Tibet: China’s Unwilling Vassal

For many millennia, the people of the Tibetan Plateau have lived mostly peacefully, nestled between the Himalayas to the South, and the Central China plains to the East. Their complex, rich history traces back to the Tibetan Empire, and their culture, deeply intertwined with the distinctive practices of Tibetan Buddhism, is in many ways unique from their neighbors in China and India. But across the twentieth century, and, now, into the twenty-first, Tibet has become known around the world not for its own culture, or its people, but for the brutal years of repression and forced annexation it has experienced under the Chinese Communist Party.

Far from being a willful union, the people of Tibet have instead been subjugated to Chinese authority for well over seventy years. Their political and spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has been exiled, and much of their culture has been targeted not just for condemnation, but for obliteration by the Chinese government. In today’s video, we’ll dig into exactly how and why Tibet got to where it is today, the many abuses its people have suffered under the CCP, and what Tibet means for other cultures around the world, who might find themselves in China’s crosshairs sooner than later.

De-Facto Independence

Despite their geographic proximity, Tibet and China have been largely separate cultures for most of their history. The value of Chinese input on elements of modernization throughout Tibet’s history have certainly been important—Chinese influence, for example, helped to overhaul Tibet’s mail service and its military. But by and large, Tibet has operated outside China’s historical sphere of influence, and when visits from foreigners ended in 1792 by the order of the Chinese Manchu dynasty, which typically spoke for Tibet on the world stage, that meant that Tibet was effectively closed off to the outside world. With limited contact across the Himalayas and no meaningful level of engagement with China, Tibet was left to govern itself peacefully, and although the British Empire, the Emirate of Afghanistan, and the Russian Empire all put occasional feelers out to Tibet as a potential territory for expansion, nothing ever came of it.

That all changed in 1904, when a British expedition to Tibet attempted to incorporate Tibet into the British defense of India. This was part of a much larger rivalry between Britain and Russia known as the Great Game, in which both colonial empires did their best to take over Central Asia. Please, do let us know if you’d like to see a video about that.

The British expedition, mostly made up of troops from India, advanced into Tibet on the premise that Russia was already trying to build its own influence there, but very quickly, they ended up just invading Tibet themselves. The leader of the invasion, a British Army officer named Sir Francis Edward Younghusband—and, yes, that is the most British shit ever—capped off his invasion with a treaty that placed Tibet not under Britain’s authority, and not under its own, but under China’s. This treaty mandated China to ensure that nothing interfered with their governance of Tibet, so that the British wouldn’t have to worry about anything as they set up a Britain-focused economy in the region.

Once the treaty was signed, it didn’t take long for China to lock down the region. In 1910, China crushed the Tibetan military, and Tibet’s political and spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was forced to flee into exile. It was the first Chinese use of force against Tibet in ten centuries, and it made an understandably bad impression on Tibetans, especially when we factor in that the new Chinese leaders basically ignored local culture and customs.

Not two years later, Tibet revolted as part of the Chinese Revolution, leading to the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the rise of the Republic of China. The Dalai Lama was able to return not long after, declaring himself an independent leader for an independent Tibet, and shortly afterward, Mongolia took the massive step of recognizing Tibet as its own political entity. For the next few decades, Tibet was able to preserve its autonomy despite occasional battles with Chinese warlords in the outer provinces. Although the eventual leader of the Republic of China, Chiang Kai-Shek, had long-term designs on bringing Tibet under his rule, World War II meant that Chiang was distracted dealing with Japan, while Tibet remained mostly untouched.

Annexation Under Duress

But this fine geopolitical balance took a bad turn in 1949, when the People’s Republic of China gained control of the Chinese mainland and pushed the Republic of China out to sea. Tibet, knowing damn well what came next, attempted to alert communist leader Mao Zedong, the US State Department, and the British government that it would defend its de-facto sovereignty at all costs. Perhaps Tibet had hoped that the British or the Americans might back them up, but sadly, that didn’t happen, and without external support, Tibet was in some serious trouble. For decades, Tibet had been working to keep its army small and antiquated to try and signal its desire for pacifism, but faced with the CCP’s legions of expert troops and complete disinterest in negotiations, Tibet was out of luck.

Tibet’s current Dalai Lama, known to his people as Gyalwa Rinpoche, is 87 years old at the time this piece was written, but when the CCP showed up on his doorstep, he was just fifteen years old and not yet seen as being ready to rule. The Chinese government agreed to talks with Tibet to establish just how their takeover would look, but that put the young Lama on one side of the negotiating table, and the full might of Mao Zedong’s Party on the other. The CCP massed troops on the Tibetan border during the duration of these talks, which began in March 1950, and when the Dalai Lama’s representatives reiterated their desire for autonomy, the CCP rolled its eyes and decided it was better off just invading.

On the seventh of October, 1950, Chinese troops entered eastern Tibet in an attempt to sequester the Tibetan military. Given the massive experience, equipment, and size differentials between the two armies, all in favor of China, this wasn’t much of an issue for them. Both sides continued to build up troops as negotiations continued, but even though Tibet continued to play for time and did the best it could to articulate its desire for sovereignty, negotiations didn’t move an inch in Tibet’s favor.

In the border town of Chamdo, violence broke out just long enough for Chinese troops to run through the Tibetan resistance there, and once the town was taken, the CCP used it as leverage to try and gain compliance from the Dalai Lama. They also appealed to the Tibetan elite, imploring them to overthrow the Lama so they might retain their own power.

Eventually, the pressure on the Lama was just too great, and his negotiators were brought to Beijing and presented with a plan that China had already finalized. Referred to as the Seventeen-Point Agreement, it laid out the terms for Tibet’s place in a Chinese communist state, and it contained no room for input from the Tibetans themselves. The negotiators who went to Beijing were made to sign then and there, with no ability to consult the Dalai Lama or any other Tibetan leaders, and no ability to even explain the terms of the agreement to Tibetans before giving their consent. It should probably go without saying, at this point, but with no other option, the Tibetans signed.

The Seventeen-Point Agreement contained some concessions to Tibet, but unsurprisingly, it swung heavily into China’s favor overall. In good news for Tibet, the Agreement stated that Tibet would be allowed to conduct reform at its own pace, govern its own internal affairs, and be able to continue the practice of Tibetan Buddhism. However, the geopolitical entity known as Tibet would need to subsume itself to China, subject to the will of the state, and represented by the state on the world stage.

Tibet could not defend itself from China, could not differentiate itself politically from China, and would have to inform its citizens that they, too, were now Chinese. Compared to these demands, the concessions China gave were hollow, not least because Tibet would be left with no option to resist if China decided later to change the terms of its own deal. But none of that mattered anymore; Tibet had to accept it, and the Dalai Lama did just that, despite internal shock over just how bad the situation had become.

Under Communist Rule

Once Mao took over, it didn’t take long for Tibet’s worst fears to be confirmed. Although the region was able to govern itself for a few years with relative freedom, the Chinese government’s attempts at land reform in an ethnically Tibetan region, one that Tibet, itself, didn’t control, generated blowback in the form of violence by Tibetan militias. Under this new rule, land-holding Tibetan institutions were all but wiped out, including not just wealthy landowners, but monasteries and other concentrated symbols of Tibetan Buddhism.

Under the doctrine of the CCP, these organizations could not be tolerated, and seeing that their time to practice religion freely was at an end, Tibet’s monks and their supporters took up arms during the late 1950s. For several years, despite poor organization and limited armament, a Tibetan guerrilla resistance did their best to drive China away from their land, but this was only used as pretext for further crackdowns by the Chinese state. Now, villages and monasteries were completely destroyed, and in the course of the fighting, roughly 86,000 Tibetans and 2,000 Chinese troops were killed.

The US government temporarily attempted to arm Tibet’s rebel faction, but this was ultimately a fruitless endeavor.

As should probably be clear by now, the Dalai Lama and his survival are centrally important to Tibetan spirituality and culture, but this reality has placed a target on the Lama’s back for decades. As the Tibetan resistance was beginning to collapse in 1959, the Dalai Lama was targeted for assassination at a theater performance at the headquarters for the Chinese military’s Tibet division. He was expected to attend the performance, he was told, but he could not bring his bodyguards, or notify the public that he was leaving his palace. Obviously, this went over extremely poorly, and when information was released to the public, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans threatened to revolt in the capital city.

Under the watch of Chinese artillery, it was this assassination attempt that led the Lama to flee into India, as the city of Lhasa was shelled ruthlessly behind him. The bodyguards that stayed behind, were executed by firing squad. From exile, the Dalai Lama publicly repudiated the Seventeen-Point Agreement, and exactly as Tibet had feared, China did the same. The Agreement was thrown out, the Tibetan local government was disassembled, and Tibet, at least in name, was assimilated fully into the Chinese state.

The following years saw China extend the same authoritarian grip into Tibet, that we’ve now grown used to in places like Hong Kong and Xinjiang Province in modern times. China began an anti-dissident campaign that would see some three hundred thousand Tibetans be disappeared by 1964, with the vast majority either killed, imprisoned, or exiled. Foreigners were completely barred from entering Tibet for the better part of a decade.

Famines swept through the region, causing hundreds of thousands more to starve. And social programs went into effect that moved hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese into the region, ensuring that they filled important job posts and began to dilute Tibetan culture. For a quick idea of just how well this worked, the city of Lhasa’s population today is two-thirds Han Chinese, and only one-third Tibetan.

At the same time, the Chinese chose a carrot-and-the-stick approach to quell future discontent, investing in public-works programs and setting up mineral-mining and power-generating resources. The Chinese built highways and railroads, and worked to encourage a local tourist economy—granted, one that favored the local Han Chinese and treated Tibetan culture like a bit of a side-show, but at least it brought some level of jobs to the region. Illiteracy in Tibet had been extremely high prior to the arrival of the CCP, and life expectancy had been extremely low, so a reversal in both of those statistics helped to reinforce China’s chosen image as a benevolent reformer. Using this combined approach, Tibet was eventually turned into a mostly cooperative, albeit discontented province of China, but every so often in the following decades, a major event would flare tensions again and threaten to set the region alight.

One particularly nasty incident came in 1989, when the Dalai Lama’s second-in-command, the Panchen Lama, was allowed by Beijing to return to Tibet and address his people. In an act of incredible courage, given the circumstances, the Panchen Lama responded by immediately delivering an address—in PRC-controlled Tibet—condemning the actions of the Chinese Communist Party and the erasure of Tibetan culture. Five days later, the Panchen Lama was dead at the age of fifty, with his cause of death listed as a heart attack.

And crackdowns against Tibetan civilians have been no less severe. In 1998 at Tibet’s Drapchi Prison, hundreds of political detainees and criminals were beaten after refusing to participate in a flag-raising ceremony for the Chinese flag, and days later, five nuns and three monks were beaten to death after again refusing to take part. In 2008, peaceful protests in Tibet turned into a riot due to allegations that imprisoned nuns were being killed in prison, allegedly because/ the Tibetan had decided to protest.

The following crackdowns killed somewhere around a hundred Tibetans and led to the arrest of over two thousand. The severity of the crackdown was likely due in part to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, which took place soon afterward despite international human rights protests on Tibet’s behalf.

During all this time, the Dalai Lama has attempted to advocate as best he can for continued Tibetan autonomy, something that China has used to frame the Tibetan exile community around the world as being hungry for another bid at independence. In 1979, the Lama officially abandoned any claim to Tibetan independence in favor of a compromise plan, but China continues to dismiss this stance as an attempt to mislead the outside world. Although China and the Lama have attempted several times to come to terms, neither side has been willing to budge on the critical issue of autonomy, and no compromise has ever even come close to being achieved.

Instead, the Dalai Lama has spent decades on something of an international press tour, representing the interests of the Tibetan people in conversations with world leaders and even being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Around the world, many Western nations and the UN have continually condemned China’s actions in Tibet, but none have offered substantive support to the Tibetan people, or made an attempt to intervene.

The Tibet Autonomous Region, Present and Future

In the last decade, the people of Tibet have continually attempted to reassert their desire for autonomy. Well over a hundred Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns have protested publicly by setting themselves on fire, a demonstration that is seen in many parts of Tibet as a noble self-sacrifice to save others. Many of these protestors invoke the name of the Dalai Lama directly during their deaths, and despite the international horror that these self-immolations usually invoke, the Lama himself has refrained from condemning the practice.

As the Lama explained in 2013, a protestor who is capable of, for example, a mass shooting or suicide bombing, but chooses only to kill themselves, is seen as practicing a form of non-violence. The act is not an expression of a violent will toward the Chinese government, but instead, an expression of the despair shared among many Tibetans today.

2021 marked the seventieth anniversary since the People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet, an anniversary that came during a harsh crackdown across China against cultures and religions that are not Han Chinese. New policies punishing the use of the Tibetan language, or the propagation of Tibetan cultural symbols, have become more and more common, and monks and nuns are increasingly attacked or imprisoned, while surveillance and re-education programs have seen a significant uptick. In Tibet, these changes come at the same time as China’s repression of its Uighur Muslim population had begun to be condemned internationally as a genocide.

Far from showing respect for Tibetan history, the CCP’s remarks on the seventieth anniversary were entirely pro-Chinese, calling for increased “guidance” of Tibetan Buddhism to assimilate to socialist values. While the date of the anniversary passed without significant violence, that’s not necessarily a positive sign; instead, it’s likely a reflection of just how effective China’s repressive policies have been.

In trying to understand China’s insistence on maintaining authority over a people that, undeniably, do not want to be governed by Chinese authority, it’s crucial to account for how China perceives itself in relation to Tibet. China has historically perceived itself as a state that is able, or even meant, to be a judge of other peoples’ right to sovereignty, a claim that the CCP traces back all the way to the 13th-century Yuan Dynasty. Typically, this translates into a belief that those peoples are better off with China, even if they might not themselves agree.

Following the protests and crackdowns of 2008, China has adopted an official narrative that claim Tibet has never actually been independent from China, and thus has no modern claim to sovereignty. Many of the Han Chinese in Tibet tend to see themselves as intellectual missionaries, assisting in the long process to aid or even liberate Tibet from what they see as its old backward, illiterate, or feudal ways.

From a geopolitical perspective, Tibet is an important region for China to control: the Himalayas at Tibet’s outer reaches will effectively stop any foreign incursion, but a hypothetical unfriendly nation on Tibetan land could conceivably pose a threat to Chinese national security. Tibet’s natural resources are rife for exploitation by the CCP, and the Party has developed an apparently informal practice of sending future senior leaders through government posts in Tibet, to see if they can prove their worth in a tough area to manage. Finally, the Tibetan plateau is a massively important source of water for China, and with conflicts around water becoming more and more likely as the global climate continues to change, it stands to reason that China will become more, not less resistant to giving up this crucial area.

With so many factors all-but-guaranteeing China won’t leave Tibet quietly, it’s tempting to focus on the relative up-side of Chinese influence there. Medical care, education, and the Tibetan economy have all improved under Chinese rule, and its infrastructure and industry have developed exponentially because of all the wealth that China has pumped into the region. But it’s beyond reductive to claim that this would make up for the brutality with which China has, and still does work to cement its claim to Tibet, in a way that’s pushed actual Tibetans from the picture almost entirely.

As for Tibet’s future, it may be decided for good, sooner than we would expect. Because of the Dalai Lama’s advanced age, Tibetan Buddhism is facing a succession crisis, and one that China would be very interested in using to its advantage. To put it simply, the Dalai Lama is believed to be a reincarnated figure, and before the current Lama dies, he’s supposed to tell his followers where to look for the child who will take on his spiritual essence.

However, the Chinese government claims that the Dalai Lama lost his right to name a successor when he fled Tibet, and that China now holds the authority to name the next Dalai Lama. This claim is obviously not accepted by all Tibetans, but the Chinese government is seen as having enough standing in the matter that when the current Lama dies—which, by the way, he himself claims won’t happen until he turns 113 years old—then it’s entirely possible that China and Tibet’s exile population will each try to name a new Dalai Lama.

The current Lama is, of course, doing his best to get ahead of the crisis, and he’s consistently claimed that although he may choose to reincarnate as any follower of Tibetan Buddhism in a free country, he will not reincarnate in China. But given the intensity of China’s social control inside of Tibet, those claims might not matter for much longer. Drowning in propaganda, with their online communications monitored and party loyalists everywhere in Tibet, it may not make sense for ordinary Tibetans to risk protesting.

A prior succession crisis over the Dalai Lama’s second-in-command, the Panchen Lama we mentioned earlier, was resolved harshly when a six-year-old Tibetan boy chosen by the Dalai Lama was disappeared by the CCP, and a replacement chosen by Beijing was named. Obviously, the Dalai Lama does not recognize that replacement, but if the Lama himself isn’t around to lead his people through the next crisis, it’s unclear who will.

As the inevitable crisis draws nearer, India, the US, and other countries around the world are watching with bated breath, for a series of decisions that will either kick off yet another wave of repression against Tibet…or eliminate the last real resistance that exists there. The CCP has done their very best to ensure that outside powers will not be able to interfere in the process. A member of China’s politburo ruling committee, Wang Yang, said it himself during the 70th-anniversary speech in Lhasa: “No one outside China has the right to point fingers at us when it comes to Tibetan affairs,” Wang said. “Any attempt or manoeuvre designed to separate Tibet from China is doomed to fail.”

With the Dalai Lama’s succession rising into an existential threat, it will be up to the people of Tibet to choose which side they will support. Two successors to the Dalai Lama, will mean a decision between two starkly different futures. Whether or not Tibet survives at all, will be decided in a moment that could very well come tomorrow.

Key Takeaways

• Tibet has a rich history and unique culture intertwined with Tibetan Buddhism, distinct from its neighbors.
• Tibet was largely independent until the 20th century, when it faced forced annexation by China.
• The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual and political leader, has been exiled since 1959 due to Chinese repression.
• China has implemented severe measures to suppress Tibetan culture and autonomy, including forced assimilation and surveillance.
• The future of Tibet is uncertain, with a succession crisis looming and China’s control tightening.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the historical relationship between Tibet and China?

Tibet and China have been largely separate cultures for most of their history. Tibet operated outside China’s historical sphere of influence and was effectively closed off to the outside world until 1904. Despite occasional battles with Chinese warlords, Tibet preserved its autonomy until 1949 when the People’s Republic of China gained control of the mainland.

What was the Seventeen-Point Agreement?

The Seventeen-Point Agreement was a document laid out by the Chinese government in 1951, detailing the terms for Tibet’s place in a Chinese communist state. It allowed Tibet to conduct reform at its own pace and govern its own internal affairs but required Tibet to subsume itself to China and be represented by the state on the world stage.

Why did the Dalai Lama flee Tibet in 1959?

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after an assassination attempt by the Chinese government. The attempt was disguised as a theater performance, and when the public found out, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans threatened to revolt. The Dalai Lama fled into India as the city of Lhasa was shelled behind him.

What measures has China taken to assimilate Tibet?

China has implemented various measures to assimilate Tibet, including moving hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese into the region, building infrastructure, and encouraging a local tourist economy. They have also conducted anti-dissident campaigns, barred foreigners from entering Tibet, and implemented social programs to dilute Tibetan culture.

What is the current status of the Dalai Lama’s succession?

The current Dalai Lama is facing a succession crisis due to his advanced age. The Chinese government claims the authority to name the next Dalai Lama, while the Dalai Lama himself has stated that he will not reincarnate in China. This could lead to a situation where both China and Tibet’s exile population name different successors.

What is the significance of Tibet to China?

Tibet is strategically important to China due to its location in the Himalayas, its natural resources, and its role as a source of water. China also uses Tibet as a proving ground for future senior leaders and sees it as a region that should be under its authority.

How has China responded to protests in Tibet?

China has responded to protests in Tibet with severe crackdowns. For example, in 2008, peaceful protests turned into a riot, leading to the deaths of around a hundred Tibetans and the arrest of over two thousand. China has also used violence against political detainees and religious figures who oppose their rule.

What is the international response to China’s actions in Tibet?

Many Western nations and the UN have continually condemned China’s actions in Tibet, but none have offered substantive support to the Tibetan people or made an attempt to intervene. The Dalai Lama has been advocating for Tibetan autonomy and has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

What is the current situation in Tibet regarding cultural and religious practices?

In recent years, China has implemented policies punishing the use of the Tibetan language and the propagation of Tibetan cultural symbols. Monks and nuns are increasingly attacked or imprisoned, and surveillance and re-education programs have seen a significant uptick.

What is the significance of the 70th anniversary of the People’s Liberation Army invading Tibet?

The 70th anniversary in 2021 marked a harsh crackdown across China against cultures and religions that are not Han Chinese. China’s remarks on the anniversary were entirely pro-Chinese, calling for increased ‘guidance’ of Tibetan Buddhism to assimilate to socialist values.

Sources

• Original Into the Shadows video: Tibet: China’s Unwilling Vassal
• https://www.thoughtco.com/tibet-and-china-history-195217
• https://www.britannica.com/place/Tibet/Tibet-since-1900
• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-tibet-history-factbox/factbox-historical-ties-between-china-and-tibet-idUSTRE52Q0CR20090327
• https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/asiapacific-region/chinatibet-1950-present/
• https://daily.jstor.org/tibet-and-china-65-years-later/
• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-10-30/china-wants-to-build-a-tibet-with-more-wealth-and-less-buddhism#xj4y7vzkg
• https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tibet-strategic/factbox-why-is-remote-tibet-of-strategic-significance-idUSSP2305020080325
• https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2018/03/self-immolation-tibet-dalai-lamas-silence-costing-lives/
• https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/02/tibet-through-chinese-eyes/306395/
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/20/embrace-communist-rule-china-tells-tibet-at-70th-anniversary-of-invasion
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-17046222
• https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/seventeen-point-agreement-seventy-years-china-s-occupation-tibet?language_content_entity=en
• https://www.npr.org/2019/11/10/776052182/who-will-decide-on-the-dalai-lamas-successor-his-supporters-or-beijing
• https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/482110-the-dalai-lamas-succession-rests-with-tibet-not-china/
• https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/31/tibet-and-china-clash-over-next-reincarnation-of-the-dalai-lama
• Hero image source by Bruno Rijsman / openverse, by.

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