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Saturday, April 12, 2008

Is Tibet Chinese?

The short answer: "Nes." A video, below, is making its rounds on the internet. The video claims that Tibet was, is, always will be part of China. TDAXP does a good job breaking down the video's claims showing how they are half truths.



The short geopolitical history is this: Tibet had an history independent of China up until the end of the first millennium. A few conflicts were waged, including a Muslim/Tibetan alliance against the Han. Unification (in a way) came under the reign of the Mongol Hordes. Both China Proper and Tibet were under the Khans' thumb. Since then Tibet has been a nominal possession with waxing and waning Chinese influence. The early 20th century saw a British invasion which evicted the last few Chinese overlords in Tibet. Tibet may have changed nominal leadership but the geopolitical ground truth stayed the same: feudalistic with large ungoverned spaces featuring roaming bands of thieves. When the People's Republic of China was founded, one of its goals was reunification with Tibet. A quick invasion forced Tibet to accept Communist rule. A failed uprising led to even greater repression.

The demographics of Tibet make it Chinese, in a way. According to the self-declared Government-in-Exile, the Communist government has been involved in population transfers making the demographic makeup more Hai Muslim and Han than Tibetan. This makes Tibet like China as well; multiethnic but ruled by Han. The recent protest in San Francisco showed how many ethnic groups have complaints against Han Communist rule.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

" By looking in the past the world will continued to be host to hate."

Is it a hypocrisy? When you talk about US invasion of Mexico and killings of native Indian, you toned it down; When you talk about Tibet, you flamed the whole issue up by saying Han Chinese is stilling ruling them. Tibet is an autonomous area. The US is a multiethnic country but majority of people who have powers are White. You may argue that Barack Obama will have a great chance of becoming the first black president. Yet, I doubt if could really just help his black citizens.