ABSTRACT
The majority of the officials who came into daily contact with Tibetan and Chinese diplomacy at Yatung and who were responsible for the working of the Convention and the Trade Regulations were of the opinion. The Jelep La should be closed; Yatung abandoned; and every effort made to open up an alternative route through northern Sikkim by way of the Lachen Valley, giving access to the Tibetan town of Khambajong, whose population had shown some signs of friendliness towards the British. Tibetan obstruction, it was said, was turning the Yatung mart into a travesty of that envisaged by the British negotiators of the Regulations. In November 1895 J. C. White and his immediate superior, Nolan, had talks at Yatung with the Chinese and with a Tibetan delegate, one Tenzing Wangpu, who was thought to enjoy the confidence of the Dalai Lama; and a clearer picture of the Tibetan case emerged.
