Zac+Research

toc =Before the occupation= Up until 1951, the land of Tibet was a culturally beautiful one; having it's own set of customs, language, history, and way of life. After the communist People's Republic of China seized control of the state in 1951, however, the Tibetan way of life was changed forever. The primary goal of the Chinese rulers is to eliminate all signs of independent Tibetan culture, and have set right to their task. Between the years of 1959 and 1977 all but 12 of more than 6,000 Tibetan monasteries were destroyed by the Chinese military. Many sacred religious items were taken and sold at international auction, to raise money for the People's Republic. Not only has the Tibetan culture been damaged, but the region itself has turned into a veritable warzone. The Chinese government treats the province as a large military base, stationing 300,000 troops, hundreds of nuclear weapons, and many torture camps. Right now approximately 3,000 religious and political prisoners are held captive in Tibet, being tortured and forced into labor camps. Since 1959 roughly 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a direct result of the Chinese occupation. This number is increasing rapidly, as the Chinese government is also now adopting programs to sterilize and force abortions upon Tibetan women. Unless other nations band together and demand China stop these practices, it is clear that it will not be long before almost the entire Tibetan population is annihilated. Perhaps the worst aspect of the occupation, however, is that it also is harming the physical region itself. It is widely believed that the Chinese government is now using the province of Tibet as a nuclear waste dump. Farmers are complaining that the "fertilizer", which they are required by law to use, is killing their crops and animals. Many rare wild animals uniquely found in Tibet are also being harmed; the wild blue Tibetan sheep and famous snow leopard are almost non-existent. Much of the forestland of Tibet is being cut down and used in China - since 1950, 68% of the trees in Tibet have been chopped down. =Occupation of Tibet= The People's Liberation Army first entered eastern Tibet (Chamdo) on October 7 1950. After confiscating their weapons, the PLA soldiers gave their prisoners lectures on socialism, and a small amount of money, and allowed them to return to their homes. The PLA then continued on to central Tibet, but halted its advance 200km to the east of Lhasa, at what China claimed was the //de jure// Here they stopped and demanded Tibet's "peaceful liberation." The PLA, while possessing overwhelming military advantage, was also set on winning the hearts and minds of the Tibetan populace. At first, they treated the local populace very well, building roads, and paying locals for their labor. According to Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, the PLA did not attack civilians: "The Chinese were very disciplined. They were like the British soldiers (in 1904). Even better than the British, because they distributed some money (to villagers and local leaders). So they carefully planned. The PLA sent released prisoners (among them Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, a captured governor) to Lhasa to negotiate with the Dalai Lama on the PLA's behalf. The PLA promised that if Tibet was "peacefully liberated", the Tibetan elites would keep their privileges and power. At the same time, Jigme and other released captives testified to their good treatment by the PLA. As the PLA had stopped and was asking for peaceful negotiations instead of entering Lhasa unimpeded, the United Nations unanimously dropped the issue from the agenda. The combination of military pressure, reports of good treatment from locals and released prisoners, and the lack of international support convinced the Tibetan representatives to enter negotiations with the PLA. Several months later, in May 1951, the Tibetan representatives signed a seventeen-point agreement in Beijing with the PRC's Central people's government affirming China's sovereignty over Tibet. The agreement was ratified in Lhasa a few months later. Point 15 of the agreement stated that the Chinese government would set up a military and administrative committee and a military area headquarters in Tibet. PLA troops entered Lhasa peacefully in the fall of 1951. An article released by the Tibetan Government in Exile in 1996 states that the treaty was imposed on Tibet by force and it "was never validly concluded and was rejected by Tibetans" a position that was supported by a UK parliamentary review. boundary of Tibet. = Aftermath = The seventeen-point agreement was initially respected by the Chinese in Tibet proper. However, Eastern Kham and Amdo (the provinces of Xikang and Qinghai in the Chinese administrative hierarchy) were outside the administration of the Tibetan government in Lhasa, and were thus treated like any other Chinese province with land redistribution implemented in full. Armed resistance, covertly supported by the United States government, broke out in Amdo and eastern Kham in June 1956 and escalated through the remainder of the decade, but was eventually defeated. PLA units have maintained a presence in Tibet up to the present day. =Now= The Chinese occupation of Tibet has entirely changed the life and lifestyles of the Tibetans for the worse. During its invasion, the Chinese army imprisoned hundreds of Tibetans for their political and religious activities, while monks and nuns were tortured and killed for dreaming of an Independent Tibet and for aligning with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Today, political prisoners are being routinely attacked and nuns being raped at Chinese prisons. There is no freedom; even the Dalai Lama's photographs are banned. According to a UN report, "The Chinese occupation of Tibet has been characterized by acts of murder, rape and arbitrary imprisonment; torture and cruel, inhuman and degraded treatment of Tibetans on a large scale. The number of Tibetans killed after the Chinese occupation -- a period marked by torture and starvation -- now exceeds a million. According to a document captured by the guerrillas fighting the Chinese army, 87,000 deaths were recorded in Lhasa between March 1959 and September 1960. More than 6,000 monasteries, their belongings -- the priceless jewels of Tibetan culture, precious //Thangka// paintings and other valuable documents were destroyed by the Chinese army." Once a peaceful buffer state between India and China, Tibet has now been transformed into a strong military base with 17 secret radar stations, 14 military airfields, 5 missile bases situated near the Indian border and a secret nuclear power station near Lake //Ko-Ko Nor//. Of late, China has launched a 'Final Solution' — a systematic state-sponsored movement and encouragement of ethnic Chinese into Tibet — to overwhelm and expunge the Tibetan nation. Besides, it has embarked upon a three-year mission to promote atheism among Tibetan Buddhists as "the key to economic progress". China's sustained, brutal attacks have resulted in a mass exodus of Tibetans to India. Over the years, thousands of Tibetans have taken dangerous, heart-breaking journeys over the Himalayas to enter India where they see a ray of hope. They dream of a more meaningful life and free education on their country, its culture, language and religion. The American course of action is clear: the United States of America has a moral obligation to address the horror of what is going on in Tibet. The easiest way to voice our disgust is to revoke China's status of Most Favored Nation. We need to stop looking the other way and face this problem head on, before it's too late. = Chinese Communist Party perspective =

A "Peaceful Liberation" monument was raised by the PRC in 2001 to commemorate the event's 50th anniversary despite the many controversies surrounding the event. According to the Chinese government, a portion of the population in old Tibet were serfs bound to land often owned by wealthy Tibetan monasteries and Tibetan aristocrats. This however was untrue of eastern and north-eastern two-thirds of Tibet where the nomads owned their own land.[39] The Chinese government claims that most Tibetans were still serfs in 1951, and have proclaimed that the Tibetan government inhibited the development of Tibet during its self-rule from 1913 to 1959, and opposed any modernization efforts proposed by the Chinese government.[40] Announcements were made via Radio Peking on October 25 to state the troops were there to "free Tibetans from imperialist oppression".[41] First generation Communist party leaders such as Mao Zedong stated that the decision to unite Tibet into the PRC was done to achieve ethnic equality.[42] In July 2001 a monument was established to commemorate the event. Beijing says that Tibet was under an uninterrupted series of Chinese governments that has ruled Tibet and China since Genghis Khan In 2005 president Hu Jintao asserted Tibet has been an "inalienable part of Chinese territory" from the time of the Mongol conquest onward. This has been taught to Chinese students since 1912. (Scholarship outside China generally regards Tibet as having been independent during the Ming Dynasty.) = Other perspectives = The UN General Assembly passed resolutions condemning China for "violations of fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people" in 1959, 1961 and 1965. German Federal Parliament held hearings on Tibet on June 19 1995, and passed a resolution on June 20 1996 stating they were "deeply concerned that this independent identity has been threatened by destruction since the Chinese action by brutal force of arms in 1950" and that China had deprived the Tibetans of self-determination. The US Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 1987 reviewed testimony from Tibetans who detailed human rights abuses, resulting in a congressional motion that condemned Chinese actions in Tibet. In 2006 a lawsuit was filed by the Madrid-based Committee to Support Tibet in a Spanish court. The group said that more than one million Tibetans had been killed or gone missing since China occupied Tibet in 1951. //The China Quarterly// notes that there has been "little easing in Chinese repression there nor any improvement in the anti-Chinese attitude of the local population."