Tibetan sovereignty debate

[citation needed] On 10 May 1943, Chiang Kai-shek asserted that "Tibet is part of Chinese territory... No foreign nation is allowed to interfere in our domestic affairs".

[63] During the Sino-Tibetan War of 1930–1932, the Chinese warlords Ma Bufang and Liu Wenhui jointly attacked and defeated invading Tibetan forces.

[37] Official Communications between Lhasa and Chiang Kai-shek's government was through MTAC, not the "Foreign Office", until July 1949, just before the Communists' victory in the civil war.

Issued by the Kashag to Tibet's finance minister Tsepon Shakabpa for foreign travel, the passport was a single piece of pink paper, complete with photograph.

It has a message in hand-written Tibetan and typed English, similar to the message by the nominal issuing officers of today's passports, stating that ""the bearer of this letter – Tsepon Shakabpa, Chief of the Finance Department of the Government of Tibet, is hereby sent to China, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and other countries to explore and review trade possibilities between these countries and Tibet.

The text and the photograph is sealed by a square stamp belonging to the Kashag, and is dated "26th day of the 8th month of Fire-Pig year (Tibetan)" (14 October 1947 in the gregorian calendar).

Aside from the Tibet Autonomous Region, an area that was administered directly by the Dalai Lama's government until 1951, the group also claims Amdo (Qinghai) and eastern Kham (western Sichuan).

[92] The Dalai Lama also stated in 2008 that he wishes only for Tibetan autonomy, and not separation from China, under certain conditions, like freedom of speech and expression, genuine self-rule, and control over ethnic makeup and migration in all areas claimed as historical Tibet.

[94] It was proposed by the 14th Dalai Lama "to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet and to bring about stability and co-existence between the Tibetan and Chinese peoples based on equality and mutual co-operation.

Treading a middle path in between these two lies the policy and means to achieve a genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet within the framework of the People's Republic of China.

This is called the Middle-Way Approach, a non-partisan and moderate position that safeguards the vital interests of all concerned parties-for Tibetans: the protection and preservation of their culture, religion and national identity; for the Chinese: the security and territorial integrity of the motherland; and for neighbours and other third parties: peaceful borders and international relations.

[100] Luciano Petech, a scholar of Himalayan history, indicated that Tibet's political subordination to China, at least nominally, can date back to the Yuan (1271–1368) and the Ming (1368–1644) dynasties.

[74] Melvyn Goldstein, an American Tibetologist, has pointed out that "there can be no question regarding the subordination of Tibet to Manchu-ruled China following...the first decades of the eighteenth century.

"[133][134] Instances exist when a number of unrecognized entities or organizations express their recognition of Tibet, including, in 2008, the micronation of Ladonia[135] and, in the early 1910s, the similarly unrecognized Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, which declared independence from China together with Tibet just after the fall of the Qing dynasty and signed a treaty of mutual recognition, although the 13th Dalai Lama denied any official approval of the said treaty.

[136] During the early 1990s legistrative bodies, including the European Parliament and United States Congress, and other international organisations declared that Tibetans lacked the enjoyment of self-determination to which they are entitled[137][138] and that it is an occupied territory.

[151] This figure has been disputed by Patrick French, a supporter of the Tibetan cause who was able to view the data and the calculations,[152][153] instead, he concludes that a no less devastating death toll of half a million people was a direct result of Chinese policies.

The old society of Tibet was a serfdom and, according to reports of an early English explorer, had remnants of "a very mild form of slavery" prior to the 13th Dalai Lama's reforms of 1913.

[156] The Tibetologist Robert Barnett wrote that the clerics based their resistance to the introduction of anything which might disturb the prevailing power structure on their belief that it was Anti-Buddhist.

Between 1850 and 1880, eleven fathers of the Paris Foreign Mission Society were murdered in Tibet, or they were killed or injured during their journeys to other missionary outposts in the Sino-Tibetan borderlands.

Qing officials later discovered that the murderers were covertly supported and the crimes which they committed were even orchestrated by the patrons of local lamaseries — the native chieftains.

In 1904, the Qing official Feng Quan sought to curtail the influence of the Gelugpa Sect and he also ordered the protection of Western missionaries and their churches.

The scale of the rebellion was tremendous, so the revolt did not gradually come to an end until panicked Qing authorities pacified the mobs by hurriedly sending 2,000 troops from Sichuan.

[161] The Chinese government ignores the issue of its alleged violations of Tibetan human rights, and prefers to argue that the invasion was about territorial integrity and unity of the State.

[164] Even though the oldest ROC constitutional documents claim that Tibet is a part of China, Chinese political leaders acknowledged the principle of self-determination.

"[165] Complete secession of Tibet was then rejected and the policy was enforced in the unaltered ROC constitution passed by the nationalist government that stated in Article 3 that all Tibetans “possessing the nationality of the Republic of China” shall be citizens of the ROC while Articles 4 and 5 reaffirmed that any territories “shall not be altered” unless the resolution is approved by the National Assembly and all racial groups are equal.

The possibility of complete secession was denied by Communist leader Mao Zedong 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".

[168] This policy was codified in PRC's first constitution which, in Article 3, reaffirmed China as a "single multi-national state," while the "national autonomous areas are inalienable parts".

Ian Buruma writes: ...It is often forgotten that many Tibetans, especially educated people in the larger towns, were so keen to modernize their society in the mid-20th century that they saw the Chinese communists as allies against rule by monks and serf-owning landlords.

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 Lama and the government of Tibet with the implementation of the agreement under the guidance of the Central Government and Chairman Mao.

"[181]On March 28, 1959, premier Zhou Enlai signed the order of the PRC State Council on the uprising in Tibet, accusing the Tibetan government of disrupting the Agreement.