The Five Fingers of Tibet is a Chinese foreign policy attributed to Mao Zedong that considers Tibet to be China's right hand palm, with five fingers on its periphery: Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh, and that it is China's responsibility to "liberate" these regions. It was never discussed in official Chinese public statements, but external concerns have been raised over its possible continued existence or revival.
Background
claimed suzerainty over Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan as an extension of its claim over Tibet. These claims were asserted by the Chinese imperial resident 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 opposition. In 1939, the founding chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, Mao Zedong termed Bhutan and Nepal as China's tributary states.
Origin
The "Five Fingers of Tibet" policy has been widely attributed to Mao's speeches in the 1940s, but has never been discussed in official Chinese public statements. This construct considered Tibet to be the palm of China's right hand, with Ladakh, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, and North-East Frontier Agency 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." In the same year, 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. This was also noted in the memoirs of Indian diplomat Triloki Nath Kaul who was serving in Peking at that time. Scholar B. S. K. Grover said that this map was a "serious reflection of Peking's ambitions" and not mere propaganda or "idle-boasting". The claims over the "five fingers" were asserted "emphatically and frequently" from 1958 to 1961 over the Peking and Lhasa radio systems. During a mass meeting in Lhasa in July 1959, Chinese lieutenant generalZhang 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 communist doctrine."
The policy, which was never discussed in Chinese public statements, is officially dormant now and the Chinese claims remain only on the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region India claims as part of Ladakh which is administered by China mostly as part of Hotan Prefecture, Xinjiang with a small portion administered as part of Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. However, fears have been expressed regarding its revival. After the 2017 China–India border standoff at Doklam, an article in Qunzhong invoked the "five fingers" construct. The article, which was written by Nanjing University researcher Liu Litao, alleged that India's covert support to the Tibetan independence movement stems from Tibet's cultural and economic importance in the region and that despite the fact that India has "taken away the five fingers", it is impossible to fully control the region without the "palm" because of Tibetan culture's "centripetal force" on the "five fingers". The article added that as China's investments, trade, and economic relations with these regions increase, the Chinese influence in these regions will overtake that of India and will eliminate it to a "great extent". Lobsang Sangay, the leader of the Central Tibetan Administration, linked the policy with the Doklam standoff. It has also been cited as the reason behind the 2020 China–India skirmishes by Sangay, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Seshadri Chari, and M. M. Khajuria. 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.
