China and Tibet Essay -- History Politics Government Essays

China and Tibet - Historical Territorial Integrity, Rights to Self-Determination, and The Anatomy of Compromise â€Å"The issue involved is the extinction of the people, the Tibetan People†¦No sir, what I have in mind is the extinction of the Tibetans as a distinct people, with its traditions, its own way of life and its own type of religion.† Tsiang, China’s Permanent UN Representative, 1953 â€Å"The Communist have, for the past 50 years, imposed their revolution upon unwilling Tibetan peasants and nomads, and have ruled Tibet by threat, or often the actual use, of force. But force alone cannot, in the long-run sustain any illegitimate domination.† Dawa Norbu, 1999 â€Å"Tibetans are shouldering the responsibility of our freedom struggle with undiminishing determination and indomitable sprit†¦ With my homage to the brave men and women of Tibet who have died for the cause of freedom, I pray for an early end to the suffering of our people.† His Holiness, The Dalai Lama, 1999 The Tibet question, in its simplest form, concerns the natural rights of the Tibetan people to self-determination, against the People’s Republic of China’s rights to territorial integrity. The debate has been unable to reach any sort of international consensus because of the difficult legal and historical views. China insists that they have sovereignty over Tibet, as the Tibetan Plateau has been within its boundaries for over seven hundred years. China employs the â€Å"17-Point Peace Plan† as notarization for this claim. This mutually signed Agreement resulted in the â€Å"liberation† of Tibetans from feudal serfdom in 1951. Since then the People’s Republic of ... ...nd The Dalai Lama, Pg.15 [18] Dawa Norbu, China’s Tibet Policy, Pg. 381 [19] Nathan Sivin, The Contemporary Chinese Almanac, Pg.52 [20] Nathan Sivin, The Contemporary Chinese Almanac, Pg. 52 [21] The House of International Relations Committee: U.S. Policy Considerations In Tibet, March 2000 [22] Dawa Norbu, China’s Tibet Policy, Pg. 230 [23] Eric S. Margolis, War at the Top of the World, Pg. 180 [24] Dawa Norbu, China’s Tibet Policy, Pg. 230 [25] The House of International Relations Committee: The status of negotiations between China and Tibet, April 2000 [26] David Little and Scott W. Hibbard, Sino-Tibetan Co-Existence: Creating Space for Tibetan Self-Direction, USIP 1993 [27] The House of International Relations Committee: The status of negotiations between China and Tibet, January 2003