Tibet
Tibet is a mountainous region between India and China proper. At the time when it was invaded by troops of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1949, Tibet was de facto an independent state. Within the People's Republic of China, the name is used to refer to the Tibet Autonomous Region, which includes about half of cultural Tibet.
[edit] Occupation
During the fall of the Qing Dynasty, which had more-or-less controlled Tibet, the Tibetans kindly showed the Qing troops in the region the way out. China had its own problems to deal with, with the Warlord Era, the Civil War, and World War II and whatnot, so Tibet was de facto independent for a number of decades.
Before the Communist Party took full power of China in 1949 it began asserting its claim that Tibet was part of Chinese territory and its people were crying out for "liberation" from "imperialist forces" and from the "reactionary feudal regime in Lhasa." It is known that one of the first things that Chairman Mao did when he came to power was send his troops to annex Tibet, but the Chinese Civil War was actually still in motion after the declaration of PRC's founding, and the campaign for Tibet is a part of it. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) defeated the Tibetan army in a battle at Chamdo on October 7, 1950, marking the beginning of Beijing’s campaign to integrate Tibet into the People's Republic of China. This operation is called a peaceful liberation of Tibet by the PRC government,[1] as the Seventeen Point Agreement was signed by delegates of the 14th Dalai Lama and PRC government affirming Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. It is called an invasion by the Central Tibetan Administration (the Government of Tibet in Exile),[2] the US Congress,[3] military analysts[4] media sources and NGOs such as the International Commission of Jurists[5] and the Center for World Indigenous Studies[6][7][8][9] as the defeated Tibet had little choice but to sign the agreement.
Recently, unrest in Tibet has become more vocal and obvious. There were riots in Lhasa starting since March 14th 2008 and lasted until the 2008, instigated (according to the Chinese) by the Dalai Lama. In reality, it was the 49th anniversary of the invasion, and the Tibetans knew the eye of the world was on China anyway so local dissidents had a few field days slashing and burning people (Chinese, Hui-Chinese Muslims, and dirty, dirty Tibetan collaborators[10]) to death.
[edit] Human rights
According to the website of the non-governmental organization Save Tibet, the Tibetan people are denied most rights guaranteed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the rights to self-determination, freedom of speech, assembly[11], movement, expression, and travel[12]. It should be noted that the Chinese government does not support the Universal Declaration of Human Rights or guarantee these rights to any of its citizens. While living conditions in Tibet may be worse than in most of the country, citizens throughout PRC do not enjoy full freedom of speech, assembly or movement. Beijing's line is that human rights are China's internal affair.[13][14][15]
Some people defend the Chinese occupiers by pointing out that the human rights situation has improved. They claim that under occupation, the quality of life for the average Tibetan has greatly improved in comparison to the time of the feudal, theocratic government of the Lamas, when the aforementioned human rights (with the possible exception of self-determination) were also denied, often to a much greater degree. But while this is certainly a valid criticism of the old feudal government, using it to excuse the Chinese abuses is an example of the tu quoque (or in some cases the not as bad as) fallacy. In addition, prior to the occupation, conditions in Tibet had significantly improved under the rule of the 13th Dalai Lama. Lhadon Tethong, of Students for a Free Tibet, compares the defense of the occupation with the arguments used in favor of 19th-century European colonial endeavors:
“”The crucial subtext of Beijing's condemnation of Tibet's "feudal" past is a classic colonialist argument that the target's alleged backwardness serves as a justification for invasion and occupation. These are the politics of the colonist, in which the "native" is dehumanized, robbed of agency, and debased in order to make occupation more palatable or even necessary and "civilizing." China has no more right to occupy a "backward" Tibet than Britain had to carry the "white man's burden" in India or Hong Kong.[16]
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In its historical context, the invasion into Tibet is an extension of the Chinese Civil War - a class war/mob action which does not base its intentions on culture, ethnicity or religion, but wealth. It is still questionable whether the Communist People's Liberation Army is entitled to mount an offensive into a territory its enemy does not hold De Facto, but they believed they are liberating fellow workers and peasants regardless of border.[17]
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet"
- ↑ The Status of Tibet
- ↑ US Congressional Concurrent Resolution dated May 21, 1991, "To express the sense of the Congress that Tibet, including those areas incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai that have historically been a part of Tibet is an occupied country under established principles of international law" ... "Whereas in 1949-50, China launched an armed invasion of Tibet in contravention of international law..."
- ↑ Reborn supremacy: China's control of Tibetan reincarnation, Jane's Intelligence Review
- ↑ International Commission of Jurists, June 5, 1959, "In 1950 China assured India that China had no intention of incorporating Tibet into China by force or otherwise and was willing to negotiate with Tibet regarding the future relationship of Tibet with China. But a few weeks later the invasion of Tibet took place..."
- ↑ Missions to Tibet, University of Texas, Dallas, May 29, 2006: "When Communist China invaded Tibet in August 1950...."
- ↑ Global Security: "On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally proclaimed in Beijing and the following year launched an armed invasion of Tibet..."
- ↑ Tibet's Sovereignty and the Tibetan People's Right to Self-Determination, June 1, 1998
- ↑ Richter, Conrad. "Tibetan Response to China's White on Tibet." Center for World Indigenous Studies, Olympia, WA, 1999
- ↑ http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10870258&top_story=1
- ↑ They have to register at local police stations for public events just like the far, far inferior Han Chinese
- ↑ there is no passport required to travel between Tibet AR and Chinese provinces or other SARs
- ↑ Tibet our internal affair, US told
- ↑ Beijing warns U.S. lawmakers to stay out of China's internal affairs
- ↑ Just how far can 'internal affairs' be stretched?: "Ever since the 1950s, China has subscribed to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, which was first written into a treaty that it signed with India in 1954. Since then, China has continued to loudly uphold this principle and to criticise those who, in Beijing's view, interfere in its internal affairs, including commenting on its human rights record."
- ↑ Students for a Free Tibet: China’s Favorite Propaganda on Tibet…and Why It’s Wrong by Lhadon Tethong
- ↑ http://www.china.com.cn/ch-xizang/tibet/historical_status/english/e0703.html