Telegram No. 149, Embassy of Hungary in India to the Hungarian Foreign Ministry

The Mongolian ambassador was summoned to the FM of this place with regard to the Dalai Lama's visit in Mongolia and the Soviet Union.

They asked for an explanation of why he had been invited directly, rather than through the FM. During the discussion, it became clear that the Indian side did not approve the Dalai Lama's trip to Mongolia, let alone the fact that he would also make a stopover in the Soviet Union. They told him that the Dalai Lama would have wanted to visit Leningrad as well, but, on the suggestion of the Indian FM, he desisted from that.

The Indian side expounded that for 20 years, no one had cared about the cause of the Tibetan refugees. Now, however, the situation has changed, and both Mongolia and the Soviet Union are interested in them. The burden of the financial support they need weighs heavily on India, particularly now when the Western countries have ceased to provide aid, for they do not want to evoke the disapproval of the Chinese government.

They accepted the Mongolian ambassador's explanation with reservations, and they are visibly disturbed by the Dalai Lama's first trip to the two socialist countries.

On the eve of the Dalai Lama's trip to Mongolia, he expounded to an official from our embassy that he strove to establish a permanent and regular relationship, and he wanted to invite Mongolian Buddhists priests to do scientific work in their center over here.

– 149 –