Home > Tibet: An inalienable part of China
Wars and conflicts International
The Guardian 30 August, 2006
Tibet: An inalienable part of China
by Rolf Berthold
After many years abroad, the Tibetan Dainmba returned home to China. He had spent time at a special training camp for Tibetans in Colorado, USA.
In May 1991 he commented about his stay in Colorado — allegedly a political instructor at this camp declared that it was intended to prevent the China from becoming rich and powerful, and for that purpose China was to be divided whilst it was still poor. The first goal was to detach Tibet, then Xinjiang, then Inner Mongolia and finally Manchuria.
The USA was running a number of camps where they were preparing Tibetans for special missions. According to official US statements these camps were supposed to be dismantled after President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972, and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the USA and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1976. Financial and military assistance for Tibetan separatists was supposed to be terminated. The cited instructor’s statement clearly spells out US policy.
If one looks at history it becomes evident that borders between states reflect power relativities, violence, and wars. This could not be any different in times of feudalism and the development of capitalism.
In the year 641AD a Chinese royal princess was married to the king of the Tibetan realm. This was the beginning of Tibet’s attachment to China. In the mid-13th century Tibet had become officially incorporated into China’s territory. Like all other parts of China, Tibet was administered within the structure of the Chinese empire.
The policy of developed capitalist powers to divide China up among themselves into areas of influence was especially pushed ahead in the second half of the 19th century. China was degraded into a semi-colony. In 1888 and 1903 British troops attacked Tibet from their Indian colony, for the purpose of incorporating this territory into their sphere of influence. For a while British troops occupied Lhasa, the Dalai Lama had to seek refuge.
Under British pressure Tibetan officials produced a "Declaration of Independence" in 1913. This was opposed by the Chinese central government and failed to be recognised internationally. Great Britain demanded control over Tibet’s finances and defence, as well as the gradual colonisation.
It is historically incorrect to claim (as does the bourgeois press and some history books) that Tibet had de facto been an independent state in the period between the collapse of the Chinese empire in 1911, and the founding of the PRC in 1949.
In his inaugural address the First Provisional President of the Chinese Republic, Sun Yat Sen, proclaimed the unification of the Han, Manchu, Mongols, Hui and Tibetans in one state as members of one large family.
The Constitution unequivocally affirmed that Tibet was part of the territory of the Republic of China. The representatives of Tibet’s local government participated in the official steps taken by the Kuomintang towards the formation of a national government and the National Assembly. In line with a procedure dating back several centuries, the 14th Dalai Lama, too, was affirmed in 1940 by the central government. The Kuomintang Government had its representatives stationed in Tibet.
In the final stages of the civil war, when the defeat of the Chiang Kai-shek forces was clearly evident, and especially after the founding of the PRC, the USA intensified their activities in the region.
The USA sent envoys for talks in Tibet. In the USA a press report was published, saying that "the US was ready to recognise Tibet as an independent and free country". Weapons and ammunition were supplied to Tibet in order to organise opposition to the arrival of the People’s Liberation Army.
On the July 8, 1949 the Tibetan local government, on American advice, expelled the Kuomintang officials, so as to prevent Tibet’s liberation by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
When the Korean War started in July 1950, Tibet became a link in America’s strategic chain for the encirclement of the East. On June 13 the US State Department announced, in a note to the British ambassador in Washington, that actions were pending to encourage and support Tibetan ambitions to secede from China.
In the war of liberation from Kuomintang rule Tibet’s neighbouring provinces were peacefully liberated. But Tibet’s local government officials refused to talk with the new central government and massed troops in the Eastern part of Tibet. Hence the territory of Qamdo in Eastern Tibet was liberated by the PLA in 1950, and in May 1951 an agreement about the peaceful liberation of Tibet was signed between the Central Government and the Local Government of Tibet.
In 1954, Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama participated in the First National Congress, which adopted China’s Constitution and which also stressed the principles of national regional autonomy.
Slavery existed in Tibet into the 1950s. Five percent of the population constituted the ruling class, among others the secular and spiritual nobility in the monasteries. Ninety percent of the population were serfs and five percent were slaves. The feudal rulers opposed reforms and with the support of the CIA, promoted separatism.
In March 1959 they incited an armed revolt in Lhasa. On March 17 the Dalai Lama, at the time 23 years old, was brought to the Indian border, accompanied by agents trained in America. After the collapse of the revolt, the Dalai Lama and his supporters crossed the border into India.
Since then, the Dalai Lama propagates "Tibet’s independence" the world over.
Not surprisingly, the Parliament of Europe, in Strasbourg, is an especially receptive forum. The PRC is, as always, ready to talk to the Dalai Lama, but not to discuss the "independence of Tibet". After the collapse of the revolt of 1959, democratic reforms were introduced in Tibet, slavery abolished and a million serfs liberated.
On the basis of the Constitution of 1954, in September 1965 the Autonomous Region of Tibet was officially established. Tibet covers a territory of 1.2 million sq. kilometres and has 2.6 million inhabitants (of which 94% Tibetans and 6% Han). Tibetan and Chinese are the official languages. Even under extreme climatic conditions, and communications problems in a country at a height of more than 4000 metres, the economy and living standards have markedly improved. Culture, education, and health services are on the rise. The reconstructed Potala Palace witnesses the region’s development.
In 2001, the 50th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet was marked with appropriate festivities.
In a government White Book the progress of Tibet on the road to modernisation is recorded. In 2000 Gross Domestic Product reached US$1.4 billion (A$1.8 billion), or 30 times that of 1951. Eighty-six percent of school-age children go to school. In Tibet, 25 scientific institutes and four universities are in operation. Eighty percent of cadres in Tibet are of Tibetan nationality or of other minorities. Tibet is covered by 21,000 km of fortified roads, and an oil pipe line of more than 1000km length runs from Golmud to Lhasa, supplying fuel.