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Tibet became subordinate to China in the 18th century during the Qing dynasty, although the relationship between the two entities was never formalized by treaties or other written documents.5 Tibet was only loosely linked with China; Chinese interests were recognized only by virtue of the permission Tibet granted to the Manchu court to have representatives in Lhasa. Chinese policy in the remote mountain territory of Tibet was largely limited to avoidance of conflicting interests with the Tibetans. The 19th and early 20th centuries saw Chinese control erode in Tibet, as the Manchu leaders turned their attention to the colonialist assaults by the Western powers in eastern China. Spurred by a British military invasion of Tibet in 1904, however, the Manchus felt compelled to formally assert their authority by establishing a small garrison in Lhasa.
After the Manchus fell from power, the new Republican government under Chiang Kai-Shek was never strong enough to enforce its rhetoric of controlling Tibet. From 1913 to 1951, Tibet was a de facto if not a de jure independent state. The Dalia Lama's government in Lhasa controlled its own affairs, attempted to "modernize," and sought formal recognition of its independence from the world's powers. Britain was involved in negotiations with China to find some solution to the Tibet question. However, China's stubborn refusal to recognize any kind of independence, the lack of political will on the part of London, and the profound distraction created by events culminating in two great world wars resulted in a stalemate. Then, the Chinese government refused to sign a watered-down agreement on Tibetan autonomy that was negotiated by British, Tibetan and Chinese representatives in 1913, at Simla. That agreement would have declared Chinese "suzerainty" (domination regarding foreign relations) over Tibet, while guaranteeing Tibetan control of cultural and local political affairs. Instead, Chiang Kai-Shek promulgated the Chinese Constitution of 1931, ratified by the National Assembly in 1946, which proclaimed Tibet to be part of China. So, despite 40 years of de facto independence, Tibet, as a newcomer to international affairs in the middle of the age of empire, was unable to find formal recognition of its sovereignty.
The victory of Mao Zedong's revolutionary army and the creation of the People's Republic of China, in 1949, initiated a series of events that brought Tibet firmly and unquestionably under Chinese control. Mao declared, as had Chiang Kai-Shek, that Tibet was an integral part of the Chinese motherland. The Republican government had not been strong enough to force Tibet to accept Chinese hegemony, but when Mao's People's Revolutionary Army advanced into eastern Tibet in the early 1950s, capturing nearly all of the ragtag Tibetan army in the process, Tibetan leaders were forced to capitulate.
The present Dalai Lama, who was then just 16 years old, was forced to sign a "17 point agreement" which articulated the formal relationship between Tibet and China. This agreement acknowledged that the existing political and economic system, under the leadership of the Dalai Lama, would remain intact, in exchange for a formal acceptance of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. Most of the elements of this agreement that pertained to Tibetan autonomy were violated within a decade.6
Fourth World Bulletin • Spring/Summer 1996
Copyright © 1996 by the Fourth World Center
Created by Aigis Communications, Ltd