In the history of
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
, it has been an independent country, divided into different kingdoms and states, and a part of
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
each for a certain amount of time. Today it is mostly controlled by
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
(PRC), while a small part is controlled by
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. The government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Government of Tibet in Exile, however, disagree over the definition of Tibet, and whether its incorporation into China is legitimate according to
international lawPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states, analogous entities, such as the Holy See, and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
.
The view of the Chinese Governments
The government of the PRC contends that China has had control over Tibet since the
Yuan DynastyThe Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was both the continuation of the Mongol Empire and the Mongol founded historical state in Mongolia and China, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. Although the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, he had his grandfather Genghis Khan placed on the...
(1271–1368).
The government of
Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
(ROC), which ruled mainland China from 1912 until 1949 and now controls
TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
, has had cabinet level
Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs CommissionThe Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission is one of two ministry-level commissions of the Executive Yuan in the Republic of China on Taiwan....
in charge of administration of Tibet and Mongolia regions since 1912. The Commission retained its cabinet level status after 1949, but no longer executes that function. On 10 May, 1943,
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He was an influential member of the Kuomintang and Sun Yat-sen's close ally. He became the commandant of Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun's place in the party when the latter died in 1925...
asserted that "Tibet is part of Chinese territory... No foreign nation is allowed to interfere in our domestic affairs". He again declared in 1946 that the Tibetans were Chinese. ROC still claims sovereignty over Tibet and Mongolia in its constitution.
In the late 19th century, China adopted the Western model of nation-state diplomacy and concluded a treaty with British India regarding Tibet's boundaries and status. Chinese government sources consider this a sign of
sovereigntySovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
rather than
suzeraintySuzerainty is a situation in which a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary some limited domestic autonomy. The superior entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a suzerain...
. However, British India found this treaty to be ineffective due to China's lack of actual influence over the Tibetan government, and so it sent an
expedition force to TibetThe British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, seeking to prevent the Russian Empire from interfering in Tibetan affairs and thus gaining a base in one of the buffer states surrounding British India, by reasoning similar to that which had led...
in 1903, and concluded a separate treaty, directly with the Tibetan government in Lhasa in 1904. In 1906, an
Anglo-Chinese Convention was signed at Peking between Great Britain and China, confirming the 1904 Lhasa Convention (subject to modification), and Great Britain engaged not to annex Tibetan territory or to interfere in the administration of Tibet; China also undertook not to permit any other foreign state to interfere with the territory or internal administration of Tibet.
Legal arguments based on historical status
The position of the People's Republic of China (PRC), which has ruled mainland China since 1949, as well as the official position of the
Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
, which ruled mainland China before 1949 and currently controls Taiwan , is that Tibet has been an indivisible part of China
de jureDe jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact"....
since the
Yuan DynastyThe Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was both the continuation of the Mongol Empire and the Mongol founded historical state in Mongolia and China, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. Although the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, he had his grandfather Genghis Khan placed on the...
of Mongol-ruled China in the 13th century , comparable to other states such as the
Kingdom of DaliDali was a Bai kingdom centred in what is now Yunnan Province of China. Established by Duan Siping in 937, it was ruled by a succession of 22 kings until the year 1253, when it was destroyed by an invasion of the Mongol Empire. The capital city was at Dali....
and the Tangut Empire that were also incorporated into the Middle Kingdom at the time. The PRC contends that according to the Succession of states theory in
international lawPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states, analogous entities, such as the Holy See, and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
all subsequent Chinese governments (
Ming DynastyThe Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history," was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
,
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
,
ROCThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
and PRC) have succeeded the Yuan Dynasty in exercising
de jureDe jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact"....
sovereignty and
de factoDe facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being officially established"...
power over Tibet.
Unique ethnicity
According to the current government, successive Chinese governments have recognized Tibet as having its own unique culture and language; however, they believe that this situation does not necessarily argue in favor of independence, because China has over 56 unique ethnic groups and is one of many multi-national states in the world.
Both
ChineseChinese or the Sinitic language is a language family consisting of languages mutually unintelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the two branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
and
TibetanThe Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh, Nepal,...
languages belong to the
Sino-Tibetan language familyThe Sino-Tibetan languages form a language family composed of, at least, the Chinese and the Tibeto-Burman languages, including some 250 languages of East Asia, Southeast Asia and parts of South Asia...
. Nevertheless, Tibet has its own independent literature with grammatical structure which is very different from Chinese literature. Tibetan literature was developed in 7th century by King Songtsen Gampo partially based on ancient Indian language
SanskritSanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India. It is also declared as a classical language by the government of India....
. This is a sign of Tibet being independent for thousands of years in its earlier history.
De facto independence
The ROC government had no effective control over Tibet from 1912 to 1951; however, in the opinion of the Chinese government, this condition does not represent Tibet's independence as many other parts of China also enjoyed de facto independence when the Chinese nation was torn by
warlordismThe warlord era is the period in the history of the Republic of China, from 1916 to 1928, when the country was divided among military cliques, a division that continued until the fall of the Nationalist government in the mainland China regions of Sichuan, Shanxi, Qinghai, Ningxia, Guangdong,...
,
Japanese invasionThe Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany and the Soviet Union...
, and
civil warThe Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China . The war began in April 1927, amidst the Northern Expedition,. The war represented an ideological split between the Western-supported Nationalist KMT and the Soviet-supported Communist CPC...
. Goldstein explains what is meant by
de facto independence in the following statement:
While at times the Tibetans were fiercely independent-minded, at other times, Tibet indicated its willingness to accept subordinate status as
part of China provided that Tibetan internal systems were left untouched and China relinquished control over a number of important ethnic Tibetan groups in Kham and Amdo . China insists that during this period the ROC government continued to maintain sovereignty over Tibet. The
Provisional Constitution of the Republic of ChinaAfter the victory in Xinhai Revolution, the Nanjing Provisional Government of the Republic of China, led by Sun Yat-sen, framed the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China , which was an outline of basic regulations with the qualities of a formal constitution.On March 11, 1912, it...
(1912) stipulated that Tibet was a province of the Republic of China. Provisions concerning Tibet in the Constitution of the Republic of China promulgated later all stress the inseparability of Tibet from Chinese territory, and the Central Government of China exercise of sovereignty in Tibet. In 1927, the Commission in Charge of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs of the Chinese Government contained members of great influence in the Mongolian and Tibetan areas, such as the 13th
Dalai LamaThe Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious officials of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. "Lama" is a general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist teachers...
, the 9th
Panchen LamaThe Panchen Lama is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism . The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha...
and other Tibetan government representatives. In 1934, on his condolence mission for the demise of the Dalai Lama, the Chinese General Huang Musong posted notices in Chinese and Tibetan throughout Lhasa that alluded to Tibet as an integral part of China while expressing the utmost reverence for the Dalai Lama and the Buddhist religion.
The 9th Panchen Lama traditionally ruled over one-third of Tibet. On 1 February, 1925, the Panchen Lama attended the preparatory session of the "National Reconstruction Meeting" (
Shanhou huiyi) meant to identify ways and means of unifying the Chinese nation, and gave a speech about achieving the unification of five nationalities, including Tibetans, Mongolians and Han Chinese. In 1933, he called upon the Mongols to national unity and to obey the Chinese Government to resist Japanese invasion. In February 1935 the Chinese government appointed Panchen Lama "Special Cultural Commissioner for the Western Regions" and assigned him 500 Chinese troops. He spent much of his time teaching and preaching Buddhist doctrines - including the principles of unity and pacification for the border regions - extensively in inland China, outside of Tibet, from 1924 until 1 December, 1937, when he died on his way back to Tibet under the protection of Chinese troops.
The Kuomintang government sought to portray itself as necessary to validate the choice of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. When the current (14th) Dalai Lama was installed in Lhasa, it was with an armed escort of Chinese troops and an attending Chinese minister. Alastair Lamb comments on contemporary news reports of the installation ceremony,
According to Yu Shiyu, during China's resistance war against Japanese invasion,
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He was an influential member of the Kuomintang and Sun Yat-sen's close ally. He became the commandant of Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun's place in the party when the latter died in 1925...
ordered
Ma BufangMa Bufang , was a prominent Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the northwestern province of Qinghai.-Life:...
, Governor of
Qinghai' is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest.- History :Qinghai was only relatively recently made a province...
(1937–1949), to repair the
YushuYushu can refer to two places:*Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, in Qinghai, China, with the prefectural capital in Gyêgu*Yushu, Jilin, city in Jilin, China*Yushu County, in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai, China...
airport at Qinghai Province to deter Tibetan independence. In May 1943, Chiang warned that Tibet must accept and follow the instructions and orders of the Central Government, that they must agree and help to build the Chinese-India [war-supply] road, and that they must maintain direct communications with the Office of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC) in Lhasa and not through the newly established "Foreign Office" of Tibet. He sternly warned that he would "send an air force to bomb Tibet immediately" should Tibet be found to be collaborating with Japan.
Official Communications between Lhasa and Chiang Kai-shek's government was through MTAC, not the "Foreign Office", until July 1949 just before the Communists' final victory in the civil war. The presence of MTAC in Lhasa was viewed by both Nationalist and Communist governments as an assertion of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet.
Throughout the
KuomintangThe Kuomintang of China , translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party, is a political party of the Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan since the 1970s. It is the founding and the ruling political party of the ROC...
years, no country gave Tibet
diplomatic recognitionDiplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act, with domestic and international legal consequences, whereby a state acknowledges an act or status of another state or government...
.
Regarding Tibet’s assertion of its independence status before its "invasion" by People's Liberation Army, Goldstein documents the response of the India Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Nehru, 8 September, 1950:
More recently the position of the ROC with regard to Tibet appeared to have changed as was stated in the following opening speech to the International Symposium on Human Rights in Tibet on 8 September 2007 through the pro-Taiwan independence then ROC President Chen Shui-bian:
Foreign interventions
Finally, the PRC considers all pro-independence movements aimed at ending Chinese sovereignty in Tibet, including British attempts to establish control in the late 19th century and early 20th century , the CIA's backing of Tibetan insurgents during the 1950s and 1960s, and the Government of Tibet in Exile today, as one long campaign abetted by Western
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
aimed at destroying Chinese territorial integrity and sovereignty, or destabilizing China.
Shen Jirao writes on China Tibet Information Center website:
Until 2008 the British Government's position remained the same that China held suzerainty over Tibet but not sovereignty. It was the only state still to hold this view which it revised on 29 October 2008, when the British Foreign Office recognised Chinese sovereignty over Tibet by issuing a statement on its website.
The EconomistThe Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in an office in the City of Westminster, London. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843. While The Economist calls itself a...
stated that although the Foreign Office's website does not use the word sovereignty, officials at the Foreign Office said "it means that, as far as Britain is concerned, 'Tibet is part of China. Full stop.' "
Tibetologist Melvyn C. Goldstein writes about CIA involvement in Tibet leading up to the uprising against Chinese rule in the 1950s:
The
New York Times commented on the American policy during the 1960s:
The American Tibetologist Tom Grunfeld writes that during The Cold War:
And after the Cold War:
Much of the NED's fund goes to Tibet independence support groups. This democracy promotion invites suspicion. According to Michael Barker:
F. William Engdahl writes:
Tom Grunfeld also writes:
Genocide Charges
Some pro-Tibet groups claim the death toll in Tibet since the 1950 People's Liberation Army invasion of Tibet to be 1,200,000 and have filed official charges of genocide against prominent Chinese leaders and officials. This figure has been disputed by Patrick French, a supporter of the Tibetan cause who was able to view the data and calculations.
Other Rights
(See
Serfdom in Tibet controversyThe serfdom in Tibet controversy rests on both a political and an academic debate. In the political debate, Chinese sources claim moral authority for governing Tibet, based on narratives that portray Tibet as a feudal serfdom and a "hell on earth" prior to the invasion of Tibet in 1950...
and
Social classes of TibetPrior to 1959, there were three main social groups in Tibet: ordinary laypeople, lay nobility, and monks. The ordinary layperson could be further classified as a peasant farmer or nomadic pastoralist ....
)
The PRC argues that the Tibetan authority under successive Dalai Lamas was itself a human rights violator. The old society was a
serfdomSerfdom is the socio-economic status of unfree peasants under feudalism, and specifically relates to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe...
and, according to foreigners who witnessed it, had
slaverySlavery is a form of forced labor in which people are considered to be the property of others. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to receive compensation...
.
Tibetologist Robert Barnett wrote about clerical resistance to the introduction of anything Anti-Buddhist that might disturb the prevailing power structure. Clergy obstructed modernization attempts by the 13th Dalai Lama.
Old Tibet also had a long history of persecuting non-Buddhist Christians. In the years 1630 and 1742, Tibetan Christian communities were suppressed by the lamas of the Gelugpa Sect, whose chief lama was the Dalai Lama. Jesuit priests were made prisoners in 1630 or attacked before they reached
TsaparangTsaparang was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Guge in the Garuda Valley, through which the upper Sutlej River flows, in Ngari Province of Western Tibet near the border of Ladakh...
. Between 1850 and 1880, eleven fathers of the Paris Foreign Mission Society were murdered in Tibet, or killed or injured during their journeys to other missionary outposts in the Sino-Tibetan borderlands. In 1881 Father Brieux was reported to have been murdered on his way to Lhasa. Qing officials later discovered that the murder cases were in fact covertly supported and even orchestrated by local lamaseries and their patrons -- the native chieftains. In 1904, Qing official Feng Quan sought to curtail the influence of the Gelugpa Sect and ordered the protection of Western missionaries and their churches. Indignation over Feng Quan and the Christian presence escalated to a climax in March 1905, when thousands of the Batang lamas revolted, killing Feng, his entourage, local Manchu and Han Chinese officials, and the local French Catholic priests. The revolt soon spread to other cities in eastern Tibet, such as Chamdo, Litang and Nyarong, and at one point almost spilled over into neighboring Sichuan Province. The missionary stations and churches in these areas were burned and destroyed by the angry Gelugpa monks and local chieftains. Dozens of local Westerners, including at least four priests, were killed or fatally wounded. The scale of the rebellion was so tremendous that only when panicked Qing authorities hurriedly sent 2,000 troops from Sichuan to pacify the mobs did the revolt gradually came to an end. The lamasery authorities and local native chieftains' hostility towards the Western missionaries in Tibet lingered through the last throes of the Manchu dynasty and into the Republican period.
The three UN resolutions of 1959, 1961, and 1965 condemned human rights violation in Tibet; however, these resolutions were passed at a time when the PRC was not
permitted to become a memberChina's seat in the United Nations and membership of the United Nations Security Council has been occupied by the People's Republic of China since October 25, 1971. The representatives of the PRC first attended the UN, including the United Nations Security Council, as China's representatives on...
and of course was not allowed to present its version of events in the region (however, the Republic of China on Taiwan was a member of the UN at the time, and it equally claimed sovereignty over Tibet and opposed Tibetan self-determination). Sinologist Grunfeld called the resolutions impractical and considered the PRC justified in ignoring them.
Grunfeld questioned Human Rights Watch reports on human rights abuses in Tibet, saying they distorted the big picture.
According to Barnett, since Western powers and especially the United States used the Tibet issue in the 1950s and 1960s for cold war political purposes, the PRC is now able to get support from developing countries in defeating the last nine attempts at the United Nations to criticize China.
The Chinese government insists that the Tibet question is not about human rights, but about territorial integrity and unity of the State. Furthermore, Tibetan activists inside Tibet have until recently focused on independence, not human rights.
Leaders of the
Tibetan Youth CongressThe Tibetan Youth Congress is an international non-governmental organization that advocates the independence of Tibet from China. With around 30,000 members in the Tibetan diaspora, it is the largest and most active non-governmental organization of Tibetans in exile. It also claims a large...
which claims 30,000 over members advocate violence. In 1998, Barnett wrote that India's military includes 10,000 Tibetans, causing China some unease; and that "at least seven bombs exploded in Tibet between 1995 and 1997, one of them laid by a monk, and a significant number of individual Tibetans are known to be actively seeking the taking up of arms; hundreds of Chinese soldiers and police have been beaten during demonstrations in Tibet, and at least one killed in cold blood, probably several more."
Chinadaily.com reported on the discovery of weapons subsequent to the riots on March 14, 2008: "Police in Lhasa seized more than 100 guns, tens of thousands of bullets, several thousand kilograms of explosives and tens of thousands of detonators, acting on reports from lamas and ordinary people."
And on 23 March, 2008, there was a bombing incident in the Qambo prefecture.
Self-determination
While the earliest ROC constitutional documents already claim Tibet as part of China, Chinese political leaders also acknowledged the principle of self-determination. For example, at a party conference in 1924,
KuomintangThe Kuomintang of China , translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party, is a political party of the Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan since the 1970s. It is the founding and the ruling political party of the ROC...
leader
Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Republican China, Sun is frequently referred to as the Father of the Nation. Sun played an instrumental role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty in October 1911, the last imperial dynasty of China...
issued a statement calling for the right of self-determination of all Chinese ethnic groups: "
The Kuomintang can state with solemnity that it recognizes the right of self-determination of all national minorities in China and it will organize a free and united Chinese republic." In 1931, the
CCP- Organizations :* Chinese Communist Party, the ruling political party in the People's Republic of China* Cultural Center of the Philippines, an organization focused on promoting and preserving Filipino art and culture...
issued a
constitutionA constitution is a set of rules for government—often codified as a written document—that establishes principles of an autonomous political entity. In the case of countries, this term refers specifically to a national constitution defining the fundamental political principles, and establishing the...
for the short-lived Chinese Soviet Republic which states that Tibetans and other ethnic minorities, "may either join the Union of Chinese Soviets or secede from it." It is notable that China was in a state of civil war at the time and that the "Chinese Soviets" only represents a faction. Saying that Tibet may secede from the "Chinese Soviets" does not mean that it can secede from China. The quote above is merely a statement of Tibetans' freedom to choose their political orientation. The possibility of complete secession was denied by Communist leader
Mao ZedongMao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and Communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976...
in 1938: "They must have the right to self-determination and at the same time they should continue to unite with the Chinese people to form one nation". This policy was codified in
PRC's first constitutionThe 1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China was promulgated by the 1st National People's Congress meeting in Beijing on September 20, 1954, apparently unanimously in favor....
which, in Article 3, reaffirmed China as a "
single multi-national state," while the "national
autonomous areas are inalienable parts". The Chinese government insists that the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
documentsThe Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples was a milestone in the process of decolonization. Also known as the United Nations Resolution 1514, it was adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 14, 1960....
, which codifies the principle of self-determination, provides that the principle shall not be abused in disrupting
territorial integrityTerritorial integrity is the principle under international law that nation-states should not attempt to promote secessionist movements or to promote border changes in other nation-states...
: "Any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations...."
Legitimacy
The PRC also points to what it claims are the
autocraticA autocracy is a form of government in which the political power is held by a self-appointed ruler. The term autocrat is derived from the word autokratōr...
,
oppressiveSocial oppression has in recent times been an epiphenomenon of various types of social dysfunction, whereby discrimination against an identified group is stimulated, encouraged and reinforced by way of promoting antagonism towards the Other...
and
theocraticTheocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler, or in a higher sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In Common Greek, “theocracy” means a...
policies of the government of Tibet before 1959, its toleration of existence of serfdom and slaves, its renunciation of
Arunachal PradeshArunachal Pradesh is the easternmost state of India. Arunachal Pradesh borders with the Indian state of Assam to the south and Nagaland to the southeast. Burma/Myanmar lies towards the east, Bhutan towards the west, and its boundary with the People's Republic of China to the north is disputed and...
which China regards as a part of Tibet occupied by
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
, and its association with India and other foreign countries, and as such claims the Government of Tibet in Exile has no legitimacy to govern Tibet and no
credibilityCredibility refers to the objective and subjective components of the believability of a source or message.Traditionally, credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is a based more on subjective factors,...
or
justificationJustification may refer to:*Theory of justification, a part of epistemology that attempts to understand the justification of propositions and beliefs*Justification , defense in a prosecution for a criminal offense...
in criticizing PRC's policies.
The People's Liberation Army's march into Tibet in 1951 was not without the support of Tibetan people, including the 10th
Panchen LamaThe Panchen Lama is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism . The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha...
. Ian Buruma writes:
Instances have been documented when the PRC government gained support from a portion of the Tibetan population, including monastic leaders, monks, nobility and ordinary Tibetans prior to the crackdown in the 1959 uprising. The PRC government and some Tibetan leaders characterize PLA's operation as a peaceful liberation of Tibetans from a "feudal serfdom system."(和平解放西藏).
When Tibet complained to the United Nations through
El SalvadorEl Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America. It borders the Pacific Ocean between Guatemala and Honduras. It lies on the Gulf of Fonseca, as does Nicaragua further south. It has a population of approximately 5.7 million people as of 2009 on...
about Chinese "invasion" in November 1950 -- after China captured
ChamdoChamdo , population about 86.280 in Kham in the eastern Tibet Autonomous Region, is Tibet's third largest city . It is located about 480 km from Lhasa, on the road the distance covers 1120 km or 1030 km...
(or Qamdo) when Tibet failed to respond by the deadline to China's demand for negotiation-- members debated about it but refused to admit the "Tibet Question" into the agenda of the U.N. General Assembly. Key stakeholder India told the General Assembly that "the Peking Government had declared that it had not abandoned its intention to settle the difficulties by peaceful means", and that "the Indian Government
was certain that the Tibet Question could still be settled by peaceful means". The Russian delegate said that "China's sovereignty over Tibet had been recognized for a long time by the United Kingdom, the United States, and the U.S.S.R." The United Nations postponed this matter on the pretext Tibet was officially an "autonomous nationality region belonging to territorial China", and because the outlook of peaceful settlement seemed good.
Subsequently,
The Agreement Between the Central Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Method for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, also known as Seventeen-Point Agreement, was signed between delegates of China and Tibet on 23 May 1951. The Dalai Lama had ample time and opportunity to repudiate and denounce the Seventeen-Point Agreement. He was encouraged and instigated to do so with promise of public support by the US, which by now had become hostile to Communist-ruled China.
On May 29, the 10th Panchen Erdeni (i.e. 10th Panchen Lama) and the Panchen Kampus Assembly made a formal statement, expressing their heartfelt support for the agreement. The statement indicated their resolution to guarantee the correct implementation of the agreement and to realize solidarity between the different ethnic groups of China and ethnic solidarity among the Tibetans; and on May 30, the 10th Panchen Erdeni telegrammed the 14th Dalai Lama, expressing his hope for unity and his vow to support the 14th Dalai Lana and the government of Tibet with the implementation of the agreement under the guidance of the Central Government and Chairman Mao.
The Agreement was finally accepted by Tibet's National Assembly, which then advised the Dalai Lama to accept it. Finally, on 24 October 1951, the Dalai Lama dispatched a telegram to
Mao ZedongMao Zedong was a Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and Communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976...
:
On 28 October 1951, the Panchen Rinpoche [i.e.
Panchen LamaThe Panchen Lama is the second highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism . The successive Panchen lamas form a tulku reincarnation lineage which are said to be the incarnations of Amitabha Buddha...
] made a similar public statement accepting the agreement. He urged the "people of
ShigatseShigatse or Rikaze , , is a county-level city and the second largest city in Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China, with a population of 80,000, about southwest of Lhasa and northwest of Gyantse...
to give active support" to carrying out the agreement.
Tsering Shakya writes about the general acceptance of the Tibetans toward the Seventeen-Point Agreement, and its legal significance:
Thus, the People's Liberation Army entered Tibet peacefully following the signing of the Seventeen Point Agreement.
The view of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile
In 1959, the 14th
Dalai LamaThe Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious officials of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. "Lama" is a general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist teachers...
fled Tibet and established a government in exile at
DharamsalaDharamshala or Dharamsala is a city in northern India. It is the seat of the district headquarters of the Kangra district in the state of Himachal Pradesh.-Description:...
in northern
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. This group claims sovereignty over various ethnically or historically Tibetan areas now governed by China. Aside from the
Tibet Autonomous RegionThe Tibet Autonomous Region , also called Xizang Autonomous Region , is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China .Within the People's Republic of China, Tibet is identified with the Autonomous Region, which includes about half of...
, an area that was administered directly by the Dalai Lama's government until 1951, the group also claims
AmdoAmdo is one of the three traditional states of Tibet, the other two being Ü-Tsang and Kham; it is also the birth place of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama. Amdo encompasses a large area from the Machu River to the Drichu river...
(
Qinghai' is a province of the People's Republic of China, named after Qinghai Lake. It borders Gansu on the northeast, the Xinjiang Autonomous Region on the northwest, Sichuan on the southeast, and Tibet Autonomous Region on the southwest.- History :Qinghai was only relatively recently made a province...
) and eastern
KhamKham , is a region presently divided between the Chinese provinces of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Sichuan where Khampas, a subgroup within the Tibetan ethnicity, live. It is also one of the three traditional provinces claimed by the Tibetan government-in-exile...
(western
Sichuan' is a province in Southwestern China with its capital in Chengdu. The current name of the province, 四川 , is an abbreviation of 四川路 , or "Four circuits of rivers", which is itself abbreviated from 川峡四路 , or "Four circuits of rivers and gorges", named after the division of the...
). About 45 percent of China's ethnic Tibetans live in the Tibet Autonomous Region, according to the 2000 census. Prior to 1949, much of Amdo and eastern Kham were governed by local rulers and even warlords.
A proclamation issued by 13th Dalai Lama in 1913 states, "During the time of
Genghis KhanGenghis Khan , ; 1162–1227), born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history....
and
Altan KhanAltan Khan , whose given name was Anda , was the ruler of the Tümet Mongols and de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols...
of the Mongols, the
Ming dynastyThe Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history," was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
of the Chinese, and the
Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty , also known as the Manchu Dynasty, was the last ruling dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912...
of the Manchus, Tibet and China cooperated on the basis of benefactor and priest relationship." The relationship did not imply "subordination of one to the other." He condemned the Chinese authorities for attempting to colonize Tibetan territory in 1910–12. "We are a small, religious, and independent nation," the proclamation states.
The view of the current Dalai Lama is as follows:
The
International Commission of JuristsThe International Commission of Jurists is an international human rights non-governmental organisation. The Commission itself is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists , including members of the senior judiciary in Australia, Canada, and South Africa and the former UN High Commissioner for Human...
, a
NGONon-governmental organization is a term that has become widely accepted as referring to a legally constituted, non-governmental organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government...
with ties to the
CIAThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government.It is an independent agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior United States policymakers....
, concluded that from 1913 to 1950 Tibet demonstrated the conditions of statehood as generally accepted under international law. In the opinion of the commission, the government of Tibet conducted its own domestic and foreign affairs free from any outside authority, and countries with whom Tibet had foreign relations are shown by official documents to have treated Tibet in practice as an independent State.
The United Nations General Assembly passed resolutions urging respect for the rights of Tibetans in 1959, 1961 and 1965. The 1961 resolution asserts that "principle of self-determination of peoples and nations" applies to the Tibetan people.
The Tibetan Government in Exile views current PRC rule in Tibet as colonial and illegitimate, motivated solely by the natural resources and strategic value of Tibet, and in gross violation of both Tibet's historical status as an independent country and the right of Tibetan people to
self-determinationSelf-determination is defined as free choice of one’s own acts without external compulsion; and especially as the freedom of the people of a given territory to determine their own political status. In other words, it is the right of the people of a nation to decide how they want to be governed...
. It also points to PRC's autocratic policies,
divide-and-ruleIn politics and sociology, divide and rule is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy...
policies, and what it contends are assimilationist policies, and regard those as an example of ongoing
imperialismImperialism, as defined by the dictionary of human geography, is “the creation and maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural and territorial relationship, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination.” Imperialism, in many ways, is described...
aimed at destroying Tibet's distinct ethnic makeup, culture, and identity, thereby cementing it as an indivisible part of China. That said, the Dalai Lama has recently stated that he wishes only for Tibetan autonomy, and not separation from China, under certain democratic conditions, like freedom of speech and expression and genuine self-rule.
Tibetan passports
In 2003, an old Tibetan
passportA passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth...
was rediscovered in Nepal by Tibet independence supporters. Issued by the
13th Dalai LamaThubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet.During 1878 he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and named "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal"...
to Tibet's finance minister (Tsepon Shakabpa) for foreign travel, the passport was a single piece of pink paper, complete with photograph, and had visas issued by many countries, including Britain. It has a message in typed English and hand-written Tibetan, similar to the message by the nominal issuing officers of today's passports. There is no Chinese on the passport, but two stamps could be official Chinese seals, or they could be Chinese entry stamps.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy said it was not clear if the passport was genuine since experts had not examined it.
Third-party views
Parts of Tibet were temporarily captured by the Chinese and became territories of the
Tang dynastyThe Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
(618–907 AD). Around 650, the Chinese captured Lhasa.
Most scholars outside the PRC say that during the
Ming DynastyThe Ming Dynasty , or Empire of the Great Ming , was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history," was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
(1368–1644), Tibet was an independent region outside Ming control. See
Tibet during the Ming DynastyThe exact nature of Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming Dynasty of China is unclear. Some modern scholars living and working in the People's Republic of China, such as Wang Jiawei & Nyima Gyaincain, assert that the Ming Dynasty had unquestioned sovereignty over Tibet, pointing to the Ming...
for details.
According to historian Zahiruddin Ahmad, since at least the 18th century, when the Qing Government was setting up its local government structure and promulgated laws for the governing, Beijing has, in the words of a foreign missionary who witnessed, had "absolute dominion over Tibet".
Tibetologist Melvyn C. Goldstein writes that
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
formally acknowledged Chinese authority over Tibet in treaties of 1906 and 1907; and that the
British invasion of TibetThe British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, seeking to prevent the Russian Empire from interfering in Tibetan affairs and thus gaining a base in one of the buffer states surrounding British India, by reasoning similar to that which had led...
stirred China into getting more directly involved in Tibetan affairs and working to integrate Tibet with "the rest of China."
F. Spencer Chapman questions the validity of China's purported authority in deposing the Dalai Lama twice in the early 20th century, noting that, at the same time China "deposed" the 13th Dalai Lama, it claimed sovereignty not only over Tibet, but also over Nepal and Bhutan.
The "Patron-Priest" relationship held between the Chinese court and the Tibetan lamas has been subjected to varying interpretation. The 13th Dalai Lama, for example, knelt, but did not kowtow, before the Empress Dowager and the young Emperor while he delivered his petition in Beijing. Chinese sources emphasize the submission of kneeling; Tibetan sources emphasize the lack of the kowtow. Titles and commands given to Tibetans by the Chinese, likewise, are variously interpreted. The Chinese gave the 13th Dalai Lama the title of "Loyally Submissive Vice-Regent", and ordered to follow China's commands and communicate with the Emperor only through the Chinese Amban in
LhasaLhasa, and sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. It is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....
; but opinions vary as to whether these titles and commands reflected actual political power, or symbolic gestures ignored by Tibetans. The kneeling before the Emperor followed the 17th-century precedent in the case of the 6th Dalai Lama.
Thomas Heberer, professor of political science and East Asian studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, wrote: "No country in the world has ever recognized the independence of Tibet or declared that Tibet is an 'occupied country'. For all countries in the world, Tibet is Chinese territory."
Other tibetologists write that no country publicly accepts Tibet as an independent state, although there are several instances of government officials appealing to their superiors to do so. Treaties signed by Britain and Russia in the early years of the twentieth century, and others signed by Nepal and India in the 1950s, recognized Tibet's political subordination to China. The Americans presented their view on 15 May 1943:
The 1994 U.S. State Department report to Congress declares:
The US government recognizes Tibet as part of China, but the US Congress has at times expressed a different perspective, calling Tibet an occupied country.
In 2008,
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
leaderThe President of the European Commission is the most powerful office in the European Union, as the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union. The President is responsible for allocating portfolios to members of the Commission and can reshuffle or fire them if needed...
Jose Manuel Barroso stated that the EU recognized Tibet as integral part of China:
In October, 2008, the British government clarified their official position on Tibet's status:
On 1 April, 2009, the French Government reaffirmed her position on the Tibet issue:
This lack of legal recognition of independence has forced even some strong supporters of the refugees to admit that:
In 1959 and 1960, the
International Commission of JuristsThe International Commission of Jurists is an international human rights non-governmental organisation. The Commission itself is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists , including members of the senior judiciary in Australia, Canada, and South Africa and the former UN High Commissioner for Human...
evaluated in its studies the status of Tibet in international law:
The
Permanent Peoples' TribunalThe Permanent Peoples' Tribunal is international opinion tribunal that was founded in Bologna June 24, 1979 at the initiative of Senator Lelio Basso. - International opinion tribunal :...
, gathered in Strasbourg to examine testimonies and arguments in November 1992, concluded that the Tibetans meet the legal criteria, generally accepted, of "a people" having the right of
self-determinationSelf-determination is defined as free choice of one’s own acts without external compulsion; and especially as the freedom of the people of a given territory to determine their own political status. In other words, it is the right of the people of a nation to decide how they want to be governed...
and "are therefore entitled to exercise the right to self- determination." The Tribunal concluded also that "the presence of the Chinese administration on Tibetan territory must be considered as foreign domination of the Tibetan people." The Tribunal also concluded that "the Tibetan people have from 1950 been, continuously, deprived of their right to self-determination."
In January 1993, in London, a conference gathered 30 eminent international lawyers from many countries to consider issues of the right of self-determination of the Tibetan people. At the issue of their work, the participants concluded in a written statement that:
- under international law the Tibetan people are entitled to the right to self-determination, that this right belongs to the Tibetan people and that it is not for the state apparatus of the PRC, or any other nation or state, to deny the Tibetan people's right to self-determination.
- since the military action of 1949-50, Tibet has been under the alien occupation and domination of the PRC and has been administered with the characteristics of an oppressive colonial administration.
- in the particular case of Tibet and having regard to its long history of separate existence, the Tibetan people's claim to self-determination, including independence, is compatible with the principles of national unity and territorial integrity of states.
Another view supported by a number of international groups, including the
Free Tibet CampaignFree Tibet or Free Tibet Campaign is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, founded in 1987 and based in London, England that stands for the rights of Tibetans to determine their own future and campaigns for "an end to the Chinese occupation of Tibet and for the fundamental human rights of...
, is that Tibet should be granted total independence from China.
In 2009, the American organization
Freedom HouseFreedom House is a Washington-based international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...
has put
Chinese TibetThe Tibet Autonomous Region , also called Xizang Autonomous Region , is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China .Within the People's Republic of China, Tibet is identified with the Autonomous Region, which includes about half of...
in the “Worst of the Worst” list of most repressive countries and disputed territories in the world, together with
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
’s Chechnya and
South OssetiaSouth Ossetia is a disputed region in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....
.
See also
- Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
- Tibet during the Ming Dynasty
The exact nature of Sino-Tibetan relations during the Ming Dynasty of China is unclear. Some modern scholars living and working in the People's Republic of China, such as Wang Jiawei & Nyima Gyaincain, assert that the Ming Dynasty had unquestioned sovereignty over Tibet, pointing to the Ming...
- Tibetan Independence Movement
- South Tibet
South Tibet is the name used by the government of the People's Republic of China for a geographic area that is the focus of border dispute between India and the People's Republic of China...
External links