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(The author is a Professor in International Economics in Nagasaki University, Japan)

China's recent demand that Arunachal Pradesh of India is a part of China has provoked a very wrong kind of reaction from the government of India and the Indian media in general. Once again India has failed to turn the table against China. India should have said, China has no border with India at all, but Tibet has. By not recognizing the fact that China is occupying Tibet illegally India has once again in practice accepted the Chinese occupation of Tibet, Manchuria and Eastern Turkistan or Pakistani occupations of Balochistan and N.W.F.P (North West Frontier Province).

There is no evidence that Tibet was a part of China before China colonized it in 1949. Same is true about Taiwan, and Eastern Turkistan. If the Manchu are not Chinese, as Sun Yat Sen declared in 1911, Manchuria, which China got as a gift from Stalin in 1950, was never a part of China either.

History of Tibet:

Tibet has a history of at least 1300 years of independence from China. The first recorded contacts between Tibetans and Chinese took place in the 7th century, following the unification of Tibet under King Songtsen Gampo and the marriage of a Chinese princess to Songtsen Gampo in 641. The Chinese sought the marriage alliance of 641 after Tibetan armies had captured towns in Sichuan province. In 821 China and Tibet ended almost 200 years of fighting with a treaty recognizing that Tibet and China are two independent nations.

During the 13th and 14th centuries both China and Tibet came under the influence of the Mongol empire. While the Mongols militarily conquered China, the Tibetans and the Mongols established the historically unique "priest patron" relationship, also known as CHO-YON. The Mongol aristocracy had converted to Buddhism and sought spiritual guidance and moral legitimacy for the rule of their vast empire from the Tibetan theocracy. As Tibet's patrons they pledged to protect it against foreign invasion. In return Tibetans promised loyalty to the Mongol empire. The Mongol empire ended in the mid-14th century. Today Mongolia is an independent country, not a part of China.

By the 15th century, political authority in Tibet had passed into the hands of contending religious hegemonies, which were eventually replaced by a system of rule under the Dalai Lamas. In China, the native Ming Dynasty overthrew the Mongols. During the Ming Dynasty both Tibet and China existed as separate and fully sovereign states.

Tibet and Machu Empire:

In 1639, the 5th Dalai Lama established another CHO-YON (priest- patron) relationship with the Manchu Emperor, who in 1644, driven out of Manchuria by the Russians, occupied China and established the Manchu Dynasty. Manchu officials called "Am bans" were stationed in Tibet from 1728 until the fall of the dynasty in 1911. Ambans were instructed "not to interfere in the internal policies of Tibet and to refrain from exploitation" In 1911 Sun Yat Sen, declared Manchus as foreigners and proclaimed China as a republic. Tibet continued to conduct itself as a fully sovereign nation until its occupation by Communist China in 1949.

However, the most important point is that Manchus, like Mongols, are not ethnic Chinese and suggestions that Tibet became an integral part of a "Chinese" empire during the Manchu Empire are just absurd. Manchuria was a Russian territory until 1905 when Japan took over. The Soviet Union again occupied it in 1945 and gave it away to China in 1950 without any considerations of the wishes of the people in Manchuria.

Tibet and the British:

The British after 1911 were able to gain some advantage, and so convened a tripartite conference to discuss Tibet's status at Simla in 1914. The Tibetans arrived at the conference with written evidence proving the historical independence of Tibet. The Chinese delegation, who were present only to witness the treaty between Britain and Tibet, argued that Tibet's subjugation by the Mongols and the Manchus proved it had become an integral part of China, and should therefore now be ruled as part of the new Republic of China of Sun Yat Sen from Peking. That is also the beginning of the border dispute between China and India. However, Tibet was not really subjugated by the Mongols and Manchus but influenced by them. Neither Mongols nor Manchus were Chinese.

The fact that Tibet and China both came under the political influence of the Mongols does not indicate unification of the two countries, as China claims. Iraq, Turkey, most parts of Russia and Eastern Europe, Indian subcontinent, Northern Burma, North Vietnam, and Korea were all part of the vast Mongol Empire. Would that mean these areas belong to China! British India used to include Burma until very recently. British Empire also used to control Sri Lanka Malaysia, Iraq, and Burma. Is that mean India should legitimately claim Sri Lanka, Iraq, Malaysia and Burma as its integral parts? Such is the absurdity of the Chinese claim.

China however disputes today the legal status of the Simla Convention and the resultant McMahan line - the border between India and Tibet accepted by the British, who's true significance lies in its recognition of Tibet as an independent nation with which binding agreements could be negotiated (for example the Lhasa Treaty of 1904). Throughout the Nationalist (Kuomintang) period from 1912 to 1949, no Chinese government was able to exert any influence over Tibet.

During the Second World War Tibet remained neutral, despite strong pressure from the USA, Britain and China to allow the passage of raw materials through Tibet. When Nepal applied for membership of the United Nations in 1949, it cited its treaty and diplomatic relations with Tibet to demonstrate its full international personality.

Chinese invasion of Tibet:

The invasion of Tibet by troops from the People's Liberation Army in 1949-50 is described in official Chinese histories as a "peaceful liberation". A 17 Point Agreement was signed between the Communist Government and Tibetan officials in May 1951, which apparently "enjoyed the approval and support of the people from every ethnic group in Tibet" (Tibet: Its Ownership and Human Rights Situation, China White Paper, p.14). If Tibet was part of China, then there was no need for the 17-point agreement, which was forced upon the Tibetan delegation to sign in China in 1951, and then China announced to the world that Tibet was liberated.

Human Rights Violations in Tibet by China:

In fact, discrimination and the suppression of traditional practices in eastern Tibet drove hundreds of Tibetans up into the mountains to conduct guerrilla warfare, while thousands more fled west to Lhasa to escape Chinese persecution. In March 1959, growing Tibetan resistance exploded in an uprising against the Chinese occupation. The 14th Dalai Lama fled into exile in northern India, and the subsequent Chinese crackdown in Tibet was brutal. Tibetan sources suggest as many as 430,000 were killed in the Uprising and subsequent years of guerrilla warfare.

From 1951 to 1959 China broke every promise that she made towards Tibet, resulting in the Tibetan uprising against China in March 1959. Dalai Lama and 100,000 Tibetans escaped into exile. From that day onwards Tibet affectively became an occupied country.

By the 17-Point Agreement of 1951 China undertook not to interfere with Tibet's existing system of government and society, but never kept these promises in eastern Tibet and in 1959 reneged on the treaty altogether. China has renamed two out of Tibet's three provinces as parts of the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, and renamed the remaining province of U' Tsang as Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

28th October 1991, US Congress under a Foreign Authorization Act passed the resolution wherein they recognized "Tibet, including those areas incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai, AN OCCUPIED COUNTRY under the established principal of international law". The resolution further stated that Tibet's true representatives are the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in exile as recognized by the Tibetan people.

Some 1.2 million Tibetans are estimated to have been killed by the Chinese since 1950. Reprisals for the 1959 National Uprising alone involved the elimination of 87,000 Tibetans by the Chinese count, according to a Radio Lhasa broadcast of 1 October 1960. Tibetan exiles claim that 430,000 died during the Uprising and the subsequent 15 years of guerrilla warfare.
The International Commission of Jurists concluded in its reports, 1959 and 1960, that there was a prima facie case of genocide committed by the Chinese upon the Tibetan nation. These reports deal with events before the Cultural Revolution.

Chinese Justice: Protest and Prisons

Up to 260,000 people died in prisons and labor camps between 1950 and 1984. Some 3,000 people are believed to have been detained for political offences since September 1987, many of them for writing letters, distributing leaflets or talking to foreigners about the Tibetans" right to independence.

Chinese conducted a campaign of torture against Tibetan dissidents in prison from March 1989 to May 1990. Nearly all prisoners arrested for political protest are beaten extensively at the time of arrest and initial detention. Serious physical maltreatment has also been recorded in a significant proportion of cases. In the period 1994-1995, three nuns died shortly after release from custody as a result of ill treatment and torture in detention. Beatings and torture are still regularly used against political detainees and prisoners today. Such prisoners are held in sub-standard conditions, given insufficient food, forbidden to speak, frequently held incommunicado and denied proper medical treatment. The Chinese have refused to allow independent observers to attend so-called public trials. Prison sentences are regularly decided before the trial. Fewer than 2% of cases in China are won by the defense.

Chinese replaced Tibetan as the official language. Despite official pronouncements, there has been no practical change in this policy. Without an adequate command of Chinese, Tibetans find it difficult to get work in the state sector. Secondary school children are taught all classes in Chinese. Religious practice was forcibly suppressed until 1979, and up to 6,000 monasteries and shrines were destroyed. In 1995 the Chinese authorities rejected the child recognized by the Dalai Lama as the rebirth of the Panchen Lama, and installed their own candidate.

Three nuclear missile sites, and an estimated 300,000 troops are stationed on Tibetan territory. China has admitted to dumping nuclear waste on the Tibetan plateau. There is a 20-sq.km dump for radioactive pollutants near Lake Kokonor, the largest lake on the Tibetan plateau.

Demographic change in Tibet:

China is filling up Tibet with ethnic Chinese in an attempt to destroy the ethnicity of the Tibetans. This policy has much more impact to destroy the Tibet as a nation than the millions who have died from Chinese policies, the destruction of more than 6,000 Buddhist monasteries, the arrest and torture of Tibetan monks, the destruction of Tibetan forests, and the stationing of nuclear weapons and waste dumps in Tibet.

Samdhong Rinpoche, 64, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile estimates that 7 million ethnic Chinese now live in Tibet. There are only 2.3 million Tibetans. "In towns like Lhasa and Chengdu, 75 percent of the people are ethnic Chinese," says Rinpoche. "[Soon] we may become just like the Mongolians. Our culture and heritage will be completely lost."
The influx of Chinese nationals has destabilized the economy. Forced agricultural modernizations led to extensive crop failures and Tibet's first recorded famine (1960-1962), in which 340,000 Tibetans died. Tibetan farms and grazing lands have been confiscated and incorporated into collectivized and communal farms.

Resettlement of Chinese migrants has placed Tibetans in the minority in many areas, including Lhasa, causing chronic unemployment among Tibetans. Official figures put the number of non-Tibetans in the TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region) at 79,000. Independent research puts the figure at 250,000 to 300,000, and for the whole of Tibet 5 to 5.5 million Chinese to 4.5 million Tibetans. In Kham and Amdo the Chinese outnumber Tibetans many times over.

As with previous railways built by China in Mongolia and East Turkistan, recently built Tibet railway would greatly speed colonization of the area. The railway will improve China's military maneuverability, enable rapid troop deployments, and facilitate the expansion of People's Liberation Army bases and increases in nuclear weapons stockpiles and missile deployments on the Tibetan plateau.

UN's betrayal of Tibet:

At the time of the invasion of Tibet in 1949/1950 by Chinese forces, Tibet was an independent State. In October 1950 the Tibetan Government maintained its international character as a "State" by sending a plea to the Secretary General of the United Nations. The plea inspired the United Nations Member State of El Salvador to enter the issue "Invasion of Foreign Forces Into Tibet" on the First Committee Agenda for November 1950. This meeting, though convened, was postponed due to "insufficient information.

The Secretary General did not distribute the Tibetan plea to Members of the General Assembly, although he was obliged to do so under the UN Resolution 378 V, "Duties of States in the Event of the Outbreak of Hostilities", declared at the 3 08th UN Plenary Meeting, 17th November 1950. The Secretary General was repeatedly requested, at least on three separate occasions, to distribute the Tibetan plea. The United Nations has recorded the territorial invasion of Tibet, by Chinese forces, as a "Dispute", filed in June 1959. The "Dispute" file was officially handled at least 16 times, according to the file roster. There is no indication that this initial "Dispute" file has been reviewed since October 1968. Identification of the file is made by reference to "P0 240 Tibet".

In the United Nations Charter, Chapter Five, The Security Council, Article 27, Paragraph 3, decisions under Chapter VI (Pacific Settlements of Disputes), in paragraph 3 of Article 52 (Regional Arrangements) it is clearly written: "A Party to a Dispute shall abstain from voting"
As China is clearly a "Party" to the Dispute with Tibet, China is obligated under the United Nations Charter to abstain from vetoing on any issue related to the Tibet Dispute.

However, China, as Parties to the Tibetan Dispute, has been allowed inappropriate influence considering the outstanding and unresolved nature of the "Dispute". China changed the title of reference from "Tibet", to "Xizang" in all UN documents and in United Nation's yearbooks. In the similar way the United Nations now describe Taiwan, an independent country and former member of the UN Security Council as Taiwan province of China.

India's betrayals to Tibet:

India has betrayed Tibet from the beginning by not protesting against the Chinese occupation in 1949. India also introduces China, then an isolated country, to the world community in 1955 in the Bandung conference of non-aliened countries. Even after the Chinese invasion in 1962, Indian prime ministers visited China on several occasions. Recently India has forsaken the Tibetans to pursue its own interests as it builds closer ties with China under pressure from the Indian business community.

When Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited China last he dropped
the earlier Indian stance that maintained "Tibet as an autonomous region of China." Instead Vajpayee declared, "The Tibet Autonomous Region is part of
the territory of People's Republic of China." By accepting China's limited definition of Tibet and by saying TAR was Chinese territory and not an autonomous region, India was, in effect, accepting China's key positions on the issue. The next day the Chinese gave de facto recognition to India's sovereignty over the disputed Himalayan state of Sikkim, which India took over in 1975. United States dropped support for Tibetan militants as it moved closer to China.

Comments:

The history of Tibet, dating back more than two thousand years, has been one of independence. At no time, since the founding of the nation in 127 BC, have the Tibetans conceded their sovereignty to a foreign power. As with all nations, Tibet experienced periods in which - Mongol, Manchu, Chinese, British and the Gorkhas of Nepal - sought to establish influence over Tibet. These eras have been brief and the Tibetan people have never accepted them as constituting a loss of our national sovereignty. In fact, there have been occasions when Tibetan rulers conquered vast areas of China and other neighboring states. This, however, does not mean that the Tibetans can lay claim to these territories.

India had the prime responsibility towards Tibet. It has failed so far to pursue. India's peculiar stand towards China cannot be explained in anyway. China had invaded India in 1962; supplied every kind of weapons including nuclear weapons and missiles to Pakistan since 1963; gave sanctuary to the terrorists of the North Eastern States of India, opposed India in every international matter, opposed India's possible permanent membership of the UN Security Council or possible membership of the ASEAN, has tried successfully to encircle India with naval bases in Sri Lanka, Burma and Pakistan. Despite of all these hostile acts of China, India has not so far learned any lesson. Indian business community has invested billions in China and is ever so interested to import from China although it would mean destructions of India's own manufacturing industries.

As a result of pressures from the business community of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) India government now following the same appeasement policy that India has followed since 1949. India so far has refused to stand against Chinese imperialism in Tibet, Eastern Turkistan and Manchuria and Pakistan's imperialism in Balochistan, Kashmir and North West Frontier Province. As a result, India today has no support or sympathy from the world when China is claiming a vast part of Indian Territory.

India must understand that so long as India accept Tibet is a part of China, China can claim Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Sikkim as historically these were at one time parts of Tibet. The only way out for India is to recognize Tibet as an occupied territory and India will negotiate it border only with an independent Tibet in future but not with China.


Dr.Dipak Basu

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