Tibetan Independence Movement - Historical Background

Historical Background

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 Ögödei the Mongol Qaghan 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.

In 1710, the Qing Dynasty army entered Tibet, in aid of the local and defeated the Mongol and Lha-bzang Khan of Khoshut. Later, the Chinese emperor assigned Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama to be in charge of religious and political matters of Tibet. Dalai Lama was leader of area centered by Lhasa, Panchen Lama was leader area of Shigatse Prefecture.

By the early 18th century, the Qing Dynasty sent resident commissioners (amban) to Lhasa. Tibetan factions rebelled in 1759 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.

In 1904, a British mission, accompanied by a large military escort, invaded Tibet, forcing its way through to Lhasa. 13th Dalai Lama escaped. Britain forced The Great Three Tibetan Temple signing of the Convention Between Great Britain and Tibet. The head of the mission was Colonel Francis Younghusband. The principal motivation for the British mission was a fear, which proved to be unfounded, that Russia was extending its footprint into Tibet and possibly even giving military aid to the Tibetan government. But on his way to Lhasa, Younghusband killed 1,300 Tibetans in Gyangzê (as written in "The Great Game" of Peter Hopkirk), because the natives were in fear of what kind of unequal treaty the British would offer the Tibetans. Some documents claim that 5,000 Tibetans were killed by the British army.

The Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1906 recognized Chinese suzerainty over the region and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, without Lhasa's and Beijing's acknowledgement, recognized the suzerainty of China over Tibet. The Qing central government claimed for sovereignty and direct rule over Tibet in 1910. The thirteenth 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.

The subsequent outbreak of World War I and civil war in China meant that the Chinese factions only controlled part of Tibet. The government of the 13th Dalai Lama controlled Ü-Tsang (Dbus-gtsang) and western Kham, roughly coincident with the borders of the Tibet Autonomous Region today. Eastern Kham, separated 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 Chinese Muslim warlord Ma Bufang, who constantly strove to exert control over the rest of Amdo (Qinghai).

The Chinese Muslim General Ma Fuxiang, the chairman of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission stated that Tibet was an integral part of the Republic of China.

Our Party takes the development of the weak and small and resistance to the strong and violent as our sole and most urgent task. This is even more true for those groups which are not of our kind . Now the peoples of Mongolia and Tibet are closely related to us, and we have great affection for one another: our common existence and common honor already have a history of over a thousand years.... Mongolia and Tibet's life and death are China's life and death. China absolutely cannot cause Mongolia and Tibet to break away from China's territory, and Mongolia and Tibet cannot reject China to become independent. At this time, there is not a single nation on earth except China that will sincerely develop Mongolia and Tibet."

In 1950, the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China entered Tibet, after taking over the rest of China from 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, provided for rule by a joint administration under representatives of the central government and the Tibetan government. Most of the population of Tibet at that time were serfs, bound to land owned by lamas. Any attempt at land reform or the redistribution of wealth would have proved unpopular with the established landowners. This agreement was initially put into effect in Tibet proper. However, Eastern Kham and Amdo were outside the administration of the government of Tibet, and were thus treated like 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.

Beginning in the 1950s the Central Intelligence Agency trained Tibetans as paramilitaries.