Incorporation of Tibet Into The People's Republic of China - Background

Background

In 1846, the British Empire converted Nepal into a semi-autonomous protectorate, in 1853 conquered Sikkim, in 1885 colonized Burma and in 1865 invaded Bhutan, occupying by force the whole southern flank of Tibet, which remained the only Himalayan kingdom free of British influence. During most of the nineteenth century, the British government dealt with Tibet through the Chinese government which had sovereignty over Tibet through a local governor or amban. The British invasion of Tibet in 1903 caused the flight of the Dalai Lama to Mongolia and then to China. After the invasion an unequal treaty was signed in 1904 between the remaining authorities in Tibet and Colonel Younghusband as a "Convention between Great Britain and Tibet" thus converting Tibet into a British protectorate with some degree of independence. After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 and a failed Chinese expedition in 1913 to reconquest Tibet, the regions of Ü-Tsang and western Kham, comprising the present-day TAR were then under the control of the Government of Tibet, supervised by the British.

In 1913, shortly after the British invasion of Tibet in 1904, the creation of the position of British Trade Agent at Gyantse and the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, most of the area comprising the present-day Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) (Ü-Tsang and western Kham) became de facto independent from the rest of present-day China under a British protectorate, with the rest of the present day TAR coming under Tibetan Government rule by 1917. Some border areas with high ethnic Tibetan populations (Amdo and Eastern Kham) remained under Kuomintang or local warlord control. The TAR region is also known as “Political Tibet”, while all areas with a high ethnic Tibetan population are collectively known as “Ethnic Tibet”. Political Tibet refers to the polity ruled continuously by the Chinese and Tibetan governments since earliest times down to 1951, whilst ethnic Tibet refers to regions north and east where Tibetans historically predominated but where, down to modern times, Tibetan jurisdiction was irregular and limited to just certain areas.

At the time Political Tibet obtained de facto independence, its socio-economic and political systems resembled Medieval Europe. Attempts by the 13th Dalai Lama between 1913 and 1933 to enlarge and modernize the Tibetan military had eventually failed, largely due to opposition from powerful aristocrats and monks. The Tibetan government had little contact with other governments of the world during its period of de facto independence, with some exceptions, notably India, Great Britain, and the United States. This left Tibet diplomatically isolated and cut off to the point where it could not make its positions on the issues well known to the international community and it was restricted by treaties that gave the British Empire authority over taxes, foreign relations and fortifications.