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12/17/2007 3:30:19 PM
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Views expressed here are author"s own and not of this website. Full disclaimer is
at the bottom.
(The author is a Professor in International Economics in Nagasaki University, Japan)
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Chinas recent demand that Arunachal Pradesh of India is a part of China has provoked a very wrong kind of reaction from the government of India and the Indian media in general. Once again India has failed to turn the table against China. India should have said, China has no border with India at all, but Tibet has. By not recognizing the fact that China is occupying Tibet illegally India has once again in practice accepted the Chinese occupation of Tibet, Manchuria and Eastern Turkistan or Pakistani occupations of Balochistan and N.W.F.P (North West Frontier Province).
There is no evidence that Tibet was a part of China before China colonized it in 1949. Same is true about Taiwan, and Eastern Turkistan. If the Manchus are not Chinese, as Sun Yat Sen declared in 1911, Manchuria, which China got as a gift from Stalin in 1950, was never a part of China either. However, the world has ignored this Chinese imperialism and even gives the recognition to China as one of the five controlling powers of the world affairs as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
China has no continuous history as a nation state. Before 1279, only the central part of what is China today, was pure Chinese, i.e., inhabited by the Han Chinese tribe. During 1279 to 1368, China was a part of the Mongol Empire, and it ceased to exist as a sovereign state. From 1368 to 1644, China had the Ming Dynasty of the Han Chinese tribe, but was occupied by the Manchus in 1644 until 1911.
Chinese Empire of Tibet:
Tibet has a history of at least 1300 years of independence from China. The first recorded contacts between Tibetans and Chinese took place in the 7th century, following the unification of Tibet under King Songtsen Gampo and the marriage of a Chinese princess to Songtsen Gampo in 641. The Chinese sought the marriage alliance of 641 after Tibetan armies had captured towns in Sichuan province. In 821 China and Tibet ended almost 200 years of fighting with a treaty recognizing that Tibet and China are two independent nations.
During the 13th and 14th centuries both China and Tibet came under the influence of the Mongol empire. While the Mongols militarily conquered China, the Tibetans and the Mongols established the historically unique priest patron relationship, also known as CHO-YON. The Mongol aristocracy had converted to Buddhism and sought spiritual guidance and moral legitimacy for the rule of their vast empire from the Tibetan theocracy. As the patron of Tibet Mongols pledged to protect Tibet against foreign invasion. The Mongol empire ended in the mid-14th century. Today Mongolia is an independent country, not a part of China. Mongols are not Chinese.
By the 15th century, political authority in Tibet had passed into the hands of contending religious hegemonies, which were eventually replaced by a system of rule under the Dalai Lamas. In China, the native Ming Dynasty overthrew the Mongols. During the Ming Dynasty both Tibet and China existed as separate and fully sovereign states.
Chinese Empire of Manchuria:
In 1639, the 5th Dalai Lama established another CHO-YON (priest- patron) relationship with the Manchu Emperor, who in 1644, driven out of Manchuria by the Russians, occupied China and established the Manchu Dynasty. Manchu officials or Am bans were stationed in Tibet from 1728 until the fall of the dynasty in 1911. Ambans were instructed not to interfere in the internal policies of Tibet and to refrain from exploitation In 1911 Sun Yat Sen, declared Manchus as foreigners, deposed the Manchu Emperor of China Pei Wei and proclaimed China as a republic.
Manchuria was a Russian territory from 16th century. Russia had developed industrial cities like Harbin and Port Aurthur in Manchuria. The settlement of Han Chinese in
Manchuria was prohibited until late into the 19th century. In 1905 Japan according to the Portsmouth treaty took over Manchuria from Russia but allowed some pro-Japanese war lords of China to rule over it from 1918. In 1931 Japan took complete control over Manchuria,renamed it as Manchuko, reestablished Pei Wei the former Manchu Emperor of China as the sovereign Emperor of China, and in his name Japan tried to occupy the rest of China. The Soviet Union took over Manchuria in 1945 after the surrender of Japan to the USA but gave it away to China in 1950 without any considerations of the wishes of the people in Manchuria.
Despite claims of Chinese propaganda, millions of non-Chinese people living in areas presently under the Peoples Republic of China suffer all kinds of discrimination. The most disturbing effect of Chinese policy towards people in these areas is the demographic transformation which has been imposed upon them. In virtually every area new Chinese immigrants have become the majority community. Manchuria has been completely absorbed and the distinct Manchu culture vibrant until 1949 does not exist at all.
Tibet and the British:
The British after 1911 were able to gain some advantage, and so convened a tripartite conference to discuss Tibets status at Simla in 1914. The Tibetans arrived at the conference with written evidence proving the historical independence of Tibet. The Chinese delegation, who were present only to witness the treaty between Britain and Tibet, argued that Tibets subjugation by the Mongols and the Manchus proved it had become an integral part of China, and should therefore now be ruled as part of the new Republic of China of Sun Yat Sen from Peking. That is also the beginning of the border dispute between China and India. However, Tibet was not really subjugated by the Mongols and Manchus but influenced by them. Neither Mongols nor Manchus were Chinese. In fact China itself was occupied for long by both the Mongols and the Manchus.
The fact that Tibet and China both came under the political influence of the Mongols does not indicate unification of the two countries, as China claims. Iraq, Turkey, most parts of Russia and Eastern Europe, Indian subcontinent, Northern Burma, North Vietnam, and Korea were all part of the vast Mongol Empire. Would that mean these areas belong to China! British India used to include Burma until very recently. British Empire also used to control Sri Lanka Malaysia, Iraq, and Burma. Is that mean India should legitimately claim Sri Lanka, Iraq, Malaysia and Burma as its integral parts? Such is the absurdity of the Chinese claim.The most important point is that Manchus, like Mongols, are not ethnic Chinese and suggestions that Tibet became an integral part of a Chinese empire during the Manchu Empire are just absurd. Tibet continued to conduct itself as a fully sovereign nation, recognized by the British Empire until its occupation by Communist China in 1949.
China however disputes today the legal status of the Simla Convention and the resultant McMohan line - the border between India and Tibet accepted by the British, whos true significance lies in its recognition of Tibet as an independent nation with which binding agreements could be negotiated (for example the Lhasa Treaty of 1904). Throughout the Nationalist (Kuomintang) period from 1912 to 1949, no Chinese government was able to exert any influence over Tibet.
During the Second World War Tibet remained neutral, despite strong pressure from the USA, Britain and China to allow the passage of raw materials through Tibet. When Nepal applied for membership of the United Nations in 1949, it cited its treaty and diplomatic relations with Tibet to demonstrate its full international personality.
Chinese invasion of Tibet:
The invasion of Tibet by troops from the Peoples Liberation Army in 1949-50 is described in official Chinese histories as a peaceful liberation. A 17 Point Agreement was signed between the Communist Government and Tibetan officials in May 1951, which apparently enjoyed the approval and support of the people from every ethnic group in Tibet (Tibet: Its Ownership and Human Rights Situation, China White Paper, p.14). If Tibet was part of China, then there was no need for the 17-point agreement, which was forced upon the Tibetan delegation to sign in China in 1951, and then China announced to the world that Tibet was liberated.
Human Rights Violations in Tibet by China:
In fact, discrimination and the suppression of traditional practices in eastern Tibet drove hundreds of Tibetans up into the mountains to conduct guerrilla warfare, while thousands more fled west to Lhasa to escape Chinese persecution. In March 1959, growing Tibetan resistance exploded in an uprising against the Chinese occupation. The 14th Dalai Lama fled into exile in northern India, and the subsequent Chinese crackdown in Tibet was brutal. Tibetan sources suggest as many as 430,000 were killed in the Uprising and subsequent years of guerrilla warfare.
From 1951 to 1959 China broke every promise that she made towards Tibet, resulting in the Tibetan uprising against China in March 1959. Dalai Lama and 100,000 Tibetans escaped into exile. From that day onwards Tibet affectively became an occupied country.
By the 17-Point Agreement of 1951 China undertook not to interfere with Tibets existing system of government and society, but never kept these promises in eastern Tibet and in 1959 reneged on the treaty altogether. China has renamed two out of Tibets three provinces as parts of the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, and renamed the remaining province of U Tsang as Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
28th October 1991, US Congress under a Foreign Authorization Act passed the resolution wherein they recognized Tibet, including those areas incorporated into the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan, Gansu and Qinghai, AN OCCUPIED COUNTRY under the established principal of international law. The resolution further stated that Tibets true representatives are the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in exile as recognized by the Tibetan people.
Some 1.2 million Tibetans are estimated to have been killed by the Chinese since 1950. Reprisals for the 1959 National Uprising alone involved the elimination of 87,000 Tibetans by the Chinese count, according to a Radio Lhasa broadcast of 1 October 1960. Tibetan exiles claim that 430,000 died during the Uprising and the subsequent 15 years of guerrilla warfare. The International Commission of Jurists concluded in its reports, 1959 and 1960, that there was a prima facie case of genocide committed by the Chinese upon the Tibetan nation. These reports deal with events before the Cultural Revolution of Mao-Tse-Tung which has destroyed much of Tibets own cultural assets and thousands of Tibetans were killed..
Chinese Justice: Protest and Prisons
Up to 260,000 people died in prisons and labor camps between 1950 and 1984. Some 3,000 people are believed to have been detained for political offense since September 1987, many of them for writing letters, distributing leaflets or talking to foreigners about the Tibetans right to independence. Chinese conducted a campaign of torture against Tibetan dissidents in prison from March 1989 to May 1990. During 1994-1995, three nuns died shortly after release from custody as a result of ill treatment and torture in detention. Beatings and torture are still regularly used against political detainees and prisoners today. Such prisoners are held in sub-standard conditions, given insufficient food, forbidden to speak, frequently held incommunicado and denied proper medical treatment. The Chinese have refused to allow independent observers to attend so-called public trials. Prison sentences are regularly decided before the trial. Fewer than 2% of cases in China are won by the defense.
Chinese replaced Tibetan as the official language. Despite official pronouncements, there has been no practical change in this policy. Without an adequate command of Chinese, Tibetans find it difficult to get work in the state sector. Secondary school children are taught all classes in Chinese. Religious practice was forcibly suppressed until 1979, and up to 6,000 monasteries and shrines were destroyed. In 1995 the Chinese authorities rejected the child recognized by the Dalai Lama as the rebirth of the Panchen Lama, and installed their own candidate.
Three nuclear missile sites, and an estimated 300,000 troops are stationed on Tibetan territory. China has admitted to dumping nuclear waste on the Tibetan plateau. There is a 20-sq.km dump for radioactive pollutants near Lake Kokonor, the largest lake on the Tibetan plateau.
Demographic change in Tibet:
China is filling up Tibet with ethnic Chinese in an attempt to destroy the ethnicity of the Tibetans. This policy has much more impact to destroy the Tibet as a nation than the millions who have died from Chinese policies, the destruction of more than 6,000 Buddhist monasteries, the arrest and torture of Tibetan monks, the destruction of Tibetan forests, and the stationing of nuclear weapons and waste dumps in Tibet.
Samdhong Rinpoche, 64, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile estimates that 7 million ethnic Chinese now live in Tibet, where there are only 2.3 million Tibetans. In towns like Lhasa and Chengdu, 75 percent of the people are ethnic Chinese.
The influx of Chinese nationals has destabilized the economy. Forced agricultural modernizations led to extensive crop failures and Tibets first recorded famine (1960-1962), in which 340,000 Tibetans died. Tibetan farms and grazing lands have been confiscated and incorporated into collectivized and communal farms.
Resettlement of Chinese migrants has placed Tibetans in the minority in many areas, including Lhasa, causing chronic unemployment among Tibetans. Official figures put the number of non-Tibetans in the TAR (Tibet Autonomous Region) at 79,000. Independent research puts the figure at 250,000 to 300,000, and for the whole of Tibet 5 to 5.5 million Chinese to 4.5 million Tibetans. In Kham and Amdo the Chinese outnumber Tibetans many times over.
As with previous railways built by China in Mongolia and East Turkistan, recently built Tibet railway would greatly speed colonization of the area. The railway will improve Chinas military maneuverability, enable rapid troop deployments, and facilitate the expansion of Peoples Liberation Army bases and increases in nuclear weapons stockpiles and missile deployments on the Tibetan plateau.
Chinas Empire in East Turkistan:
East Turkistan, another colony of China is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north,Tibet and India to the south and Afghanistan and Pakistan to the West. It is Chinas largest province of 640,000 square kilometers---one sixth of the present Chinese territory. However, it was not a part of China until 1949 and the people of that land are not Chinese either. 96% of its population are Turkic peoples of Tazik, Kirghiz, Uzbek or Kazakh of the former Soviet Union, commonly known as Uyghurs. The invasion of East Turkistan by the Han Chinese started in 104 B.C., and the country was occupied several times by Chinese soldiers, but none of these occupation lasted for long. There were 6 invasions from 104 B.C. Until 751, but during that period of 855 years the Chinese invaders sustained their control for only 157 years. Arab, Turkic and Tibetan forces repulsed the Chinese occupiers in 751 A.D. East Turkistan later became a part of the first Mongol briefly. In 1876 Manchu Empire occupied East Turkistan. The people in the southern part of East Turkistan established an Eastern Turkistan Islamic Republic in 1933 and in 1944, established the second Eastern Turkistan Republic.
East Turkistan was occupied by China in 1949 and its name was changed to the Xing Kiang in 1955. The communist China has been excersizing a colonial rule over the land since then. The people there, just like the people in two other colonies of China in Tibet and Manchuria, have to undergo unimaginable suffering and been subjugated to inhuman conditions under the repressive alien rule. 1999 became the year when the mass arrests and murders of the people of East Turkistan became most widespread. This policy was especially sinister in the regions of Hotan, Kashgar, Aksu and Ili. About 9 thousand people are still in prison and about 2500 were killed in the year 1999. According to the Amnesty International, currently at least 250,000 people are in prison.
Chinas false claim on Taiwan:
In 1949, Kuomintang forces of Chiang-Kei-Seik defeated by Mao-Tse-Tung invaded Formosa, and massacred the local population, who are not ethnic Chinese but a mixed population of Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, and the indigenous proto-Malays. However, now China claims that Formosa, renamed as Taiwan, is an inalienable part of China and China wants to reclaim it as soon as possible. History cannot support that Chinese claim.
From 1368 to 1644, China had the Ming Dynasty of the Chin or Han Chinese tribe. At that time, Taiwan was occupied first by the Dutch and then by the Portuguese. For a brief period from 1645 to 1662, a half-Japanese general of the Ming Dynasty, Tei Seiko, after being driven from China by the invading Manchus from the north, occupied Taiwan. However, soon Portuguese regained control of the island, which they had renamed as Formosa, or the beautiful island. Machu Empire has ruled Taiwan only for eight years between 1887 and 1895, but Manchus were not Chinese.
The Manchu Empire of China managed Taiwan for just that brief period of time and in 1895, gladly ceded it to Japan. After that China had forfeited its rights to the
island permanently or until the signing of another international treaty. The present-day Beijing government claims that the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Declaration recognized Chinas sovereignty over Taiwan. That is not factually correct. Cairo Declaration adds nothing new on the question of Chinese territorial sovereignty. Furthermore, both Cairo and Potsdam declarations were not valid international treaty but to quote Justice Radha Binod Pal, a victors justice, where Japan never took any part.
The Peoples Republic of China, which came into being in 1949, was at war with the United Nations in 1951 over Korea and wasnt invited to sign the San Francisco Treaty in which Japan formally renounced all right, title and claim to Formosa. The Republic of China or Kuomintang was unable to represent China in that treaty. Accordingly, to follow the UN principle of self-determination, Taiwan belongs only to Taiwanese people, not to China.
Conclusion:
The history of Tibet, Manchuria, East Turkistan and Taiwan dating back more than two thousand years, has been one of independence of China. At no time, since the founding of the nation in 127 BC, have the Tibetans conceded their sovereignty to a foreign power. East Turkistan was occupied from time to time, but those periods of occupations were brief. Manchuria was not occupied by China until 1950. Taiwan except for 7 years was never a part of China. Thus, these areas cannot be parts of China.
India had the prime responsibility towards Tibet and East Turkistan as neighbour. It has failed so far to pursue that interest. Indias peculiar stand towards China cannot be explained in anyway. China had invaded India in 1962; supplied every kind of weapons including nuclear weapons and missiles to Pakistan since 1963; gave sanctuary to the terrorists of the North Eastern States of India, opposed India in every international matter, opposed Indias possible permanent membership of the UN Security Council or possible membership of the ASEAN, has tried successfully to encircle India with naval bases in Sri Lanka, Burma and Pakistan. Despite of all these hostile acts of China, India has not so far learned any lesson. Indian business community has invested billions in China and is ever so interested to import from China although it would mean destructions of Indias own manufacturing industries.
As a result of pressures from the Indian business community of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) India government now following the same appeasement policy that India has followed since 1949. India so far has refused to stand up against Chinese imperialism in Tibet, East Turkistan, Manchuria and Chinese demand for Taiwan. As a result, India today has no support or sympathy from the world when China is claiming a vast part of Indian Territory. India must understand that so long as India accept Tibet is a part of China, China can claim Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Sikkim, as historically these areas were at one time parts of Tibet. The only way out for India is to recognize Tibet as an occupied territory and India will negotiate it border only with an independent Tibet in future but not with the colonialist China.
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