Tibet and China: An Eternal

Tibet and China: An Eternal and Growing Controversy

Although signs that proclaim 'Free Tibet' are popular on college campuses across the nation, many individuals who hang these likely have little idea what freeing Tibet really means. China's hosting of the Olympics during the summer of 2008 turned the international focus briefly to the issue when pro-independence protesters dotted the road of the torchbearers making their way to Beijing. Even many liberal Chinese were outraged at the sight, as they consider Tibet a part of the Chinese nation, while most of Tibet regards itself as a unique nation-state and a captive of the Republic of China. For human rights activists, the distinct monastic culture and tradition of Tibet are a powerful argument for the need to 'Free Tibet,' in the words of the slogan.

According to this viewpoint, Tibet had long existed as its own separate nation, with a distinct culture and geography, until it was invaded by the People's Republic of China. During the early decades of its existence, the People's Republic, in the name of universal international socialism, strove to extend its control over a wide swath of third-world countries in the region. However, Tibet because of its geographical proximity to China had always enjoyed something of a problematic relationship with mainland China -- the relationship was symbiotic, but not that of an integrated state or province.

Since the very beginnings of relations between the two nations, China has varied widely in its policy, occasionally taking a hands-off attitude to Tibet, at other times enforcing administrative control over the nation. "By the mid-nineteenth century, if not earlier, Manchu Chinese influence was minuscule' (Goldstein & Rimpoche 44). But tensions between Tibet's desire for autonomy and China's leadership have existed as early as the Qing Dynasty: "with the threat posed to their authority by the Dalai Lama, to whom many Qing subjects in both Mongolia and Tibet looked for religious leadership" seen as destabilizing to the authority of the Qing in the neighboring provinces (Waley-Cohen 94). The "elimination of the age-old nomadic threat to their northwest frontiers" was only achieved by the temporary incorporation of Tibet into the Chinese fold (Waley-Cohen 94). Threats posed by Western, Imperialist powers such as France and China only sharpened the desire of the Chinese to continue to have sway over Tibet as a buffer state. And when Tibet was independent during the beginning of the 20th century, when the Japanese military machine severed China's traditional supply routes, the Nationalist Chiang Kai-shek needed a conduit he had sought to create an India-China roadway through Tibet. The nationalist desire to dominate Tibet confirmed the Communist sense that Tibet was necessary to include within their fold to assure their security against internal and foreign invaders.

China thus came to associate control over Tibet with its strength as a nation and resistance to Western imperialism and control over its policy. As the People's Republic secured its power, this "strengthened China's confidence about pursuing a number of other goals in East Asia, among which the resumption of control over Tibet" (Waley-Cohen 253). Tibetan culture and language had always been distinct, yet had always been linked to China -- while the Dali Lama was seen as a worthy one for whom gifts and alms were necessary and the Manchu Emperor was also seen as a revered figure worthy of respect and lay patron, but not a spiritual teacher (Goldstein & Rimpoche 44).

But although it shares some cultural ties and history with China, Tibet today also maintains a distinct cultural, unique identity. Monasticism and the Tibetan Theravada Buddhist tradition in general are integral to Tibetan culture in a way that is anathema to modern, communist China. "During the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese government was responsible for the destruction of more than 6,000 monasteries in Tibet. The contents of these monasteries - religious images and statues - were destroyed or looted, and millions of ancient and priceless manuscripts burnt" (Thurman 9). This hostility continues up to the present day: "In September 2007, State Religious Affairs Bureau Order No. 5 made it illegal for any Tibetan religious leader to recognize reincarnations without their permission and approval" (Thurman 11). Rural Tibet has a startling percentage of individuals who are monks or whose lives revolve around Buddhism, and these ties the Chinese government finds itself continually in the position of thwarting, to uphold the official position of state secularism.