China View: Tibet’s Temperature

Raimond Klavins

Each year, Tibetan exiles and their motivated allies carry out protests against the continual control of Tibet by the People’s Republic of China. China sent its military into Tibet in 1959, forcing the Tibetan government into capitulation; Tibet became a specially governed territory of China and lost its national sovereignty. The foundation of Tibet’s status as a Chinese territory is the Seventeen Point Agreement. Nominally guaranteeing self-determination, the agreement has been distorted or ignored by the Chinese central government to further its control of Tibet. Tibet’s history as a theocratic state is at odds with the Maoist policy of state atheism and has resulted in the suppression of Tibet’s deep ties to Buddhism. A major aspect of the religious tension has been the succession of the most holy figure in Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama. While China insists on its legal right to the region, native Tibetans struggle to find a place in their home as they face displacement and poverty.

Tibet’s Legal Status - The Law Of The Mountain

In the eyes of the Chinese, Tibet has historically been within China’s sphere of influence. Tibetan independence was the result of British colonial endeavors to create a buffer zone between their colony, the British Raj, and Qing China. An essential part of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution was to establish modern Communist China as the legal successor to the fallen Qing dynasty. This included exerting influence over Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Tibet. Furthermore, the traditional government of Tibet was in direct contrast to the state being built in communist China. Monks and religious scholars governed Tibet through a semi-feudal system, almost two thousand years old by 1959. Extending the Cultural Revolution to Tibet meant destroying religious influence in society. As was done in China, Buddhist temples and religious texts were burned to “liberate” the people from religious control.

The Dalai Lama signed the Seventeen Point Agreement after the invasion of Tibet, but later fled to India and rejected the treaty as it was signed under duress. Currently, the Dalai Lama lives in exile and travels the world to gather support for greater autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule. He advocates for a “middle way” that keeps Tibet a part of China with greater powers of self-determination and protections for Tibetan culture. The Dalai Lama is a unique political figure, as it is a hybrid religious-political position for Tibet and Buddhism. The words of the Dalai Lama can be highly impactful, similar to proclamations by the Catholic Pope. The position of the Dalai Lama is only given to the next incarnation of the same soul. To determine the succession of the Dalai Lama, a delegation of monks finds a young person who can successfully choose a series of toys that each incarnation of the Dalai Lama had chosen before. Under Chinese rule, official state policy has been that a Dalai Lama must be chosen within China.  A child thought to be the incarnation of another high-ranking Lama was discovered in 2009, but was taken into the custody of the Chinese state to prevent challenges to its authority over the Tibet region.

Freetibet.org

“Disappearance Is The Nature Of All Conditions”

Tibet has been subject to ethnic displacement as Han Chinese people are more likely to get jobs generated by state investment in the region, while a majority of the indigenous Tibetan people live in poverty and struggle to find employment. Furthermore, the Han Chinese who live in Tibet often send portions of their income back east to their families. This removal of wealth contributes to a further decline in Tibetan livelihood.

Tibet has an elected governor, but this regional Communist Party leader is appointed from Beijing and is almost always Han Chinese. Each year in March, there are global protests on the anniversary of the Chinese annexation of Tibet. These protests are largely peaceful, but are sometimes marked with acts of self-immolation by outraged Tibetans. It is likely that once the current Dalai Lama dies, the Tibetan exiles will continue to resist Chinese rule and reject any claimed successor put forward by the Chinese government. As nations seek to normalize relations with China, the issue of Tibetan self-determination will likely be ignored or sidelined in official diplomacy. The yearly protests try to return the issue to the global community’s awareness. With the recent protests in neighboring Nepal led by Generation Z citizens, perhaps the younger Tibetan generations will find inspiration to begin a new wave of protests and unlock global awareness that has been so elusive for this particular political issue. 

Tibet is stuck between India and China; its position as a border region makes independence unlikely. Before its absorption into China, Tibet was not a member of the United Nations and was politically isolated. Combined with China’s position as a member of the United Nations Security Council, international action on Tibet is highly constrained. The United States was instrumental in assisting the Dalai Lama escaping from Tibet during the Chinese annexation. However, this was before official diplomatic ties between the United States and the PRC were established. Currently, the United States recognizes Tibet as a legal part of China, but condemns the widespread religious persecution of Buddhist monks and practitioners. Reforms to Tibet’s status in China can only be spurred by internal decisions by the Chinese central government, which, at the moment, are unlikely. If protests can reach a critical mass of awareness globally and within China, perhaps the central government will be compelled to make meaningful changes to Tibet’s legal status and enshrine protections for its cultural rights.   

The struggle of Tibet is similar to many smaller nations that become subsumed by larger powers. International law theoretically protects these nations, but without the support of a powerful backer, these protections become largely symbolic. Stuck between the interests of two larger and culturally distinct countries, Tibet’s people will likely continue their fight for self-determination and the survival of their ancient religious traditions.