039413 |issn=0015-7120 |jstor=20039413}}<br />
</ref><ref><br />
{{cite news |last1=Jha |first1=Purushottam |title=China – A desperate state to change the narratives and contexts |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/beyond-the-fact/china-a-desperate-state-to-change-the-narratives-and-contexts/ |work=[[The Times of India]] |date=19 June 2020 }}<br />
</ref><br />
<br />
After the [[2017 China–India border standoff]] at [[Doklam]], an article in ''Qunzhong'' (a magazine run by the CCP's [[Jiangsu]] [[provincial party standing committee]]) quoted Mao Zedong's "five fingers" construct.<ref name="qunzhong"><br />
{{cite magazine |first=Liu |last=Litao |title=重新审视"印度象" |date=26 September 2017 |url=http://www.qunzh.com/qkzx/gwqk/jczx/2017/201718/201709/t20170926_34043.html |magazine=Qunzhong |archive-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716193353/http://www.qunzh.com/qkzx/gwqk/jczx/2017/201718/201709/t20170926_34043.html |url-status=dead }}<br />
</ref> The article was contributed by a researcher from [[Nanjing University]]. It alleges that India's covert support to the [[Tibetan independence movement]] stems from the fact that it was impossible to fully control the "five fingers" without the "palm", Tibet.<ref name="qunzhong" /> It adds that as China's investments, trade, and economic relations with these regions increase, Chinese influence will overtake that of India and neutralize Indian control to a greater extent.<ref name="qunzhong" /><br />
<br />
[[Lobsang Sangay]], the leader of the [[Central Tibetan Administration]], linked the policy with the border disputes between China and India.<ref><br />
{{cite news |last1=Basu |first1=Nayanima |title='Doklam is part of China's expansionist policy' |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/world/doklam-is-part-of-chinas-expansionist-policy/article9912954.ece |work=[[Business Line]] |date=17 October 2017 }}<br />
</ref><ref><br />
{{cite news |last1=Siddiqui |first1=Maha |title=Ladakh is the First Finger, China is Coming After All Five: Tibet Chief's Warning to India |url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/ladakh-is-the-first-finger-china-is-coming-after-all-five-tibet-chiefs-warning-to-india-2675887.html |publisher=[[News18]] |date=18 June 2020 }}<br />
</ref> [[Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury]], [[Seshadri Chari]], and M. M. Khajooria (former [[Director General of Police]] of [[Jammu and Kashmir (state)|Jammu and Kashmir]]) have voiced similar concerns.<ref><br />
{{cite news |last1=Khajooria |first1=M. M. |date=5 June 2020 |title=Maos' open palm & its five fingers |url=https://news.statetimes.in/maos-open-palm-its-five-fingers/ |work=[[State Times]]}}<br />
</ref><ref><br />
{{cite news |last1=Chowdhury |first1=Adhir Ranjan |title=Chinese intrusion in Ladakh has created a challenge that must be met |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/resolve-and-prudence-india-china-border-dispute-galwan-valley-ladakh-6462309/ |work=The Indian Express |date=17 June 2020 }}<br />
</ref><ref><br />
{{cite news |last1=Chari |first1=Seshadri |title=70 yrs on, India's Tibet dilemma remains. But 4 ways Modi can achieve what Nehru couldn't |url=https://theprint.in/opinion/70-yrs-on-indias-tibet-dilemma-remains-but-4-ways-modi-can-achieve-what-nehru-couldnt/440055/ |work=ThePrint |date=12 June 2020 }}<br />
</ref> <br />
<br />
According to commentator [[Saurav Jha]], the "five fingers" policy arises from the historical geography of the [[Himalayas]] which allows bi-directional territorial claims between Tibet and the southern regions. This leads to tensions between the trans-Himalayan powers which is "ultimately tempered by a balance of military capability," and is the reason behind the longstanding [[Sino-Indian border dispute]].<ref><br />
{{cite news |last1=Jha |first1=Saurav |title=India must stand firm |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/first-edit/india-must-stand-firm-843477.html |work=[[Deccan Herald]] |date=30 May 2020 }}<br />
</ref><br />
<br />
==See also==<br />
* [[Chinese expansionism]]<br />
* [[Chinese salami slicing strategy]]<br />
<br />
==Notes==<br />
{{noteslist}}<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
{{Reflist|2}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Foreign policy doctrines]]<br />
[[Category:Bhutan–China relations]]<br />
[[Category:Sino-Indian border dispute]]<br />
[[Category:China–Nepal relations]]<br />
[[Category:Territorial disputes of China]]</div>Nskschool