The Tibetan independence movement ( Bod rang btsan; ) is the political movement advocating for the reversal of the 1950 annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, and the separation and independence of Greater Tibet from China.
It is principally led by the Tibetan diaspora in countries like India and the United States, and by celebrities and Tibetan Buddhists in the United States, India and Europe. The Central Tibetan Administration is based in Dharamshala, India.
The Tibetan independence movement is no longer supported by the U.S.'s Central Intelligence Agency, which ended its Tibetan program after the 1972 visit by Richard Nixon to China. Later in the 1970s, the 14th Dalai Lama, who had backed it since 1961, also withdrew his support but now supports the Middle-Way Approach.Reasonable Demands Needed From Dalai Lama
Historical background
=== Yuan and Ming dynasties === After the Mongol Prince Köden took control of the Kokonor region in 1239, he sent his general Doorda Darqan on a reconnaissance mission into Tibet in 1240. During this expedition the Kadampa monasteries of Rwa-sgreng and Rgyal-lha-khang were burned, and 500 people killed. The death of the Mongol qaghan Ögedei Khan in 1241 brought Mongol military activity around the world temporarily to a halt. Mongol interests in Tibet resumed in 1244, when Prince Köden sent an invitation to the leader of the Sakya sect, to come to his capital and formally surrender Tibet to the Mongols. The Sakya leader arrived in Kokonor with his two nephews Drogön Chögyal Phagpa ('Phags-pa; 1235–80) and Chana Dorje (Phyag-na Rdo-rje; 1239–67) in 1246. This event marked the incorporation of Tibet into the Mongol Empire. Tibet was under administrative rule of the Yuan dynasty until the 1360s. At that point, Tibet switched their allegiance to the newly established Ming dynasty, who granted Tibet greater autonomy. Each factions based their legitimation on the decrees of the Ming emperors, although by the 16th century Ming influence declined and Tibet became de facto independent.陈楠. "多封众建与朝贡赏赐——明代治藏政策述论." 民族史研究 (2005).
Qing dynasty In 1720, the Qing dynasty army entered Tibet in aid of the locals and defeated the invading forces of the Dzungar Khanate; thus began the period of Qing rule of Tibet. Later, the Chinese emperor assigned the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama to be in charge of religious and political matters in Tibet. The Dalai Lama was leader of the area around Lhasa; the Panchen Lama was leader of the area of Shigatse Prefecture.
By the early 18th century, the Qing dynasty had started to send resident commissioners (Ambans) to Lhasa. Tibetan factions rebelled in 1750 and killed the resident commissioners after the central government decided to reduce the number of soldiers to about 100. The Qing army entered and defeated the rebels and reinstalled the resident commissioner. The number of soldiers in Tibet was kept at about 2,000. The defensive duties were assisted by a local force which was reorganized by the resident commissioner, and the Tibetan government continued to manage day-to-day affairs as before.
At multiple places such as Lhasa, Batang, Dartsendo, Lhari, Chamdo, and Litang, Green Standard Army troops were garrisoned throughout the Dzungar war.Wang 2011, p. 30. Green Standard Army troops and Manchu Bannermen were both part of the Qing force which fought in Tibet in the war against the Dzungars.Dai 2009, p. 81. It was said that the Sichuan commander Yue Zhongqi (a descendant of Yue Fei) entered Lhasa first when the 2,000 Green Standard soldiers and 1,000 Manchu soldiers of the "Sichuan route" seized Lhasa.Dai 2009, pp. 81–2. According to Mark C. Elliott, after 1728 the Qing used Green Standard Army troops to man the garrison in Lhasa rather than Bannermen.Elliott 2001, p. 412. According to Evelyn S. Rawski, both Green Standard Army and Bannermen made up the Qing garrison in Tibet. Rawski 1998, p. 251. According to Sabine Dabringhaus, Green Standard Chinese soldiers numbering more than 1,300 were stationed by the Qing in Tibet to support the 3,000-strong Tibetan army.Dabringhaus 2014, p. 123.
In the mid 19th century, arriving with an Amban, a community of Chinese troops from Sichuan who married Tibetan women settled down in the Lubu neighborhood of Lhasa, where their descendants established a community and assimilated into Tibetan culture.Yeh 2009, p. 60. Hebalin was the location of where Chinese Muslim troops and their offspring lived, while Lubu was the place where Han Chinese troops and their offspring lived.Yeh 2013, p. 283.
In 1904, the British Empire launched an expedition to Tibet to counter perceived Russian influence in the region. The expedition, which initially set out with the stated goal of resolving border disputes between Tibet and Sikkim, quickly turned into an invasion of Tibet. The forces of the expedition invaded and captured Lhasa, with the 13th Dalai Lama fleeing to the countryside. After the British captured Lhasa, a treaty was signed between the two nations, known as the Convention Between Great Britain and Tibet, which gained for the British great economic influence in the region while ensuring that Tibet remained under Chinese control. Just two years later, however, the British signed a new treaty with the Qing government, known as the Convention Between Great Britain and China Respecting Tibet, which affirmed Chinese control of Tibet. The British agreed not to annex or interfere in Tibet in return for indemnity from the Chinese government, while China engaged "not to permit any other foreign state to interfere with the territory or internal administration of Tibet".
The Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1906 recognized Chinese suzerainty over the region.Smith, Tibet, p. 162 The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, without Lhasa's or Beijing's acknowledgement, recognized the suzerainty of China over Tibet.Goldstein, History, p. 830 The Qing central government claimed for sovereignty and direct rule over Tibet in 1910. The 13th Dalai Lama fled to British India in February 1910. In the same month, the Chinese government issued a proclamation 'deposing' the Dalai Lama and instigating the search for a new incarnation.Smith, Tibet, p. 175 When he returned from exile, the Dalai Lama declared Tibetan independence (1912).
Republic of China The 1911 Revolution ended the Qing dynasty, and the claim to Tibet was passed down to the Republic of China in the Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor. However the subsequent outbreak of World War I and civil war in China meant that Chinese factions controlled only parts of Tibet. The government of the 13th Dalai Lama, who declared Tibet's independence, controlled Ü-Tsang (Dbus-gtsang) and western Kham, roughly coincident with the borders of the Tibet Autonomous Region today, and was recognized by the Bogd Khanate in outer Mongolia but not by other countries. Eastern Kham, separated from it by the Yangtze River, was under the control of Chinese warlord Liu Wenhui. The situation in Amdo (Qinghai) was more complicated, with the Xining area controlled by warlord Ma Bufang (of Hui ethnicity), who constantly strove to exert control over the rest of Amdo (Qinghai). General Ma Fuxiang (also of Hui ethnicity) was the chairman of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission and a supporter of Tibet as an integral part of the Republic of China.
People's Republic of China
In 1950, the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet, after taking over the rest of China from the Republic of China during the five years of civil war. In 1951, the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, a treaty signed by representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, established that the region would be ruled by a joint administration under representatives of the central government and the Tibetan government.
The Chinese have claimed that most of the population of Tibet at that time were serfs, bound to land owned by lamas. This claim has been challenged by other researchers (see serfdom in Tibet controversy). Any attempt at land reform or the redistribution of wealth would have proved unpopular with the established landowners. The Seventeen Point Agreement was put into effect only in Tibet proper; ergo, eastern Kham and Amdo, being outside the administration of the government of Tibet, were treated like territory belonging to any other Chinese province, with land reform implemented in full. As a result, a rebellion broke out in these regions in June 1956. The rebellion eventually spread to Lhasa, but was crushed by 1959. The 14th Dalai Lama and other government principals fled to exile in India.
CIA and MI6 activities in Tibet (1950–1970)
Agents of Western governments had infiltrated Tibet by the mid-1950s, a few years after Tibet had been annexed by the People's Republic of China. Beginning in the 1950s, the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) trained Tibetans as paramilitaries.The CIA's Secret War in Tibet, Kenneth Conboy, James Morrison, The University Press of Kansas, 2002. British MI6 agent Sydney Wignall, in his autobiography,Wignall, Sydney. Spy on the Roof of the World. New York, NY : Lyons & Burford, 1996. reveals that he and John Harrop travelled to Tibet together in 1955 posing as mountaineers. Captured by the Chinese authority, Wignall recalled that he was surprised to find two CIA agents were already under Chinese detention.
Clandestine military involvement by the U.S. began following the series of uprisings in the eastern Tibetan region of Kham in 1956. Several small groups of Khampa fighters were trained by the CIA camp and then airdropped back into Tibet with supplies. In 1958, with the rebellion in Kham ongoing, two of these fighters, Athar and Lhotse, attempted to meet with the Dalai Lama to determine whether he would cooperate with their activities. However, their request for an audience was refused by the Lord Chamberlain, Phala Thubten Wonden, who believed such a meeting would be impolitic. According to Tsering Shakya, "Phala never told the Dalai Lama or the Kashag of the arrival of Athar and Lhotse. Nor did he inform the Dalai Lama of American willingness to provide aid."Shakya, Tsering, The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947, London: Pimlico, 1999. . Cf. pg. 177
Following a mass uprising in Lhasa in 1959 during the celebration of the Tibetan New Year and the ensuing Chinese military response, the Dalai Lama went into exile in India. The Dalai Lama's escape was assisted by the CIA. After 1959, the CIA trained Tibetan guerrillas and provided funds and weapons for the fight against China. However, assistance was reduced during the course of the 1960s and finally ended when President Richard Nixon decided to seek rapprochement with Communist China in the early 1970s. Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison, in The CIA's Secret War in Tibet,Conboy, Kenneth; Morrison, James, , Lawrence : University Press of Kansas, 2002. reveal how the CIA encouraged Tibetan revolt against China — and eventually came to control its fledgling resistance movement.