Han I：A Study of Tibetan-Chinese Political Relations 1950－2008

A Study of Tibetan-Chinese Political Relations
1950 ― 2008
Han I
1 Introduction
Tibet has been occupied by China for over 50 years already, yet no progress has been
made on solving the Tibetan problem. On 1 October 2009, China celebrated her nation’s
60th birthday by holding a grand procession and military parade on Tiananmen Square.
China’s top leaders highly praised their own achievements at this official function as
usual, however, something is amiss in the picture so-called “harmonious society”. Today’s
China is, shall we say, a complicated country. A high economic growth rate hascontinued for two decades, but the closed political system known as “one-party rule” is as
authoritarian as before. Actually any organized objection to the Communist Party was
ruthlessly extirpated. The event in Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989 is still clear inpeople’s memory. Recently the rebellions broke out in Tibet in March 2008 have also
underlined the fact that more than a half century of Chinese occupation aren’t working
and never successful. Resistance to Chinese rule hasn’t come just from the “Dalai clique”,
as Chinese officials put it, but from all 6 million Tibetans. The situation of human rights
in Tibet attracted the attention of people all over the world once again.
As is generally known, China is the third largest country in the world, after Russia
and Canada, and has an area of 9.6 million square kilometers. Only half of China is
occupied by Han Chinese; the rest is inhabited by Mongols, Tibetans, Uyghurs and a hostof other national minorities who occupy the periphery of China. From the capital Beijing,
the Chinese government rules 22 provinces and four special municipalities of Beijing,
Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing. The others are five autonomous regions of Inner
Mongolia, Ningxia, Xinjiang, Guangxi and Tibet. These, of course, are in reallyadministered by the central government just like other divisions.
The total number of the people in China would be over 1.3 billion. Han Chinese makeup about 92% of the population, the rest is composed of 55 officially recognized ethnic
minorities. Although minorities account for only 8% of the population, they are
distributed over some 50% of Chinese-controlled territory, mostly in the sensitive borderregions.Therefore minority separatism has always been a threat to the stability of China,
especially among the Tibetans who have a lot of trouble with the Chinese.
It is needless to say that maintaining amicable relations with the minorities has been acontinuous problem for the Chinese government. The minority regions provide China
with the greater part of raw materials such as wood, wool and other animal products fortheir industries. Particularly Tibet is rich in natural resources including gold, silver, iron,
lead, copper and so on, and this is one of the reasons why the Chinese had been quick incolonizing it. Tibet was earlier named as “Xizang Autonomous Region” on Chinese maps,
but according to the historical concept, the total land of Tibetan plateau would be over
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2.2million square kilometers, including the provinces of Qinghai and Gansu (traditionallyknown as Amdo), and parts of Sichuan and Yunan (traditionally known as Kham).More
Tibetans now live outside the Xizang Autonomous Region than inside it.
The Chinese are always saying that for many centuries Tibet has been part of China,
and the Tibetans are content in their regime. But the Tibetans countered that theircountry had become independent of China lasted until 1950, when Chinese troops
conquered Tibet. Which of these two claims is true? Why did the Tibetans have sohostility to the Chinese? The reality is that Tibet has heavily garrisoned by Chinese
troops over 50 years, partly to protect China’s borders and partly to prevent rebellion
among the local people. There is a great deal of ill-feeling on both sides. Though it takes
courage to tell truth, we must seek truth from the historical facts.
2 The Rise and Fall of Chinese Empire and Its Effects on Tibet
Before to enter the subject of this research, it would be necessary for us to look backon the past political status of Tibet and, in particular, the nature of the relationship with
China. Knowledge of the past can help us to understand the present, as past events anddevelopments have, in no small measure, shaped the present.
2.1 Tibet’s autonomy and China’s suzerainty
Political contact between Tibet and China began in the 7th century when Tibet
became unified under the rule of 33nd King Songtsen Gampo(581～649)of the Tubo
dynasty. Because his brave armies won great victories and conquered western China andnorthern Nepal, the Chinese Emperor Taizong and Nepalese King Amsuvar-man wereforced to yield their daughters in marriage to the conqueror. The Chinese princess iswell-known as Princess Wen Cheng. Both princesses were devoted Buddhists and it is by
their persuasion that Buddhism entered into Tibet rapidly. By the time of King Trisong
Detsen’s reign (755～797), Tibet became one of the most powerful nations in Inner Asia,
so much so that in 763 its army was able to capture Chang’an(present-day Xi’an), thecapital of Tang dynasty. After that, a Sino－Tibetan treaty was signed in 822, signatories
to the treaty swore that “…the whole region to the east of Daduhe is the country ofGreat China and the whole region to the west of Daduhe is surely the country of Great
Tibet. Henceforth, the two countries shall not fight as enemies and neither side will
wage war into the other’s territory.” Today we can learn of the treaty from a stonemonument still stands outside the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa.
For the next four centuries, Tibet languished and Tibetan-Chinese political relations
were nonexistent during this period. In 1260 Kublai Khan, the greatest Mongol ruler andthe founder of Yuan dynasty, appointed the Abbot of Sakya Phagpa(1235～80)as animperial preceptor, accepted Buddhism and offered the sovereignty of Tibet to the
Abbot. This marked the beginning of the rule of Chinese suzerainty in Tibet. In 1358 oneof the greatest men was born in Amdo, became the founder of the Yellow Hat sect(Gelugpa) later. He is known as Tsongkhapa(1358 ～ 1419).Then Ganden Truppa, thesuccessor of Tsongkhapa, became famous as the starting point of the unique system ofreincarnations. Sonam Gyatso, the third reincarnated head of the Gelugpa, isremembered for having spread the Yellow Hat order in Mongolia, and received the titleof “Dalai Lama”, meaning “ocean of wisdom”, from the devoted Mongol chief Altyn Khan
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Han I：A Study of Tibetan-Chinese Political Relations 1950－2008

in 1578.
Among the Dalai Lamas, the fifth (1617 ～ 82) won a special honor. He invited theMongols for support and gained the sovereignty of Tibet through his own efforts in 1641.
He also visited Beijing in 1653, and the Qing Emperor Shunzhi made one day’s journeyfrom the capital in order to receive him. Like Kublai Khan, Shunzhi also accepted
Tibetan Buddhism as the state religion of his empire. The 5th Dalai Lama was treated as
an independent sovereign by the Qing Emperor. It is with the Dalai Lama’s assistancethat the Manchu Qing dynasty had designed to establish and strengthen their ruleamong the people of Mongolia who were the followers of the Dalai Lama.
The loose life of the 6th Dalai Lama became a source of dissensions among the
Tibetans, and the Qing Emperor found opportunity to weaken Tibet. In 1700 Chinese
forces occupied Dajianlu (Dhar-tsedo), a hill which marked the traditional Sino-Tibetan
border near Kangding in Sichuan province. Six years later, the Chinese put the 6th Dalai
Lama to death. The Qing Emperor Kangxi even dispatched an army to Tibet in 1718.
But the army was defeated and Kangxi gave in and accepted the Tibetan nominee as
Dalai Lama. Two years late, Kangxi dispatched a new and bigger army with two officials
called Amban to Lhasa under the pretext of enthroning the 7th Dalai Lama. In 1750 the
Ambans got the Tibetan regent murdered, and in retaliation the people of Lhasa
massacred the Chinese. This gave another opportunity for restoring Chinese ascendancy
and strengthening the power of Ambans in Lhasa. After that, for a hundred years Tibet
was administered by Tibetan regents over whom the Chinese Ambans had varying
degrees of influence.
2.2 A short-lived independence
The authority or the influence exercised by the Chinese over Tibet had gradually
become feebler during the second half of the 19th century. The custom of forwarding
important decision to the Amban, who in his turn submitted them to the Chinese Count,
was nullified during this period. At the same time, the British began to playing an
increasingly important role as mediators in problems between Tibet and China.
With the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, Tibet entered a period of factual
independence, and it was to last until 1950,when Chinese communist armies conquered
Tibet. Soon after the 1911 revolution broke out in the mainland of China,the Chinese
Ambans and troops, who had surrendered in Lhasa, were deported by the Tibetans
across the Indian frontier. In January 1913 the 13th Dalai Lama(1876～1933) returned to
Lhasa from Sikkim and regained power in his own hand. As the Tibetan Prime Minister
Lonchen Shatra explains,“The Dalai Lama wanted Tibet to manage her own internalaffairs, to have no Chinese Amban, no Chinese officials, and no Chinese soldiers in Tibet;
only Chinese traders could come in and lastly. Tibet was to include Nya-rong, Derge,
Batang, Litang, and the country as far Dajianlu, the districts that had been snatchedaway by the Chinese during the last two hundred years.”1 In fact, Tibetan government
first began to expand its international relations with India, Nepal, Mongolia, Britain andRussia during this period. Tibet was taking its first steps to join the modern world.
However, the government of the new Chinese Republic did not accept the position. It
was not long before Yuan Shikai, the president of Republic of China, promulgated thepresidential order that Tibet was to be regarded as on an equal footing with the― 65 ―

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provinces of China.To make matters worse,the British again opened negotiations about
Tibet’s position with China, and attempted to establish Chinese suzerainty over Tibet
once again.It is significant because the British feared that Tibet might seek assistancefrom Mongolia and through Mongolia from Russia. Tibet was tossed up and down by theirony of fate.
Under these situations, the problem of Tibet was not likely to be solved. So on 13
October 1913 a conference was held in Simla, India. Tibet initially wanted the conference
to declare it independent. Lonchen Shatra, the Tibetan plenipotentiary, expressed this in
his opening statement when he said: “Tibet and China have never been under each otherand will never associate with each other in future. It is decided that Tibet is anindependent state and that the precious Protector, the Dalai Lama, is the ruler of Tibet
in all temporal as well as in spiritual affairs.”2 Chen Yifan, the Chinese plenipotentiary,forcefully opposed this claims. Sir Henry McMahon, the Indian Foreign Department
Secretary, served as the British plenipotentiary. It was he who played the leading role inguiding deliberations and in arriving at decisions.
The discussions extended over six months and it was on 27 April 1914 that theconvention was initialed by the three delegates. According to its provisions Tibet was
divided into two zones: the zone contiguous to China was styled Inner Tibet; the zone far
removed from China but contiguous to Inner Tibet was styled Outer Tibet. It is Outer
Tibet whose southern boundary formed the northern boundary of India. The easternpart of this boundary is well-known as the McMahon Line.
It is needless to say that the division of Tibet into two zones had a model case in the
two zones of Mongolia: Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia. The British and the Chinese
provided in the convention that Inner Tibet was to be a free region for Chinese troop
and colonists. Lhasa would retain only the control of the monasteries and would beallowed to appoint local chiefs. Keeping Outer Mongolia in mind, they provided for theautonomy of Outer Tibet, allowing the Chinese suzerainty over Outer Tibet but notallowing her to station troops or establish colonies.3
Actually the provisions of the convention were only initialed by the three delegates.
Two days after, the Chinese government disowned the action of her plenipotentiary.
China’s disowning was caused by disagreement on the border line between China andInner Tibet, as established in 1727.
After the breakdown of the convention and consequently of its provisions concerning
Tibet and China, things became easier for the Tibetans. With that Tibet became
completely independent, and from 1912 until the Chinese invasion in 1950, neither the
Chinese nor any other state had any power whatever in Tibet. In March 1919 China
proposed the resumption of negotiations initiated at Simla,but Tibetan government
rejected. From 1912 onward there had been no Chinese Amban at Lhasa and thegovernment of Tibet had stopped referring its affairs to Beijing. After the failure of the1914 convention, fighting broke out in 1917 and resulted in a crushing defeat for Chinese
forces.
We shall also mention some great events as follows: In 1928 the Kuomintang
government sent a mission to Lhasa, not to force their suzerainty or to assert their
historical aggressiveness, but to invite Tibetans to join the Chinese Republic. This
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invitation was ignored. Hostilities recurred in 1931 and 1932. The occasion was the effortof the Kuomintang government to assert its authority over the territories of Amdo andKham, where the Tibetans were operating. In 1936 the Tibetans also routed thecommunist armies, the Red Army on the Long March, from Kham.
It shall not be able to complete this account without mentioning the different attitudes
toward China between the Dailai Lama and the Panchen Lama － Tibet’s second greatest
incarnation. From ancient times, conflicts had sprung up between the two Tibetan
leaders over the autonomy of Tashilhunpo Monastery, the traditional seat of all the
Panchen Lamas, and its estates. The 9th Panchen Lama(1883～1937), after appealing to
the Chinese to mediate, fled to Qinghai,where he stayed for 14 years until his death.
That is why the Panchen Lama had for generations been supported by the Chinese as arival to the Dailai Lama. Whatever the case, from the year 1912, Tibet was to enjoy 38
years free of interference from China.
3 The “Peaceful Liberation” of Tibet
In the first half of the 20th century, the Tibetan leaders decided to shut off Tibet fromthe outside world. They did not like the influence of foreign ideas on the Tibetan people,
so much so that they lost the best chance to modernize their country and to make itstrong and powerful for its independent status and defending its territory. In August
1947 India became independent of England. The India’s success gave a great stimulus to
the neighboring countries, but the situation of Tibet had grown from bad to worse.
3.1 The Chinese invasion
By the middle of 1949 the communist armies had consolidated their hold of the wholeof China proper. Before the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), theembassy staffs of Kuomintang government had been deported from Lhasa on 8 July. On
3 September, Radio Beijing announced an editorial of the Xinhua News Agency as
follows: “Tibet is an integral part of Chinese territory.The People’s Liberation Armymust enter Tibet to liberate the Tibetan people. The influence of aggressive imperialist
forces in Tibet might be successfully eliminated, and the Tibetan people might be freed
and return to the motherland’s big family.”４ On 24 November Radio Beijing announced to
the world that the 10th Panchen Lama(1938 ～ 89) had appealed to Mao Zedong toliberate Tibet. ５ This was very extraordinary, as the 10th Panchen Lama at that time
was only a boy of 11 years. This appeal was followed on 31 December by an official
announcement that it would be one of the main goals of the People’s Liberation Army
(PLA) to “liberate” Tibet. Several days later, on 24 January 1950 the Central MilitaryCommittee ordered the 18th Army of PLA to march into Tibet. ６ The pressure ofCommunist China grew stronger as time passed.
On 7 October 1950, just a year after the PLA takeover of China, about 40,000 battlehardened Chinese troops attacked Chamdo, an important town in eastern Tibet (thecapital of Kham), from five directions. The Tibetan army around only 8,000 men was oldfashioned in their training and weapons. Without any reinforcements to support them,
the Tibetan army was easily defeated by the Chinese troops. In Lhasa, Tibetan
government reacted by enthroning the 15-year-old 14th Dalai Lama (1935 ～ ), while
Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, the Tibetan commander of Chamdo,had felt that the town could― 67 ―

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not be defended any longer, and surrendered to the Chinese in the end.７ By this battle,
the Chinese destroyed nearly the whole Tibetan force within 18 days.
The Tibetan government and their officials, though desperately wanting to retain thefactual status of independence that they had attained, were poor leaders and could notsave the nation from defeat and shame. It thus became clear that it was a matter of time
before the Tibetans would lose their country. On the other hand, the Indian government,
traditional friend of Tibet, became worried about the Chinese communists make theirway into Tibet. They suggested to both Tibet and China to negotiate directly and toarrive at a peaceful settlement. There was an exchange of angry notes between India
and China. The Indian note, dated 26 October 1950, runs as follows:“We have seen with great regret the report in the newspapers of an official statement
made in Beijing to the effect that the PLA units have been ordered to advance into
Tibet.…We have been repeatedly assured of a desire by Chinese government to settle
the Tibetan problem by peaceful means and negotiations.” India was afraid indeed that acommunist-controlled Tibet right at the doorstep of India would be a danger to India’s
security. In the same note the Indian government went on to convey to Beijing a clear
expression of their views: “Now that the invasion of Tibet has been ordered by the
Chinese government, peaceful negotiations can hardly be synchronized with it and there
naturally will be fear on the part of Tibetans that negotiations will be under duress.”８To this note the Chinese government, dated 30 October 1950, replied in unflinchingtones: “Tibet is an integral part of Chinese territory. The problem of Tibet is entirely thedomestic problem of China.The People’s Liberation Army must enter Tibet, liberate the
Tibetan people and defend the frontiers of China.… No foreign interference shall betolerated.”９
In the meantime, on 11 November 1950 the Tibetan government appealed for help tothe United Nations, though it was not a member of the UN. The appeal urges thefollowing: “The armed invasion of Tibet for the incorporation of Tibet in Communist
China through sheer physical force is a clear case of aggression. As long as the people ofTibet are compelled by force to become a part of China against their will and consent,
the present invasion of Tibet will be the grossest instance of the violation of the weak by
the strong.… The problem is simple. The Chinese claim Tibet as a part of China.
Tibetans feel that racially, culturally, and geographically they are far apart from the
Chinese. If the Chinese find the reactions of the Tibetans to their unnatural claim notacceptable, there are other civilized methods by which they could ascertain the views of
the people of Tibet; or, should the issue be purely juridical, they are open to seek redressin an international court of law. The conquest of Tibet by China will only enlarge thearea of conflict and in crease the threat to the independence and stability of other Asian
countries.”10
Unfortunately only EI Salvador sponsored a motion to condemn Chinese aggression,
Britain and India actually managed to convince the UN not to debate the issue for fear of
Chinese disapproval. So the UN General Assembly decided to postpone the considerationof the appeal.11 Forlorn and friendless, the dream of Tibetans was gone like mist in themorning sun.
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3.2 The 17-point Agreement
The Tibetan government found itself in a very difficult situation. The Tibetandelegates who sent to Beijing from Lhasa had no choice but to sign the 17-point
Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, which the Chinese hadalready drafted, on 23 May 1951. They hoped that the Chinese would be satisfied andstop occupying more certain territories in Tibet. It is the first document that formallyacknowledges Tibet as a part of the PRC. At the signing ceremony, Mao Zedong’s firstremark was “Welcome back to the great motherland”.
It is necessary for us to quote a few of its clauses: “The Tibetan people shall return tothe big family of the motherland － the PRC”(Point 1); “The local government of Tibet
shall assist the PLA to enter Tibet”(Point 2); “The Tibetan people have the right of
exercising national regional autonomy. The Central Authorities will not alter the existing
political system of Tibet”(Point 3); “The Central Authorities will not alter theestablished status, functions and powers of the Dalai Lama. Officials of various ranks
shall hold office as usual”(Point 4); “The religious beliefs, customs and habits of the
Tibetan people shall be respected,and lama monasteries shall be protected.The Central
Authorities will not effect a change in the income of the monasteries”(Point 7); “TheCentral Authorities shall have centralized handling of all external affairs of the area ofTibet”(Point 14);“In order to ensure the implementation of this Agreement, the Central
Authorities shall set up a Military and Administrative Committee and a Military Area
Headquarters in Tibet”(Point 15).12 As it turned out, there were no decisions to be made.
The Tibetan delegates had two choices: sign on the dotted line or face further Chinese
aggression.
Thus the 18th Army of PLA occupied Lhasa on 26 October 1951. In December 1956
Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai assured Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister,that Tibet would continue to enjoy autonomy and that China would not force
communism on her. Nehru therefore advised the 14th Dalai Lama,while he was visiting
New Delhi, to return to Lhasa and work out the autonomy as best as he could. China
insisted that the 17-point Agreement was reached between the two. The treaty was not
signed under duress; it was based on peaceful negotiations. However, the 14th Dalai
Lama stated in Mussoorie, India, on 20 June 1958, that the consent of his government
was secured at the point of bayonet, under the threat of further military operations
leading to the utter ravage and total ruin of Tibet.
It is needless to say that Indian government was not very pleased with China, butthey had no desire to involve themselves and did not feel any responsibility towards
protecting Tibet. On 29 April 1954 India signed an agreement with China renouncing allrights in Tibet and severing her long historical and neighborly ties.13 This further led to
Nepal’s signing a similar treaty on 20 September 1956, in which she surrendered theconcessions she possessed in Tibet under the treaty of 1856. On 18 March 1957 the
Nepalese withdrew their troops from Tibet.14 The events as those put a period to Tibet’s
neighborly ties, therefore, Tibet was unfortunate to lose his international support for its
claim to independence.

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4 The 1959 Uprising
The invasion and occupation by Chinese communist was to open what is probably thesaddest chapter in Tibetan history. There were countless victims of the “liberation” inthe Land of Snows. These victims were people who suffered from foreign rule, poverty
and hunger as a result of the Chinese occupation.
4.1 The Chinese occupation
Since that time the Tibetans had suffered untold agonies. The Chinese communists had
gradually deprived them of all their political rights. The Tibetan government, right fromthe top to the provincial and district offices, has been made powerless and weregoverned completely by the Chinese. Soon after the occupation in 1951 the Chineseorganized the Regional Military Commanders and abolished Tibet’s National Army. On
22 April 1956 the Preparatory Committee for Tibet Autonomous Region was established.
Although headed by the Dalai Lama, a majority of its seats were filled by Chinese
puppets. In any case, real power lay in the hands of the committee of the Communist
Party, which claimed no Tibetan representatives at all. After all, the promise of the
17-point Agreement was not honored just as the Tibetans had anxietied.
Economically Tibet used to be self-sufficient for its food supply. But the Chinese troop
was living on local people and their food situation was desperate. The presence of large
numbers of Chinese troops in the Lhasa region soon depleted food stores and gave rise
to massive inflation. The people in the east and northeast were facing a famine. In thesouthern and central regions, the Chinese had destroyed thousands of acres ofagricultural lands by giving priority to national highways, barracks and arsenals. At thattime, most people in Tibet did not have enough food to eat. As the people’s health was
generally poor and because of a shortage of medicines, a large number of them died.
In Kham the Chinese had actually made the lamas study Marxist materialism andforced political indoctrination. Ordinary monks they try to overcome by such material
arguments as this: The monks were made remain in their cells and try to procure foodby prayer alone. If the food is not miraculously produced this is supposed to prove thegod dose not exist. Meantime, the Chinese had stopped the monasteries from sharing theusual food reserves and torture monks by hunger into abandoning their simple faith.
Thousands of monks starved to death for this reason. To Tibetan people the phrase“liberation”, in its moral and spiritual implications, was only a deadly nonsense.
4.2 The resistance and rebellion
Since long ago, the people of Tibet had enjoyed peace. When China attacked Tibet, thepeople had to suffer the horrors of war. This was followed by more suffering andhardship during a half of century when the Chinese occupied the plateau. The people ofTibet hated their Chinese masters because of the hardships and sufferings they had tobear or the cruel treatment they received.
The people of eastern Tibet called Khampa revolted against the Chinese first in
February 1956, they found the resistance group known as “Four Rivers － Six Ranges”. A
large number of young men joined local guerrilla group, sank or damaged a great
number of Chinese troop. The guerillas often attacked sentries and blew up bridges androads. Whenever they had chance they ambushed lorries carrying Chinese soldiers along
the roads in mountain district.15 However, all these heroic efforts were in vain, many
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leaders and men lost their lives in the days of fierce fighting. In retaliation the Chinese
troops had desecrated religious buildings and destroyed monasteries, razed villages to
the ground and killed tens of thousands of Tibetan civilians. Since then protests andarmed revolts spread to central Tibet, and large numbers of refugees ran away fromhome and went to Lhasa. It seemed inevitable that Lhasa would explode in rebellion.
On 10 March 1959, the Chinese commander Tan Guansan invited the Dalai Lama to
enjoy a performance by a Chinese dance group at the military headquarters. The Dalai
Lama was asked to come unaccompanied by any of his bodyguards. This news shocked
many people throughout Lhasa. It seemed obvious to the Tibetans that the Chinese
schemed to kidnap the Dalai Lama and use him as a helpless instrument. Shortly acrowd of people who get up a panic gathered around the Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama’ssummer palace, and demonstrated against the Chinese machinations. On 12th Large
numbers of Tibetan women also rose up in the front of the Potala Palace, protested
Chinese intervention in Tibet’s internal affairs and oppression of its people. The next day,a mass demonstration by over 70,000 Tibetans was held to upholding Tibet’s autonomy.
The situation was getting worse and worse every day.
Meanwhile, the members of the Cabinet and the National Assembly gathered
immediately in an anxious debate and issued a proclamation of independence. A group of
government ministers announced that the 17-point Agreement was null and void, andTibet renounced the authority of China. They were in continuous session up to theafternoon of 17 March, until came to a unanimous decision that the Dalai Lama should
leave Lhasa and move to safety beyond the reach of the Chinese. The decision wasconveyed to the Dalai Lama with pleading to leave immediately. Around 10 p.m. theDalai Lama dressed in the garb of a poor monk, emerged from the south gate of
Norbulingka with his attendants.16
Early on the morning of 20 March, Chinese troops began to shell the Norbulingka, thePotala and other temples. When a crowd of some 10,000 Tibetans retreated into thesacred precincts of the Jokhang, that too was bombed. It is thought that after three daysof violence, 10,000～15,000 Tibetans lay dead in the streets of Lhasa. The uprising in
Lhasa was widespread rapidly in many areas such as Loka, Shigatse, Gyantse, it tookoven one year of time to put down the rebellion. Some estimates put the numbers of
87,000 deaths during the periods from March 1959 to September 1960.17
In spite of a mammoth manhunt by the Chinese troops, fortunately the Dalai Lamaand hundreds of his followers reached his journey’s end into the Indian territory on thenight of 31 March. Later, a government-in-exile was established in Dharamsala, with ademocratically elected Parliament with the twin objective of taking care of the Tibetan
refugees and to provide a base for the struggle to regain Tibet.18 The 1959 uprising
attracted the attention of people all over the world, and caused India and China to be atfeud with each other. It was not long before the clash between the two countries led tothe serious border incidents.
4.3 The accusation by the United Nations
On 9 September 1959, the Dalai Lama made another appeal to the secretary general of
the United Nations for help:“Since their violation of the territorial integrity of Tibet, theChinese forces have committed the following offenses against the universally accepted― 71 ―

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laws of conduct: First, they have dispossessed thousands of Tibetans of their properties,
and deprived them of every source of livelihood, and thus driven them to death anddesperation. Second, men, women, and children have been pressed into labor gangs andmade to work on military constructions without payment or on nominal payment. Third,
they have adopted cruel and inhuman measures for the purpose of sterilizing men andwomen with view to the total extermination of the Tibetan race. Fourth, thousands ofinnocent people of Tibet have been brutally massacred. Fifth, there have been manycases of murder of leading citizens of Tibet without any cause or justification. Sixth,
every attempt has been made to destroy our religion and culture. Thousands ofmonasteries have been razed to the ground and sacred images and articles of religion
completely destroyed. Life and property are no longer safe, and Lhasa, the capital of theState, is now a dead city. ”19
On 21 October 1959, the United Nations General Assembly, by 45 votes 9 (with 26
abstentions), approved a resolution which deplored the events in Tibet and called for
China respect for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people.
5 The Tragedies of “Democratic Reform”
After the rebellion and suppression, the Chinese completed control over the whole
Tibet. They called their rules with too flowery words such as “democratic reforms”,“emancipation of one million serfs and slaves”, “socialist transformation” and so on. But
the truth has just come out: it drove Tibetan’s spiritual leader and more than one
hundred thousand people into exile; caused some 1.2 million Tibetan deaths(20 percent
of Tibetan population) and destroyed about 6,400 (99 percent) monasteries.20 The
Tibetan’s miserable conditions were beyond description indeed.
5.1 The reign of violence
The Chinese made a number of important changes in the administration of Tibet.
They abolished Tibetan government and set about reordering Tibetan society inaccordance with Mao Zedong’s principles such as “The philosophy of the communist
party is the philosophy of struggle”; “In the final analysis, national problem is the matterof class struggle”, etc. The Tibetan officials and intellectuals were put to work on manuallabors and subjected to struggle sessions,which sometimes resulted in death.The PLA
troops rounded up a large number of guerrillas,many people were taken away and were
never seen again. Those who the Chinese thought had supported or helped the guerrillawere shot. Young men were incarcerated or put in labor camps. The people of Tibet
thus spent the darkest days of their lives under Chinese rule.
Freedom of religion was also suppressed in those days, more than six thousand“feudal” monasteries suffered official oppression. People were refused permission to
donate food to the monasteries, and monks were compelled to join struggle sessions,discard their robes and marry. Monasteries were stripped of their riches. It forced all thepeople to work, including the monks. Those who did not work properly were severely
punished. Thus the people of Tibet hardly enjoyed any freedom.
Tibetan farmers were forced to collectivize into the “people’s commune”, and weretold what to grow and when to grow it. The Chinese officials made some decisions toalter Tibetan farming practices.Instead of barley,the Tibetan staple,farmers were
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instructed to grow wheat and rice. However, these crops were unsuited to Tibet’s highaltitude conditions. As the result, shortages of food came after, it is estimated that bylate 1961, 70,000 Tibetans had died or were dying starvation.
In May 1962, even the 10th Panchen Lama, a privileged Chinese puppet, began to havea change of mind. He presented Mao Zedong with a 70,000-character report on thehardships his people were suffering, and requested religious freedom and an end to thesacking of monasteries. Four years later he was sent to the Qincheng Prison, an
infamous prison for political prisoners near Beijing, for a 10 year-stay. For the Chinese,
he was the last obstacle to be cleared away in the lead up to the establishment of the
Tibet Autonomous Region. It was formally formed on 1 September 1965.
The tears were set to keep on coming, the largest misfortune came to be known as
the Cultural Revolution. During the years 1966 ～ 76, all Chinese suffered in the social
movement caused by Mao Zedong, but it was Tibet that suffered most dearly. The Red
Guards raided the temples everywhere, desecrating whatever religious objects they
could get their hands on. It was the beginning of the large-scale destruction of virtually
every religious monument in Tibet. By the Chinese-initiated struggle sessions, people are
required to renounce their “reactionary” past and accuse others of similar “crimes”. This
often resulted in many extreme brutality and death. Furthermore, the Dalai Lamabecame public enemy number one, and all Tibetans were forced to denounce him as aparasite and traitor. Even Buddhism itself was accused of being a “reactionary”, Buddhist
scriptures were burnt and used as toilet paper.
All these measures made many people of Tibet oppose the Chinese rule. Throughout
these years, there was increasing violence in Tibet. The government suppressed many ofriots and arrested a number of the riot leaders. Because of such strong opposition, theChinese found that the only way they could get the people of Tibet to obey them was touse force. People who spoke against the government were imprisoned. Any printed
matters which criticized the Chinese were investigated. Any groups which opposed theCommunist Party were also arrested.
To make sure that the Tibetan people obeyed them, the Chinese set up a huge
network of secret police, including some undercover monks, to watch the activities of the
public. People who thought to be against the government were arrested and severely
punished. They were often tortured, or made to do hard labor for years in labor camps.
Many of them were hanged or shot dead. In a mere 30 years, China had turned Tibet
into a land of nearly “hell on earth”.
5.2 Under the Open-Door Policy
The death of Mao Zedong on 9 September 1976 produced important changes to both
China and Tibet. After the disastrous Cultural Revolution, even the China’s top leaders
themselves have begun to realize that their rule in Tibet had taken a wrong turn. Hua
Guofeng, Mao’s chosen successor, get to know the reality about Tibet and decided tosoften the line of policy on Tibet. In April 1977, the Chinese government announced that
it would welcome the return of the Dalai Lama and other refugees, afterwards the
Panchen Lama was released on 25 February 1978.21 Before long, the Jokhang Temple and
the Potala Palace was reopened.
The Tibetan government-in-exile received cautiously the invitation to return to Tibet.
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The Dalai Lama decided sends a fact-finding mission to Tibet first on 2 August 1979.
Although the results of the mission were damning, two more missions headed by the
Dalai Lama’s brother followed late in 1980. Their conclusions were despairing. The
missions catalogued up to 1.2 million deaths, the destruction of 6,254 monasteries andnunneries, the absorption of two-thirds of Tibet into China, about 100,000 Tibetans inlabor camps and extensive deforestation.22
It was Deng Xiaoping who adopted a more pragmatic approach to Tibet. On 14 March
1980 a conference about Tibetan problems was held under the leadership of Party
General Secretary Hu Yaobang, Deng’s right-hand man, for studying what new measures
to be taken. 23 Soon after, Hu carried out a tour of inspection in Tibet. His conclusions
painted a grim picture of life on the roof of the world. Then a six-point plan to improve
the living conditions and freedoms of the Tibetans was drawn up, which included amongits salient points:(1) Full play must be given to the right of regional autonomy ofminority nationalities;(2) The people in Tibet should be exempt from paying taxes for
two years. All kinds of exactions must be abolished;(3) To promoting Tibet’s economic
development more rapidly, some specific and flexible policies suited to conditions inTibet must be carried out on the whole economic front of the region;(4) Helping thepoor households and poor areas to develop production, limited private enterprise will beallowed;(5) It is necessary to do a good job in inheriting and developing Tibetan culture.
The Tibetan people’s habits, customs, history and culture must be respected;(6)Full time
cadres of Tibetan nationality should account for more than two-thirds of all government
functionaries within the next 2～3 years.24 This is well-known as “Relaxing the Policies”,
Hu Yaobang also promised to make every possible effort for Tibet.
The early 1980s also saw the return of limited religious freedoms. Ruined temples
were repaired, monasteries were reopened, new monks were allowed to join orders andthe Tibetan language was permitted to be used more extensively than before.
Importantly,there was also a relaxation of the proscription on pilgrimage, and pictures of
the Dalai Lama began to reappear on the streets of Lhasa. As was the case in the rest of
China, Tibet entered a period of liberalization and reform, limited personal freedoms
were restored.
At the same time,talks between Tibetan government-in-exile and Chinese government
continued, but with little results. In April 1982 the Tibetan delegates sent to Beijing from
Dharamasala were told that the structure of “one country, two systems”, which offeredto Hong Kong and Taiwan, cannot apply to the case of Tibet, and if the Dalai Lama
returned, he would be given a post of the National People’s Congress and reside in
Beijing, but not live in Tibet or hold positions there. By 1983 talks had broken down and
the Chinese government had decided that they did not want the Dalai Lama to return
after all. Since then Tibet became the “front line of the struggle against splittism”, as theofficials described. The problem of Tibet was still unsolved.
5.3 The series of bloodshed
Administratively, the Chinese government imposed reforms they hoped would
stabilize the situation in Tibet. But social unrests had become more serious in the latter
half of 1980s. On 27 September 1987 a group of 30 monks from Sera Monastery began
circumambulating the Jokhang and crying out “Independence for Tibet!” “Long live his― 74 ―

Han I：A Study of Tibetan-Chinese Political Relations 1950－2008

Holiness the Dalai Lama!”. Their ranks were swollen by bystanders and arrests followed.
Four days later (1 October), another group of monks repeated their actions,this timebrandishing Tibetan national flags － the Snow Lion Flag.As the monks were beaten andarrested by Chinese police, a crowed of some 2000～3000 angry Tibetans gathered. They
threw stones or bottles at the police and overturned or burnt the patrol cars.Then
Chinese police began firing on the crowd. There was a series of occurrences. On 5
March 1988, some riots led to bloodshed in the Monlam festival. Troops and Police force
were sent to suppress the riots, about 18 Tibetans died and 150 were wounded in the
disturbances. Following this, serious riots broke out in Lhasa and continued for a few
days.
Many events occurred one after another. On 5 March 1989, the largest anti-Chinese
demonstrations since 1959 taken place in Lhasa. The government’s response was violent,
and martial law was declared, which lasted for more than a year. Hundreds of Tibetans
were reportedly killed, and a number of people were arrested, who were thought to havecaused all the trouble. Hu Jintao was the Party Secretary in Tibet at that time. Under
his leadership some economic development were realized, but the problem of humanrights remains.
Then in March 2008, communal riots suddenly broke out in the Barkhor area, apilgrim circuit around the periphery of the Jokhang Temple. At least 20 people were
killed and a few hundred were injured, but according to the Dalai Lama’s aides, about 99
people dead. This time the flames leaped to far-flung ethnic regions such as Qinghai,
Sichuan and Gansu provinces. Together these riots were the worst riots in Tibet since1989.25
5.4 The Dalai Lama’s approach to reconciliation
Why had the large-scale riots taken place one after another in Tibet? There is still apile of long pending problem of Tibet. Today the 14th Dalai Lama has become a worldfamous person, working tirelessly to make the world more aware of his people’s plight.
His visits to foreign countries led to international condemnation of the Chinese
occupation of Tibet. On 21 September 1987 the Dalai Lama made his first political speechin America before the Congress, and outlined a five-point peace plan as following:(1)Transforming Tibet into a “Zone of Peace” and requiring the withdrawal of all
Chinese troops from the region;(2)Reversing the transfer policy of Han Chinese to
Tibet;(3)Respecting the Tibetan people’s basic human rights and freedoms;(4)protecting Tibet’s natural environment and abandoning the dumping of nuclear waste;(5)Beginnig earnest negotiations on the future status of Tibet, and of relations between
the Tibet and China.26 However, China denounced the plan as an example of “splittism”.
A year later, on 15 June 1988 the Dalai Lama elaborated on the speech before theEuropean Parliament at Strasbourg in France, giving up the demands for fullindependence and offering China the right to govern Tibet’s foreign and military affairs.27
This idea was known as “Autonomy on Greater Tibet”. It meant that the Tibetans willkeep its own local government, and left the control of foreign affairs, defense and internal
security to the Chinese government. It retained control oven religious and education, andalso keep much of its control over finance. The sphere of “Greater Tibet” would include
not only today’s Tibet Autonomous Region, but also the historically Tibetan areas of― 75 ―

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Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan. The Dalai Lama has said many times that hesupports China’s sovereignty over Tibet, were Tibet granted real autonomy, he would
likely endorse China’s claim in such a referendum.
Anyway, protests and crackdowns have been continued in Tibet until now. Although
the exiled Tibetan young people began to talk of the need to take up arms, the Dalai
Lama still hold his strong conviction: if there is to be any improvement in the situation in
Tibet, it could only be achieved through nonviolent means. The 14th Dalai Lama’s efforts
to achieve peace and freedom for Tibet are recognized when he is awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize on 4 October 1989. It marked a greater sympathy on the part of theWestern world for the plight of the Tibetan people.
6 Four Focuses of the Tibet Issue
To thinking about the problem of Tibet, it’s easy to notice that the chief culprit is the
China’s policy of ethnic assimilation. The Dalai Lama has referred to it as “cultural
genocide”, as it makes forcible attempts to change Tibetans into Han Chinese. After the
public disturbance in 2008, the Chinese government yielded to the pressure ofinternational opinions and reopened negotiations with the Tibetan government-in-exile.
However, the talk was divided shortly as before. There would be no end to thecontroversy between the two sides, because such nationalistic conflicts have no easyanswers.
6.1 About the historical status of Tibet
The Chinese leaders and many people strongly opposed the separation of Tibet from
China. They said that Tibet had kept very close commercial and other links with themainland for a long time; such links should not be cut. Instead, Tibet should be combinedwith the mainland and settlements to form the “Chinese big family”. The Chinese
government insists that China has exercised sovereignty over Tibet for 700 years now,
ever since the period of the Yuan dynasty.
The Tibetans, of course, don’t support this claim; they denied that Tibet was under
Chinese suzerainty. According to their view, China had helped Tibet with troops in thepast, but so had Mongolia, Korea, Vietnam and some other countries. 28The Qing
Emperors appointed two officials called Amban to represent him in Lhasa. They
exercised some authority, but they exercised it through the government of the Dalai
Lama, and made no attempt to absorb Tibet into China as a province. Giving presents
and donations to some large monasteries clearly shows that the relations between China
and Tibet were those between a layman and his priest. The priest receives help but
thereby dose not becomes the subordinate of the lay donor.
As a matter of fact, both Yuan dynasty(1279～1368) and Qing dynasty(1644～1911)
was founded by the minority race,the Mongolian and the Manchu, and the Han Chinese
were treated worse than the Tibetans during this period. Throughout the Song dynasty(960～1279)and the Ming dynasty (1368～1644),both was founded by Han Chinese, thetwo nations had virtually no contact with each other. The Song and Ming emperors
exerted no administrative authority over Tibet; Tibetan-Chinese political relations were
nonexistent during this period.29Actually before the China’s invasion, Tibetan government
had their own armies and ruled their provinces independently of China. It was during the― 76 ―

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reign of 13th Dalai Lama, Tibet first began to expand its international relations withsome countries such as Mongolia, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, Britain, Russia, and madea number of international agreements.
It is true that when the Mongol or Manchu empire disintegrated, both China and Tibet
regained their independence. If the fact that Tibet was once ruled by the Yuan or Qing
dynasty forms a legal basis for China to claim sovereignty over Tibet, it seems likeSouth Korea claiming sovereignty over Taiwan because both were ruled by theJapanese. Anyway, though nominally under Chinese suzerainty, Tibet was effectively
independent during the first half of the twentieth century.
6.2 About the justice of Chinese domination
The Communist Party also stress a point that they had carried out a revolution andsocialism so that the people of Tibet could become free from the feudal system, and hasbrought much prosperity for the Tibetan people. Even in today,there are many ordinary
Chinese people who honestly believe that the PLA saved the Tibetans from feudalism.
For many years, China’s propaganda has described the old Tibetan society as a “feudal
serf-owning system characterized by the combination of religious-political rule”.As they
criticized it, not only the means of production but also the serf’s personal servitude had
belonged to the serf-owner class in those dark ages. The upper classes exploited the serf
classes, the serfs were forced to work in the manorial land and offered harsh Ula service
and corvee labors for their own owners.If people who suffered dire poverty could not
pay back the usurious exploitation, they would be sent to the prison and punishedseverely. That is why the Tibetan people and the patriotic personages were yearning forearly liberation of Tibet, and one million serfs and slaves strongly demanded to conduct
the democratic reforms.
Needless to say, Chinese government chopped logic here, and the truth is distorted inthis theory. Because there were many exploitations and atrocious punishments in old
Chinese society, too. If the Chinese hope the Tibetans to approve the justification for the“liberation of Tibet”, they should use the same standard to approve the justification for
the Western country’s invasions of China such as the Opium War (1839 ～ 42). This
theory is not only an ignorance of Tibetan history and culture, but also an expression ofcontempt toward the Tibetan people.
It must be said that Tibetan’s anger has many sources. They believe that the Han
Chinese used to look down upon all ethnic minorities as barbarians (wild, primitive
people). The government did not treat Tibetans in the government service very fairly.
The officials in control of the government, For example,the chief secretary of theCommunist Party committee, are almost Han Chinese who sent to Tibet from themainland. Many of them believed that Han Chinese is superior to Tibetans. Tibetans who
as well qualified as Chinese were not given the senior or more important posts or jobs ingovernment departments. Almost all of the Tibetan official have power in name only.
Certainly the Han Chinese is not winning any friends in Tibet.
6.3 About China’s economic assistance
The Chinese for their part cannot understand the Tibetan’s heart. There are many
who think that Tibet would not be able to survive as an independent nation. They
believe that Tibet was in a hopeless economic situation. As they say it, China has built― 77 ―

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roads, schools, hospitals, airport, factories and other things. As part of its “great leapwest”,the Chinese government has poured billions of dollars into Tibet’s infrastructure in
recent years.30 Many ordinary Chinese people think that the Tibetans should be gratefulto China for brought much economic prosperity and happiness to Tibet. They also
believe that the Tibetans are receiving special treatment from Beijing. But the Tibetans
see things differently. They say that the real beneficiaries have been the Han Chinese,and the non-Tibetans should not be given business chance so easily. Indeed, Tibet has
accomplished its economic growth at high cost of environmental disruption.
More importantly, the Chinese government believes that one of the reasons forcontinuing separatist sentiments and opposition is Tibet’s lack of integration with China.
Since the 1990s the chief aim of the government has been to fully integrate Tibet with
China. This has meant the opening of Tibet, allowing and actively encouraging Chinese
migration into the region. The Chinese policy of Han immigration had already beensuccessfully carried out in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Qinghai, and now Tibet was
targeted for mass immigration after the open of the new line that directly links Golmud
and Lhasa for the first time on 1 June 2006. The extent of immigration poses the grave
danger that the Tibetans will become a minority in their own country.
In any case, despite Chinese government efforts to paint a rosy picture of life on theroof of the world, the general picture is of a country under foreign occupation. The fact
remains that China did hurt Tibetan people’s dignity as human beings.
6.4 About the conflicts of religion
Besides the political and economic reasons for the problem of Tibet, there is areligious one. It is a fact known to everybody: the Tibetans and the Chinese are
inevitably opposed to each other on the views of religion. Tibet has been called the mostreligious country in the world. The Tibetans have their deep faith on Buddhism, andhave demand the freedom of religion for a long time; however, the Communist Party
professes atheism themselves as the Marxist ideology. It considers religion to be basesuperstition, a remnant of old China used by the ruling classes to keep power. This is inline with the Marxist belief that religion is the “opium of the people”. In 1954 the 14th
Dalai Lama was invited to Beijing, where amid cordial discussions with Mao Zedong, he
was told that religion was “poison”.
Buddhism has a high influence over the lives of Tibetans and Mongols even in today.
Especially in Tibet, monasteries wield the strongest influence in the life of the people.
They generally are centers not only of religion, but of trade, culture and social life. There
are no exact figures,but probably ten percent of the total population were monks or nuns
before the Chinese invasion. The Tibetan’s faith is deep and pervasive, it often takes theform of pilgrimages which are long and austere. Today many temples and monasteries
have been reopened, religion is still a very powerful force among the Tibetan people.
Since the early 1980s, Chinese government allowed many temples to reopen as active
places of worship, in 1982 China amended its constitution to allow freedom of religion.
However, all religions activity is firmly under state control and many of the monks arecaretakers within renovated shells of monasteries, which serve principally as tourist
attractions. In many ways, the Chinese government’s control extends into every part ofthe individual’s freedom of religion. The issue of religious practices remained one of the― 78 ―

Han I：A Study of Tibetan-Chinese Political Relations 1950－2008

main sources of friction between the government and the Tibetan people.
There are a lot of instances which support this theory. On 28 January 1989 while
visiting Tashilhunpo, the 10th Panchen Lama died and left a legacy of serious troublethat remains unresolved. The Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th
Panchen Lama in May 1995. However, the Chinese government appointed the other,
Choekyi Gyaltsen, half a year later. The 6-year-old boy Choekyi Nyima and his family are
not seen or heard in public since then. Moreover, the government passed a new law
called “Provisions of reborn’s reincarnation” on 5 September 2007, deprived the Dalai
Lama’s authority of designation. In January 2000 the 17th Karmapa(1985 ～ ), Tibet’s
third greatest incarnation (especially for the Kagyu sect), ran away from Lhasa and fledto Dharamsala. This news was a great shock to China, the government felt that they had
lost face. The situation of religion in Tibet is getting worse and worse every year.
The similar cases will be found elsewhere. Religious institutions have recently been thefocus of “patriotic education” and “civilizing atheism” campaigns, and strict quotas havebeen imposed on numbers of monasteries and their resident monks and nuns. In addition,
the officials launched the anti-Dalai Lama campaign inside Tibet, compelling all
government officials to denounce the Dalai Lama since the 1990s. Even in themonasteries the monks had to sing statements opposing the Dalai Lama. For example,
monks in Drepung Monastery were forced to sign a form denouncing the Dalai Lama.
Those who disobeyed were punished. After bring the disturbance under control in 2008,
the government has set out to rally public sentiment against the Dalai Lama. The Tibet
Party Secretary Zhang Qingli called him “a jackal wrapped in monk’s robes, a monster
with a human face.”This naturally provoked the Tibetans feel a great antipathy toward
the Chinese. In recent years, tempers on both sides turned from bed to worse.
Nevertheless, the 14th Dalai Lama is regarded as the head of the Tibetan Buddhism,and many of Tibetan people are still loyal to him. In spite of 50 years of China’s
propaganda, the Dalai Lama has been a shining symbol of Tibetan identity, and the
Tibetan people still have strong feelings of Buddhism. The Chinese government has
never succeeded in reducing Tibetans to such a slavish state of mind.
7 Conclusion
What is the cause of the Tibetan problem? It is mainly because the China’s minority
policy. In its formative years, the Chinese Communist Party had followed the Soviet
Union’s lead and adopted the policy that ethnic territories in China would be autonomous
republics with the right of secession. We can learn of these provisions from the
Declaration of the Chinese Communist Party National Convention Ⅱ (1922) and theConstitution of the Jiangxi Soviet Republic(1931). By the end of Sino-Japanese War(1937 ～ 45), however, this policy shifted to political centralism, and when the PRC
established, its nationality policy held that China would be an indivisibly multiethnic statewith autonomous nationality regions rather than republics, and that had no right tosecede. Tibet was considered one such nationality region, whether the Tibetans liked it
or not.
It is a matter of common knowledge: Tibet was conquered because of its good
geographical position. As an important buffer zone between China and India － they have
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the strong spirit of rivalry each other, China would not give up on Tibet in future. The
Chinese government can coerce Tibetans, but it cannot win their hearts and minds. Onlya wise and tolerant policy can do that.
Today the Tibetan independence movement has reached a critical juncture, because
China refuses to initiate meaningful dialogue. No progress has been made until now,
certainly not since the Dalai Lama’s renunciation of the goal of Tibetan independence in1988. Perhaps Chinese government still hopes their problems in Tibet will disappear
after the Dalai Lama pass away, but the newer generations carry the same spirit: Tibet
should one day become free from Chinese rule. Although it seems that the Tibetan
people have to follow a thorn road to freedom and independence, their struggle will
become a great plus for the realization of Chinese democracy.31
Notes
1.Raghu Vira(1960)(eds) TIBET A SOUVENIR, New Delhi: The Preparatory Bureau
AFRO-ASIAN CONVENTION ON TIRET p.69
2.Melvyn C. Goldstein（1997）The Snow Lion and the Dragon, Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press p.32
3.
「シラム条約」浦野起央著『チベット・中国・ダライラマ チベット国際関係史』
三和書籍 2006年 pp.786～787
4.新華社評論「決不容許外国侵略者呑併中国的領土－西蔵」中共中央文献研究室、中共
西蔵自治区委員会編『西蔵工作文献選編』中央文献出版社 2005年 pp.1～2
5.毛沢東、朱徳「給班禅額爾徳尼的電報」同上 p.4
6.
「中共中央、中央軍委関於進軍西蔵的指示」同上 pp.11～13
7.丹増、張向明『当代中国的西蔵』上 当代中国出版社 1991年 pp.142～147
8.
「チベット問題に関するインド政府の中華人民共和国政府あて照会電報」『チベット・中国・ダライラマ チベット国際関係史』pp.793～794
9.
「チベット問題に関するインド政府の照会に対する中国政府の返書」同上 p.794
10.Dalai Lama XIV（1997）My Land and My People, New York: A Time Warner Company
p.217
11.丹増、張向明『当代中国的西蔵』上 当代中国出版社 1991年 p.155
12.
「中央人民政府和西蔵地方政府関於和平解放西蔵弁法的協議」『西蔵工作文献選編』
pp.42～45
13.
「中国チベット地方とインド間の通商・交通に関する中国・インド協定」「中国政府代表団・インド政府代表団の中国・チベット関係交渉の声明」『チベット・中国・ダライラマ チベット国際関係史』pp.800～802
14.
「中国チベット地方・ネパール関係における若干の関連事項に関する中国・ネパール交換公文」同上 pp.802～804
15.Jane Ardley(2002) The Tibetan Independence Movement, London: RoutledgeCurzon
pp.28～29
16.Ibid., pp.35～36
17.Dalai Lama XIV(1990) Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of The Dalai Lama,
New York: A Cornelia ＆ Michael Bessie Book p.148, p.192
18.See Rebecca R.French, “The New Snow Lion: The Tibetan Government-in-Exile in― 80 ―

Han I：A Study of Tibetan-Chinese Political Relations 1950－2008

India.”in Yossi Shain(1991)Governments-in-Exile in Contemporary World Politics,
New York and London: Routledge pp.188～201
19.Dalai Lama XIV（1997）My Land and My People, New York: A Time Warner Company
pp.219～220
20.See The Parliamentary Human Rights Group（1988）Human Rights Violations in Tibet,
London: W P Ledgar
21.鄧小平「同班禅額爾徳尼的談話」『西蔵工作文献選編』pp.318～319
22.Dalai Lama XIV(1990) Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of The Dalai Lama, New
York: A Cornelia ＆ Michael Bessie Book pp.231～237
23.
「西蔵工作座談会紀要」『西蔵工作文献選編』pp.305～312
24.Melvyn C. Goldstein（1997）The Snow Lion and the Dragon, Berkeley: University ofCalifornia Press pp.64～65
25.See 西蔵自治区党校、西蔵日報社編『陽光下的罪悪 ― 拉薩歴次騒乱、暴力犯罪紀実』
西蔵人民出版社 2009年
26.
「14世ダライ・ラマの5項目平和計画」『チベット・中国・ダライラマ チベット国際関係史』pp.835～839
27.
「14世ダライ・ラマのストラスブール提案」同上 pp.846～848
28.Arnold J. Toynbee (1973)(eds) Half The World: The History and Culture of China
and Japan, London: Thames and Hudson p.75
29.Edward L. Shaughnessy(2000) China: The Land of the Heavenly Dragon, London:
Duncan Baird Publishers p.115
30.See 国務院新聞弁公室「西蔵的現代化発展」（2001年11月9日）『西蔵工作文献選編』
pp.700～723
31.See James D. Seymour and Cao Changching (1998)(eds) Tibet Through Dissident
Chinese Eyes:Essays on Self-Determination, Armonk:M.E.Sharpe― 81 ―