China se refiere a la incursión militar como una "liberación pacífica", but the exiled Tibetans remember it as an invasion.
For almost 40 years Tibet enjoyed de facto independence, but the victory of the communists in China in 1949 put an end to this parenthesis in the history of this troubled region of the Himalayas.
He 7 October 1950, does exactly 70 years, thousands of troops sent by Mao Zedong they entered Tibet, They cornered their authorities and finally took the border town of Chamdo on 19 October.
Under pressure from China, the dalai lama, Tibetan leader, signed the controversial Agreement of the 17 Points after eight months of occupation by the Chinese army, a document that made the annexation of the territory official.
But according to the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and Nobel Peace Prize winner, the treaty is invalid porque fue "forzado sobre un gobierno desamparado que no quería hacerlo". The Dalai Lama barely had 15 years when he signed it
Pekín se refiere a este episodio de la historia tibetana como una "liberación pacífica", while the exiled Tibetans describe it as invasion.
Located in the north of the Himalayas, The Tibet Autonomous Region is a territory of 1,2 million km2, remote and with a history full of turbulence.
The annexation, finally signed on 23 May 1951, For the majority of Tibetans, it is a tragic date that left many open wounds and great popular discontent..
With the Chinese occupation, tensions began in Tibet, which gradually intensified in 1956, until he 10 March 1959 began the first great rebellion of the Tibetan people in rejection of Chinese rule, a popular uprising that left tens of thousands dead.
After the intervention of the People's Liberation Army (EPL) of China and almost two weeks of violent clashes, the Chinese victory - whose army was much larger- forced the Dalai Lama to flee the country and go into exile in India.
La "tesorería" china
After the capture of Chamdo in October 1950 by the then newly formed communist government, la ciudad ha sido considerada como la "primera línea" de combate en la "lucha política contra el separatismo", as explained by the independent specialist Kate Saunders, expert on Tibet and China.
"En 1949, communist forces had already entered eastern areas (Kham) and the northeast (Shroud) from Tibet, that were under military occupation by regimes supported by the Kuomintang nationalists. The late British radio operator Robert Ford, who was captured and imprisoned by Chinese forces, wrote that Tibetan defense forces fought to the end, pero fueron aniquiladas", le dice Saunders BBC Mundo.
The British journalist says that the seizure of Tibet was one of Mao's objectives since he took power, pues es una región con una ubicación estratégica y es considerada como la "frontera suroeste de la patria".
Tibet is the source of most of Asia's major rivers.
"Conocida como la 'tesorería' in Chinese, Tibet is rich in natural and mineral resources, like lithium, uranium and another particularly important: he agua", add.
Tibet is also the highest and most extensive plateau in the world and the source of most of Asia's major rivers., so it would be crucial for China in case of water shortage.
¿How did this conflict arise??
Tibet was part of the Mongol Empire since the 13th century and since its conquest almost always enjoyed considerable autonomy..
In the decade of 1850, Russian and British rivalry for control of Central Asia leads the Tibetan government to ban all foreigners and close borders, but in 1865 Britain began to discreetly map the territory.
In the year 1904, The Dalai Lama fled a British military expedition led by Colonel Francis Younghusband. Thereafter,, The United Kingdom forced Tibet to sign a trade agreement to prevent any Russian proposal.
He 7 October 1950 Thousands of Chinese troops entered Tibet, un evento considerado como una "invasión" by the tibetans.
And two years later, with the signing of the Convention between Great Britain and China, the British promised not to annex or interfere in Tibet in exchange for compensation from the Chinese government.
The treaty reaffirmed Chinese possession of the territory.
between the years 1908 and 1909, China restaurfrom to the dalai lama But he fled to India when Beijing sent an army in order to control his government..
Finally, in April 1912, the Chinese garrison surrendered to the Tibetan authorities after the fall of the monarchy and the declaration of the Republic of China; The 13th Dalai Lama returned from India and the Chinese troops left.
The government in exile assures that China recognized the de facto independence of the region in 1913, while China says that it always had sovereignty over Tibet but that temporarily unable to exercise it.
The destruction of local culture
Although it is not a nation state in the modern sense, Tibet has maintained a culture, a written and spoken language, a religion and political system unique in the world for centuries.
"Firmó tratados internacionales y mantuvo relaciones diplomáticas con países vecinos. in 1912, The 13th Dalai Lama issued a proclamation reaffirming the independence of Tibet and the country maintained your own national flag, the snow lion, your currency, their seals, sus pasaportes y su ejército", remember saunders.
Organizations such as Amnesty International have reported numerous cases of torture and murder in Tibet.. Many have chosen exile.
Over the years, Any form of protest in Tibet against Beijing has been strongly repressed. The Dalai Lama assures that about 1,2 Millions of people have died in the region during Chinese rule. But the Chinese authorities deny it.
Several independent evaluations doubt the high number of deaths, but even so they place the figure between 200.000 and 800.000.
In recent decades there have been protests within Tibet against the destruction of local culture and the treatment of Tibetan people by Chinese authorities.. During China's Cultural Revolution in the decades of 1960 and 1970, most local monasteries were destroyed.
China has recognized abuses during the Cultural Revolution and says the Communist Party has been leading a cultural revival in Tibet since 1980, restoring damaged monasteries.
The government in exile says that it is a measure that only seeks to increase tourism.
After eight months of Chinese occupation, The annexation was signed by the Dalai Lama on 23 May 1951, pero el líder asegura que fue un acuerdo "forzado" and it is not valid.
Likewise, Many Tibetans have been detained and the NGO Amnesty International has reported numerous torture cases and murders.
And a report released this year by the Jamestown Foundation contends that China is forcing hundreds of thousands of people in Tibet into military-style training centers that, according to experts, They are similar to work camps.
"Antes del internamiento masivo de uigures (muslims) en Xinjiang, Tibet was used as a laboratory to test dystopian measures of total surveillance, un sistema de asimilación cultural acelerada con el fin de crear ciudadanos y súbditos obedientes al partido", says Tibet expert Kate Saunders.
Tibet and the pandemic
According to Saunders, China has long treated Tibetans' devotion to the Dalai Lama and their peaceful expressions of religious identity as a dangerous virus..
"Ahora, un virus mortal le ha permitido al Estado ampliar su alcance y acelerar aún más el control en la zona", add.
Lobsang Sangay replaced the Dalai Lama as Tibetan political leader in 2011.
In April, The Dalai Lama received worldwide acclaim after publishing an article in the magazine Time in which he stated that praying would not be enough to combat the pandemic and called for compassionate and constructive acts.
Meanwhile, In their homeland some people have been sent to prison after posting prayers on social media.
"Así como se instó a los ciudadanos de Wuhan en el apogeo del miedo y la devastación en la ciudad a estar agradecidos con el líder Xi Jinping y a mostrar energía positiva, Tibetan students have been encouraged to be loyal to the Communist Party when they return to school, en un contexto en el que casi cualquier expresión religiosa o cultural tibetana puede ser interpretada como separatista y por lo tanto criminal", Saunders denounces.
The question of Tibet confronts the right of a people to self-determination and the legitimacy of a multiethnic State, like china, to maintain what it considers to be its territorial integrity.
currently, from exile, The Dalai Lama advocates finding a middle ground with Beijing, and claims to settle for substantial autonomy within China. But the younger generations of nationalists in Tibet, and especially abroad, They push for total independence, a scene that seems increasingly distant.
