Introduction
By choosing this particular topic, I wanted to consider and analyze the basis of the "Tibetan problem"
Tibet and China have been closely connected with each other since ancient times. Moreover, in the 13th century they together became part of the Mongol Empire and since then have been living as a single state. That is why their history cannot be considered separately from each other.
Purpose of the work: to study the causes of the fundamental problem of Tibet.
Objective: Consider step by step the establishment of close ties between China and Tibet.
For my study, I used the following materials:
Kychanov V.I. History of Tibet from ancient times to the present day. - M .: Eastern Literature, Kozlov P.K., Tibet and the Dalai Lama,
Tibet problem of China / http://www.ng.ru/ideas/2008- 05-16/11_tibet.html
1. Waiting for the Dalai Lama
Relations between the Han and Tibetans, who differ significantly from each other in language, culture, religion, traditions and appearance, did not always develop smoothly and evenly. In the 7th-9th centuries, Tibet remained a rather large independent state, ruled by local princes. Often they were at enmity over pastures, but sometimes they raided neighboring states together, which caused great concern to the Chinese rulers from the Tang dynasty. To secure the western borders, Emperor De Zong even married his daughter Wen Ren to the Tibetan king Songtsen Gambo. It is believed that it was thanks to the Buddhist Wen Ren that Buddhism appeared in Tibet.
The establishment of close ties and family ties between the rulers contributed to the expansion of trade, but did not eliminate possible conflicts. Despite the Tibetan-Chinese peace treaties, the first of which dates back to 641, the expansion of the Tibetans continued. They captured vast areas in western China, seeking to take over the trade routes to Central Asia. In 730 a new treaty was concluded. However, he did not prevent the Tibetans in twenty years from going through half of China and capturing its capital, Chang'an, for a while.
In the second half of the 13th century, the Mongol Khan Kublai completed the conquest of China and moved the capital of his empire to Beijing, initiating the Yuan Dynasty. He favored the Tibetans, whose lands became part of the empire, and spread Lamaism among the Mongols. The Tibetan monk even became his spiritual mentor and religious adviser.
During the Ming Dynasty, Tibet was fragmented into many small destinies. Beijing was completely satisfied with this situation, since it made it possible to restrain some of the overly influential representatives of the Tibetan aristocracy, speaking with separatist sentiments. Adhering to the policy of "divide and rule", the rulers of the Celestial Empire willingly granted high titles to that part of the Tibetan nobility that showed loyalty to the center.
One of the high-profile titles was given to the head of the Gelugpa school, sometimes called the “yellow hat sect.” Its representative Tibetan Sodnam Jamtso became the first Dalai Lama in the 16th century, and this high title was awarded not by Beijing, but by the Oirat Altan Khan. Over time, the Dalai Lama, whose residence was in Lhasa in the thousand-room Potala Palace, concentrated the highest spiritual and political power in Tibet.
The last Qing dynasty in Chinese history came to power in 1644 and retained it until the 1911 revolution. In 1652, the fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang, took an oath of allegiance to the Qing emperor, receiving gold and silver as a reward, which was enough to build 13 new monasteries. From now on, all subsequent reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas were formally approved by the central government of China, which increased its influence in Tibet. And although its inhabitants still enjoyed great autonomy, many of them felt they were under the control of the Celestial Empire. Around this time, the Tibetan fairy tale "About the boy laughing in his sleep" appeared. Her hero “due to special karma managed to overcome many trials and become the ruler of the Great Chinese Empire. He took the daughter of the Northern Regions as his wife, appointed three friends as ministers, and ruled wisely for many years.
2. Independent Tibet.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, Tibet turned out to be a de facto independent state. He, for example, had to deal with the invasion of British troops on his own. China, which lost the "opium wars" to the Europeans, chose not to intervene in the conflict. However, London already in 1906 signed an agreement with Beijing, where it recognized the fullness of its power over Tibet. This allowed the government of the Kuomintang party to call it part of China, although until the middle of the last century, the Tibetans themselves considered themselves independent. Having fenced off from the outside world on all sides by a wall of high mountains and difficult passes, they were able to maintain their traditional way of life. This was facilitated by the policy of the lamas, who closed the entrance to the Tibetan plateau. They feared that intruders, as always, would bring war and destruction. This happened in the 13th century, when the Sultan of Delhi tried to conquer them, and later, when Nepalese troops invaded Tibet twice in the 18th century. The skirmishes with the British Expeditionary Force were also fresh in my memory. In 1903, Tibetans with pikes, catapults and primitive guns fought against modern artillery and machine guns.
Be that as it may, for several decades the Tibetans experienced little or no pressure from China. Their relationship with Peking during this period is best characterized by the words of the teacher Lao Tzu: "The greatest order is in the absence of order." When the leaders of the Communist Party, having come to power in 1949, decided to restore order and regain control over Tibet, the delicate balance was upset.
3. Revolution in Tibet
In 1951, representatives of the Tibetan government signed an agreement in Beijing on measures for the peaceful liberation of Tibet. According to the document, Tibet was granted autonomy in internal affairs and retained the previous system of government, headed by the Dalai Lama, who became vice-chairman of the National People's Congress. The center, in turn, received the right to keep troops on the high plateau, guard the border and conduct foreign policy.
The idyll in relations between Lhasa and Beijing did not last long. The agreements were held until, by the mid-1950s, socialist reforms reached the partially Tibetan Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, and Yun'an, where more than half of all Tibetans lived. Beijing then announced a "class struggle" campaign and proceeded to confiscate land and property from the landowners. Outraged by the violation of their life, which remained virtually unchanged for hundreds of years, and recognizing not only the spiritual, but also the political power of the Dalai Lama, they began to actively fight against innovations.
Gradually, unrest spread to the territories under the rule of Lhasa. In 1956, the leaders of the Ganden, Sera and Drepung monasteries issued a statement demanding that the former feudal system be legally consolidated. They had something to save. For example, Drepung Monastery was one of the largest land holdings in the world. It included 185 estates, 300 huge pastures, on which 25,000 slaves and 16,000 pastoralists worked. All the riches of the monastery were at the disposal of a small number of high lamas.
Secular leaders also did not live in poverty. Thus, the commander-in-chief of the Tibetan army and a member of the government of the Dalai Lama owned 4,000 square kilometers of land and 3,500 serfs.
However, despite all the protests, Beijing continued to redistribute the lands of the nobility and monasteries among their former serfs. The Tibetan aristocracy and clergy responded by demanding that Tibet be granted independence.
On March 10, 1959, the commander of the Chinese military contingent in Tibet invited the Dalai Lama to celebrate the New Year at the military unit. Suspecting that something was wrong, the inhabitants of Lhasa tried to prevent the "kidnapping" of their leader. Tension grew, mass spontaneous rallies began in the city, at which the Tibetans demanded the withdrawal of Chinese troops and the declaration of sovereignty. Thus began the anti-Chinese uprising, which was brutally suppressed by the Chinese army.
On the night of March 17, the Dalai Lama left the palace. Soon, "Lhasa in miniature" appeared on Indian territory in the village of Dharmasala in the foothills of the Himalayas. The Tibetan government-in-exile settled here, which attracted tens of thousands of supporters of the Dalai Lama.
In Tibet, meanwhile, according to Chinese sources, "the revolution was in full swing." The military destroyed "the old Tibet, which was led by lamas who practiced the political system of slavery", and thereby carried out the "peaceful liberation of the Tibetan people, who found true democracy."
The most striking thing is that Chinese researchers exaggerate, if not by much. Vsevolod Ovchinnikov, an international journalist and specialist in East Asia, who visited Tibet for the first time in 1955, wrote: “Tibet appeared before my eyes as an untouched reserve of the Middle Ages. In addition to arable land and pastures, the monasteries also owned farmers and cattle breeders. In addition to religious fanaticism, the feudal-theocratic regime was based on fear and inhuman methods of suppression.
Anna-Louise Strong, in Tibetan Interviews, describes how she visited an exhibition of torture equipment used by Tibetan rulers in 1959: “There were handcuffs of all sizes, including tiny ones for children, tools for cutting off noses and ears, breaking hands and cutting tendons. Photographs and testimonies of victims blinded, maimed or limbless for theft were presented.”
The practice of punishment for criminal and administrative offenses that shocked eyewitnesses was partly due to the fact that Tibet did not have a well-functioning penitentiary system - until 1959 there were two prisons, now there are more than 12. white gloves”, to expose the rule of lamas - adherents of non-violence - in the most unfavorable light for them.
4. Infringement of the rights of the Tibetan people
Meanwhile, the life of the Tibetans under the rule of the Dalai Lama was indeed not easy. What is only a list of taxes that they had to pay to the treasury. In total, about two thousand different taxes were levied in favor of the Tibetan authorities. Among them, Western researchers single out a tax on marriage, the birth of a child and the death of a family member. Serfs paid a tax for planting a tree in their yard and for keeping animals. They paid for their right to dance, ring the bell and play the drums. The tax was imposed on imprisonment and release from it. Those who could not find work paid a tax for being unemployed, and if they went to another village in search of jobs, they paid a bribe for travel and accommodation to the owners of the land. When an army was created in Tibet in 1926 and additional funds were urgently needed, a tax was introduced ... on the ears. The money was raised in just one year.
For those who could not pay taxes, the monasteries lent money at 20–50 percent per annum. Sometimes debts were inherited from father to son, from grandfather to grandson. Debtors who were unable to pay their obligations replenished the army of slaves. With this shameful phenomenon, Beijing also sought to put an end to it once and for all. But along with the socio-economic remnants of the Middle Ages, the unique cultural and religious heritage of the Tibetans also came under attack. By 1962, about 70 monasteries remained in the Tibet Autonomous Region out of the existing 2.5 thousand, more than 90 percent. the monks were expelled. Today, the Dalai Lama, recognizing the modernization role of Beijing in general, does not get tired of talking about the "cultural genocide" of the Tibetans and, demanding greater autonomy for the TAR, calls for the preservation of Tibetan culture and the environment.
5. Achilles heel
The problem is that today the Chinese leadership focuses primarily on leveling the level of economic development in Tibet and other provinces. This task is not easy. It would seem that roads and railways have appeared in Tibet, secular schools have undermined the monopoly of monasteries on education, hospitals, various enterprises and factories are operating, and telecommunications are developing. Former PRC President Jiang Zemin repeatedly stressed: “If there is no stability in the national regions, there will be no stability in the country; if there is no middle class in the national regions, then there will be no middle class in the country either; if modernization is not carried out in the national regions, then it will not be possible to carry it out in China as a whole.”
However, despite a noticeable improvement in the quality of life and economic growth, the "Tibetan problem" remains relevant. Largely due to the fact that Beijing, trying to equalize economic indicators, at the same time erases the pronounced differences between Tibetans and Hans. What annoys Tibetans the most is that trying to preserve their identity is costing them more every day. Education in the Tibetan language is paid, key positions in the management system and business have long been occupied by the Han people who moved to Tibet. In addition, a law was recently passed according to which, without the consent of the central government of the PRC, Tibetans have no right to recognize the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.
China is pouring billions of dollars into Tibet, hoping to win the hearts of its people because well-fed and busy Tibetans are less susceptible to political extremism. However, the result often does not satisfy anyone. The same Lhasa from the city-symbol of Tibetan identity turns into one of the usual Chinese county towns, the main goal of which, apparently, is to become an important transit point. As you know, western China, that is, Tibet and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is not only huge reserves of timber, uranium, gold, coal and water resources (the largest rivers in China and Indochina - the Yellow River, Yangtze, Mekong) originate in Tibet), but also a gateway for the export of Chinese goods and the import of energy from Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. In this sense, these provinces are of great strategic importance for Beijing, which wants to strengthen its political and economic weight in the regional and international arena.
The fact that the local population often reacts with hostility to plans for accelerated modernization, which are often implemented without taking into account their wishes, greatly upsets the Chinese authorities. The problem is not only that the trinity expressed by Jiang Zemin is thus violated. This issue has recently acquired a truly geopolitical sound. It is fundamentally important for Beijing to prove that its Tibetans and Uighurs can live much better than their neighbors from Mongolia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nepal.
Tibet occupies a special place in the People's Republic of China and in the world. One proof of its uniqueness is the existence of the so-called Tibetan issue. At the same time, this question exists in several paradigms, depending on which its interpretation can change dramatically.
In the Chinese paradigm, the Tibetan issue is considered a fabrication of the separatist Tibetan diaspora and forces hostile to China, in the Tibetan one it is a problem of the historical and political status of Tibet.
There are also paradigms of the Tibetan issue as "the politics of the real" (Realpolitik), or the problem of human rights, an exotic land of mystical spirituality (Shangrila), or, conversely, a country where degraded forms of Buddhism are widespread. At the heart of the main paradigms of the Tibetan issue is the conflict over the status of Tibet in relation to China, which is expressed in various forms, but most fiercely in the struggle for the right to represent, or, in other words, the ideological struggle for the right to represent the Tibetan people and their history. The main opponents in this struggle are the PRC government and the Tibetan diaspora represented by 14th Dalai Lama and his governments in exile .
Chinese paradigm
The Chinese paradigm of the Tibetan issue exists at three levels - official, intellectual and mass.
It can be said that all three levels are characterized by the understanding of Tibet as part of China; however, when it comes to more specific issues of history, culture, religion, there are different interpretations. For example, academic researchers are not as categorical as official Beijing in asserting that Tibet has been part of China since Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) .
Among the three levels, the official one is fundamental.
It is based on the concept of a unified China, which has been ruled for thousands of years by successive dynasties of various ethnic groups of a single family of peoples of China. With regard to Tibet, it is argued that, since the Yuan Dynasty, Tibet has always been in some form of formal dependence on the central government that rules China at a given period of history. The understanding of Tibet as part of China in modern times was inherited from Qing Empire Republican China, and from it passed to communist China. During the existence Republic of China (1911-1949) control over Tibet was lost, and only in 1951, on the basis of a written agreement of 17 points, Tibet again "returned to the bosom of a single family of Chinese peoples."
The construction of the image of "Chinese Tibet" (as well as "independent Tibet" in the vision of the Diaspora) is based on simplified symbols, with the help of which the assertion that Tibet is part of China is substantiated.
According to the official propaganda, old Tibet was the epitome of the brutal regime of the feudal lords, the Chinese People's Liberation Army liberated Tibet and brought happiness and prosperity to the Tibetan people.
In order to propagate the official point of view in the PRC, a huge number of television and radio programs have been launched in the media, and popular articles and books are published in huge circulation, which highlight the problems of Tibet. Not a single nationality of China has received such attention from the state. The result of the campaign was a great interest in Tibet on the part of ethnic Chinese, as evidenced, in particular, by the tourist flow that flooded into Tibet, far exceeding foreign ones in number. A network of research centers aimed at studying Tibet has been set up in the PRC, conferences and symposiums have been organized to which foreign scholars are invited, and Chinese Tibetologists take part in foreign conferences. It must be said that
the campaign is bearing fruit - the official image of "Chinese Tibet" is accepted as a whole throughout the country.
As for the Chinese government's external counter-propaganda, it's hard not to note its hefty incompetence. The incessant repetition of the thesis “Tibet is part of China”, the vilification of the Dalai Lama and his “clique”, the image of old Tibet as a society with savage customs, the exorbitant praise of the deeds of the party and government - all this, coupled with spelling errors, causes the external audience to reverse the intended goal. reaction. The attacks on the Dalai Lama, who is very popular in the world, cause particular rejection.
Thus, the symbols of China's political myth-making can be called the image of old Tibet in the form of "hell on earth", the unifying and civilizing mission of China, the liberation of the Tibetan masses from the serfdom, the development and progress of modern Tibet.
These symbols form the image of Tibet in the Chinese representation to this day. However, the emerging trend of an unbiased study of Tibetan problems allows us to hope for a gradual change in this stereotype of Tibet.
Tibetan paradigm
In 1959, as a result of the anti-Chinese Tibetan uprising, about 100,000 Tibetans fled abroad. The refugees included the Dalai Lama and his family, the government of Tibet, the aristocracy and the highest monastic circles, that is, the entire color of the Tibetan elite.
Through their efforts, the world learned about the Tibetans and their struggle for freedom and independence, which aroused sincere sympathy for the culture and religion of Tibet and great interest in the Tibetan issue. It can be said that these works combine in general such powerful symbols as the representation of old Tibet as a harmonious society where religion flourished, harmony reigned between the higher and lower, and the economy was self-sufficient to meet the needs of the population; the illegal nature of the Chinese invasion; destruction of religion and traditional way of life; the just struggle of the Tibetan people for freedom and independence.
The main theses of the Tibetan paradigm are as follows.
Status of Tibet. Tibet has been an independent state throughout its two thousand year history.
During the Mongol Yuan Dynasty and the Manchu Qing, between the lamas, the rulers of Tibet, on the one hand, and the Mongol khans and Manchu emperors, on the other, a unique relationship of spiritual mentor and secular patron developed, which completely lost its significance with the fall of the Qing dynasty.
It is also emphasized that these relations took place between the Tibetans and the Mongols/Manchus, and therefore the Chinese government is not entitled to assert its authority over Tibet based on these relations. After the proclamation Dalai Lama XIII the independence of Tibet in 1912 and the participation of Tibet as an equal representative in the tripartite (China, England, Tibet) conferences in Simla in 1913-1914 and until 1951 Tibet was a completely independent state. That's why,
According to the Tibetan point of view, the introduction of Chinese People's Liberation Army troops into Tibet in 1951 is an act of aggression and illegal occupation of Tibet.
Results of the Chinese occupation. The Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan Youth Congress condemn the national policy of the Chinese government, which, in their opinion, was the forced assimilation of the Tibetan people, and the specific result - genocide comparable to the Nazi extermination of the Jews.
Current position. Sharp criticism of the policy pursued by the central government of the PRC.
According to the diaspora, the current policy favors the Chinese state and Han migrants, while Tibetans are marginalized, Tibet's environment is deteriorating, the Tibetan way of life is disappearing, and the religion and culture of the Tibetan people are gradually fading away.
Resolution of the Tibetan issue. During the first 20 years of emigration (1959-1979), achieving independence for Tibet was considered the main goal in Tibetan emigration circles. Opinions are currently divided considerably. While the Central Tibetan Administration began to adhere to the “middle path” plan, which is to gain full autonomy within the PRC, the Tibetan Youth Congress, many members of the Tibetan parliament and other representatives of the Tibetan diaspora do not abandon the goal of achieving Tibetan independence. In their opinion, independence is possible, since the PRC could disintegrate like the Soviet Union due to economic and social problems.
The 14th Dalai Lama's current tactic is to support the campaign of internationalizing the Tibetan issue by blaming China for human rights violations in order to gain Western support and force China to be more accommodating during negotiations.
Thus, we can say that the construction of the image of "independent Tibet" by the Tibetan diaspora is also based on simplified symbols: old Tibet as an ideal country (Shangrila), illegal occupation, genocide, repression, forced assimilation, a just struggle for human rights, for freedom and independence . The sympathies of the vast majority of people in the world lie with this image of Tibet. However, this stereotype, like the Chinese one, is based on political myth-making and the denial of history.
The Tibetan Question in the West
As you can see, the battle of representations between China and the Tibetan diaspora, or the struggle for the right to represent the interests of Tibet, is very fierce. Moreover, both sides stubbornly insist on their vision of the problem. Who wins this battle of ideas? At first glance, it seems that the Tibetan side, since its arguments look stronger, Beijing is on the defensive, the Dalai Lama enjoys great prestige in the world, rewarding him Nobel Prize And US congressional gold medal- evidence of recognition in the world of the justice of the struggle of the Tibetan people.
In this struggle, the West itself is not an outside spectator, but now its direct participant, as well as the main character in defining the problem.
However, most in the West and in the world do not take into account that behind this ideological battle lies the real question and real politics, which ultimately determine the essence of the problem. The real issue is that Tibet is part of the PRC and no country in the world recognizes the Tibetan government-in-exile as the representative of the Tibetan people. And the real policy is that the Tibetan issue is being used by the West in the fight against China, in which it sees a potential threat to the established world order.
It can be said that the position of the Tibetan diaspora and its supporters, which is based on such concepts as the right of nations to self-determination and human rights, belongs to the ideal space and does not take into account the real totality of all factors. In contrast to the ideal, there is a so-called real question, or an understanding of the world as a global order in which dominant forces dominate, some values prevail over others, realism prevails over idealism, those who have statehood prevail over those who do not have it.
The history of Sino-Tibetan dialogue goes back over 1400 years.
Mass unrest in Tibet, self-immolations of recent years indicate that another crisis has come in Sino-Tibetan relations.
The new leadership of the PRC must understand that the continuation of a policy that results in violence and hostility does not serve the long-term interests of the state. The main key to resolving the Tibetan issue is to find a compromise in the negotiation process as soon as possible. All the hopes of the Tibetans for self-determination, the revival of their religion and culture are associated with the personality of the Dalai Lama, but time is not on his side, which makes the Tibetan issue even more acute. Pragmatic Tibetans understand that they have no chance of fighting on an equal footing with "China-dragon" and that the lives of six million Tibetans cannot be used as a bargaining chip in the political struggle. Undoubtedly, therefore, it is in the interests of the Dalai Lama, Tibet and the Tibetans, China and the Chinese, to find a middle way to resolve the Tibetan issue as soon as possible for the benefit of all parties concerned.
Tibetan issue in Russia
It would seem that the Tibetan issue has little to do with Russian reality. However, it is not.
Tibet and its capital, the city of Lhasa, are places that, despite their remoteness, have always attracted Russians.
Many people know the names of explorers of Inner Asia Nikolay Przhevalsky , Petra Kozlova , Grigory Potanin , Yuri Roerich. It would not be an exaggeration to say that their discoveries were inspired by the desire to get to the coveted capital of the Dalai Lamas, which, unfortunately, was never realized. Tibet is especially close to Russian Buddhists - Buryats, Kalmyks and Tuvans.
At the end of the 17th century, Mongolian and Tibetan monks brought the Buddhist religion to the outskirts of the Russian Empire, and Buryat scientists Gombozhab Tsybikov And Bazaar Baradin became pioneers in the study of this remote region in Russia.
At present, Tibet has acquired another meaning for Russia: the attitude towards Tibet has become a kind of test of the political will of the Russian leadership.
China is our neighbor and strategic partner, which is the reason for the specific attitude of the Russian government towards the Tibetan issue, expressed, in particular, in the repeated refusals of the Russian Foreign Ministry to grant an entry visa to the 14th Dalai Lama.
I myself am a sinologist by profession, and China is almost like my native country for me. However, this position of the Russian government also puzzles me: it turns out that the interests of a strategic partnership with China are more important for the government than the well-being of its own Buddhist citizens, who are deprived of the opportunity to meet with the hierarch of their Buddhist tradition. After all, Buddhism is, in fact, and is officially recognized as one of the traditional religions of our multinational and multi-confessional country. It seems that this problem is by no means secondary, it is very acute and relevant.
In addition, the Chinese experience in resolving the Tibetan issue is very important for our country, since the problem of its unity is no less acute than in China.
Therefore, I would like the authorities to pay attention to these issues.
I would like to hope for something else: the work of scientists, including this lecture, can be useful in establishing true good neighborliness and partnership between the peoples of Russia and China.
Problems of Tibet and Xinjiang
In China, it's even clearer. Since 1688, China has included two-thirds of historical Mongolia. It's called Inner Mongolia. No one has ever granted it autonomy, but the Mongols had and still have cultural autonomy. Even during the years of the “cultural revolution”, this autonomy was not taken away from them. And there are no national problems in Inner Mongolia. Not at all. No attempts to "free themselves from the yoke of China", no desire to join the independent Mongolian Republic.
But in Xinjiang and Tibet, there are separatist sentiments - despite the autonomy granted to the Tibetans, Uighurs and Dungans. To some extent, these sentiments are caused by the way China did things in these areas during the years of the “cultural revolution”. But the desire of the semi-state to become a full-fledged state is also present.
The same problem... Tibet will not have time to "gain independence" - and endless showdowns with the Tanguts, Goloks, Annams, who do not consider themselves Tibetans at all... And are not at all eager to live in national Tibet.
In short, total darkness.
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This problem exists in several paradigms, depending on which its interpretation can change dramatically. Thus, in the Chinese paradigm, the Tibetan issue is considered a fabrication of the separatist-minded Tibetan diaspora and forces hostile to China, in the Tibetan one, it is a problem of the historical and political status of Tibet.
There are also paradigms of the Tibetan issue as "politics of the real" (Realpolitik) or human rights issues, an exotic land of mystical spirituality (Shangrila) or, on the contrary, a country where degraded forms of Buddhism are widespread.
At the heart of the paradigms of the Tibetan issue is the conflict over the status of Tibet in relation to China, which is expressed in various forms, but most fiercely - in the struggle for the right of representation (representation fight) or, in other words, the ideological struggle for the right to represent the Tibetan people and its history. The main opponents in this struggle are the PRC government and the Tibetan diaspora represented by His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama and the government of Tibet in exile (Central Tibetan Administration).
Chinese paradigm
The Chinese paradigm of the Tibetan issue exists on three levels: official, intellectual and mass. We can say that all three levels are characterized by the understanding of Tibet as part of China. Among the three levels, the official one is fundamental. It is based on the concept of a unified China, which has been ruled for thousands of years by successive dynasties of various ethnic groups of a single family of peoples of China. With regard to Tibet, it is argued that since the Yuan Dynasty, Tibet has always been in one form or another formal dependence on the central government that rules China at a given period of history.
The construction of the image of "Chinese Tibet" (Zhongguo Xizang) is based on simplified symbols, with the help of which the assertion that Tibet is part of China is substantiated. According to the official propaganda, old Tibet was the epitome of the brutal regime of the feudal lords, the Chinese People's Liberation Army liberated Tibet and brought happiness and prosperity to the Tibetan people.
In order to propagate the official point of view in the PRC, a huge number of television and radio programs have been launched in the media, and popular articles and books are published in huge circulation, which highlight the problems of Tibet. Not a single nationality of China has received such attention from the state. The result of the campaign was a great interest in Tibet on the part of ethnic Chinese, as evidenced, in particular, by the tourist flow that flooded into Tibet, far exceeding foreign ones in number. It must be said that the campaign is bearing fruit, and the official image of "Chinese Tibet" is accepted in general throughout the country.
Thus, the symbols of China's political myth-making can be called the image of old Tibet in the form of "hell on earth", the unifying and civilizing mission of China, the liberation of the Tibetan masses from the serfdom, the development and progress of modern Tibet.
Tibetan paradigm
In 1959, as a result of the anti-Chinese Tibetan uprising, about 100,000 Tibetans fled abroad. The refugees included the Dalai Lama and his family, the government of Tibet, the aristocracy and the highest monastic circles, that is, the entire color of the Tibetan elite. Through their efforts, the world learned about the Tibetans and their struggle for freedom and independence, which aroused sincere sympathy for the Tibetan issue and great interest in the culture and religion of Tibet.
We can say that this was facilitated by such powerful symbols as the representation of old Tibet as a harmonious society, where religion flourished, harmony reigned between the upper and lower classes, and the economy was self-sufficient to meet the needs of the population; the illegal nature of the Chinese invasion; destruction of religion and traditional way of life; the just struggle of the Tibetan people for freedom and independence.
The main theses of the Tibetan paradigm
Status of Tibet. Tibet has been an independent state throughout its 2,000-year history. During the Yuan (Mongols, 1279-1368) and Qing (Manchus, 1644-1911) dynasties, between the lamas-rulers of Tibet, on the one hand, and the Mongol khans and Manchu emperors, on the other, a unique relationship of spiritual mentor and secular patron developed, which completely lost their importance with the fall of the Qing Dynasty.
According to the Tibetan point of view, the introduction of Chinese People's Liberation Army troops into Tibet in 1951 is an act of aggression and illegal occupation of Tibet.
Results of the Chinese occupation. The Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan Youth Congress denounce the national policy of the Chinese government, which, in their opinion, was the forced assimilation of the Tibetan people, and the specific result was genocide comparable to the Nazi extermination of the Jews.
Current position. According to the diaspora, the current policy favors the Chinese state and Han migrants, while the Tibetans themselves are marginalized, the Tibetan environment is deteriorating, the Tibetan way of life is disappearing, the religion and culture of the Tibetan people are gradually fading away.
Resolution of the Tibetan issue. Currently, the Central Tibetan Administration adheres to the "middle way" plan, which consists in gaining full autonomy within the PRC. Dharamsala's current tactic is to support the internationalization campaign of the Tibetan issue by accusing China of human rights violations in order to gain Western support and force China to be more accommodating during negotiations.
Thus, we can say that the construction of the image of "independent Tibet" by the Tibetan diaspora is also based on simplified symbols - old Tibet as an ideal country (Shangrila), illegal occupation, genocide, repression, forced assimilation, a just struggle for human rights, for freedom and independence . The sympathies of the vast majority of people in the world lie with this image of Tibet. However, in our opinion, this stereotype, like the Chinese one, is built on political myth-making and the denial of history.
The Tibetan Question in the West
As you can see, the battle of representations between China and the Tibetan diaspora, or the struggle for the right to represent the interests of Tibet, is very fierce. Who wins this battle of ideas?
At first glance, it seems that the Tibetan side, since its arguments look stronger, Beijing is on the defensive, the Dalai Lama enjoys great prestige in the world, awarding His Holiness the Nobel Prize and the Gold Medal of the US Congress is evidence of recognition in the world of the justice of the struggle of the Tibetan people. In this struggle, the West itself is not an outside spectator, but now its direct participant, as well as the main character in defining the problem.
What most people in the world don't realize, however, is that behind this ideological battle lies the "real" issue and the "real" politics that ultimately define the essence of the problem. The real issue is that Tibet is part of the PRC and no country in the world recognizes the Tibetan government-in-exile as the representative of the Tibetan people. And the real policy is that the Tibetan issue is being used by the West in the fight against China, in which it sees a potential threat to the established world order.
Tibetan issue in Russia
It would seem that the Tibetan issue has little to do with Russian reality. However, we think that this is not the case. Tibet and its capital, Lhasa, are places that, despite their remoteness, have always attracted Russians. Everyone knows the exploits of the tireless explorers of Inner Asia N.M. Przhevalsky, P.K. Kozlova, G.N. Potanina, Yu.N. Roerich. It would not be an exaggeration to say that their great discoveries were inspired by the desire to get to the cherished capital of the Dalai Lamas, which, unfortunately, was never realized.
Tibet is especially close to Russian Buddhists - Buryats, Kalmyks and Tuvans. At the end of the XVII century. Mongolian and Tibetan monks brought the Buddhist religion to the outskirts of the Russian Empire, and Buryat scientists G. Tsybikov and B. Baradin became pioneers in the study of this remote region in Russia. At present, Tibet has acquired another meaning for Russia: the attitude towards Tibet has become a kind of test of the political will of the Russian leadership.
In 2008, I happened to be a spectator of the presentation of the Gold Medal of the US Congress to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. True, not from the hall of the Rotunda of the Capitol, but from the screen on the western slope of the Capitol Hill, where, on a solemn occasion, a huge number of Tibetans and friends of Tibet gathered.
After the ceremony was over, the Dalai Lama descended, accompanied by film actor Richard Gere, officials from the American establishment and the Tibetan government-in-exile, and addressed the gathering with a short speech. It was encouraging to see how His Holiness is honored and respected in America, how proud the Tibetans are of their leader, and how grateful they are for the support they receive in the Western world.
Our situation is completely different. China is our neighbor and strategic partner, which determines the specific attitude of the Russian government towards the Tibetan issue, which is expressed, in particular, in the repeated refusals of the Russian Foreign Ministry to grant an entry visa to the 14th Dalai Lama.
I myself am a sinologist by profession, and China for me is almost my native country. However, this position of the Russian government also puzzles me: it turns out that the interests of a strategic partnership with China are more important for the government than the well-being of its own Buddhist citizens, who are deprived of the opportunity to meet with the hierarch of their Buddhist tradition.
After all, Buddhism is, in fact, and is officially recognized as one of the traditional religions of our multinational and multi-confessional country. It seems that this problem is by no means a secondary one, it is very acute and relevant. In addition, the Chinese experience in resolving the Tibetan issue is very important for our country, since the problem of its unity is no less acute than in China. Therefore, I would like the authorities to pay attention to these issues.
One of the most significant geopolitical problems in Central Asia up to the present time remains the “Tibetan issue”. Despite the fact that the ancient land of Tibet, sacred to Buddhists, is not a "hot spot" similar to the centers of the Middle East or Afghan conflicts, there is practically no Tibetan terrorism, unlike neighboring Muslims - the Uighurs, who are also fighting for the independence of East Turkestan, the Tibetan issue concludes a tangle of extremely dangerous contradictions of a political, military, ethno-confessional nature.
Officially, the Tibetan issue is just over sixty years old. The countdown begins with the invasion of the Chinese People's Liberation Army into the territory of virtually independent Tibet in 1950. Since that time, radical political, economic, cultural changes have radically transformed the very nature of social life in Tibet, which has remained virtually unchanged for more than a millennium, forced all active adherents of the preservation of traditions to emigrate, led by the 14th Dalai Lama himself, the head of the spiritual hierarchy of Tibet, and the world community, represented by Western countries and China's regional opponents, is given reason to assert that an act of occupation of a sovereign state has been committed. In fact, the Tibetan issue is much longer and goes into the depths of the centuries-old relationship between the two closest neighbors - Tibet and China, or rather the states that existed on its territory.
Origins of the Tibetan theocracy
By the way, the political system that existed in the region before its capture by the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China owes Tibet to China (more precisely, one of the imperial dynasties) and owes it. When the dominance of the Yuan dynasty was established in China in the 13th century, representatives of the latter also paid attention to the closest western neighbor of the empire - Tibet, which by that time had been split into separate possessions. Of course, the Yuan dynasty can hardly be called Chinese - by ethnic origin, its emperors ascended to the Mongols and represented one of the branches of the Genghisides, however, since China was repeatedly ruled by foreign dynasties of Jurchen, Mongolian, Manchu origin, and it is impossible to delete the years of rule of these dynasties from the history of the country, there is every reason call the Yuan Dynasty Chinese. So, Emperor Khubilai, the most famous representative of the Yuan dynasty, who ruled China in 1294-1307, appointed the head of the Tibetan Buddhist school Sakya Phagba Lama as the actual head of the provinces of Wu, Kam and Tsang, which constituted the territory of Tibet. Phagba Lama, Khubilai's spiritual mentor, who converted the emperor to Buddhism, thus became the first theocratic ruler of Tibet. The system, under which both spiritual and secular power in Tibet was concentrated in the hands of the leader of one of the Buddhist schools, lasted more than six centuries.
In 1578, the Mongol Khan Altyn Khan gave preference to a younger than Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism - Gelugpa. The head of the Gelugpa school, Sonam Gyatso, received the title of Dalai Lama from the Khan, thereby opening the first page of the centuries-old rule over Tibet by the Dalai Lamas, who are considered living incarnations of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (a bodhisattva is a person who aspires to become a Buddha and renounces the world in the name of saving all living beings from the "wheel of rebirth").
During several centuries of the reign of the Dalai Lamas in Tibet, life here was practically mothballed. Social and economic relations, not to mention the spiritual and cultural component of the life of Tibetan society, remained unchanged. The privileged part of the population was considered the clergy, especially its highest category - "tulkus", that is, "rebirths" of Buddhist bodhisattvas, founders of spiritual schools, famous monks. In 1717, the Chinese Qing dynasty, also of foreign, Manchu origin, like Yuan, who professed Buddhism, was forced to bring Chinese troops into Tibet, who performed the function of protecting the country's territory from the raids of the Mongol khans. Since then, for two hundred years, a Chinese governor and a small military garrison remained in Tibet. Periodically, the Chinese intervened to restore political order in the territory of Tibet, to prevent attacks by the Mongols from the north or by the Nepalese Gurkhas from the south, but in internal affairs, Tibet remained in fact a completely independent state.
Until the end of the 19th century, Tibet, which was in relative isolation from the rest of the world, functioned "in itself", maintaining close ties only with China and the nearest regions, the population of which professed Tibetan Buddhism - with the Mongol khanates, the Himalayan kingdoms and the principalities of Ladakh, Zaskar, Mustang, Bhutan, Sikkim, etc. The situation changed as interest in the region grew on the part of the world's major powers - Great Britain and the Russian Empire. For Britain, which by that time had taken possession of the Hindustan peninsula, Tibet was seen as a strategically important outpost for further penetration into China and Central Asia. The Russian Empire, in turn, tried to resist this, using as conductors of its influence in Tibet, including Russian citizens of Buryat and Oirat-Kalmyk origin, who professed Buddhism.
Eventually, the warring parties at several conferences on Tibet in the early 20th century recognized the suzerainty of the Chinese Qing Empire over the Tibetan region and renounced their claims to its territory. Although, of course, both the British and Russian authorities did not really lose interest in Tibet, especially in the context of the gradual weakening of the Qing Empire. After the Qing Empire finally collapsed in 1913, the 13th Dalai Lama Thupten Gyatso, then ruling in Tibet, proclaimed the state sovereignty of Tibet. Thus, almost forty years - from 1913 to 1950. Tibet existed as an independent state. During this period, the country maintained external relations with China, Mongolia, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and Great Britain. Thus, the British, taking advantage of the First World War and the collapse of the Russian Empire, were all able to get ahead of Russia, and then the USSR, in asserting political influence in Tibet.
Independent Tibet
During the entire period of its sovereign existence in the first half of the 20th century, Tibet remained an equally conserved state, life in which was regulated by legal principles laid down during the reign of King Songtsen Gampo, who ruled in 604-650. AD Naturally, the immutability of the political-administrative, legal, social system had a corresponding effect on the general level of development of the Tibetan statehood. There were no modern communications in the country, a full-fledged army, but there were such remnants of the medieval past as slavery, corporal punishment, cruel methods of executing criminals. The land of the country was divided between the monasteries, which were the largest landowners (37% of the land), the feudal aristocracy and the government of the Dalai Lama. Entire regions of Tibet, due to the lack of a developed network of communications, were in fact completely independent in their affairs and the abbots of local monasteries or feudal princelings remained all-powerful rulers on their territory. On the scale of the country, the absolute fullness of power belonged to the Dalai Lama, who appointed four "Kalons" - members of the Tibetan government, called Kashag.
However, it cannot be said that the 13th Dalai Lama did not seek to modernize certain spheres of life in Tibetan society. At least in the period from 1913 to 1926. A number of measures were taken to strengthen the army, law enforcement system, and education. These measures were taken, first of all, on the instructions of the British residency, which gained real influence in Tibet after the declaration of its independence and sought to strengthen the position of the Dalai Lama as an alternative to Soviet influence in the region. A 5,000-strong Tibetan army of a new type was created, some of whose servicemen received combat training in India. To maintain order in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, a police force was formed, led by visiting specialist Sonam Ladenla, who previously led the Darjeeling police in Sikkim. By the way, before the creation of the police in 1923, all police functions in the country were performed by landowners and the leadership of monasteries. In 1922, the first telegraph line "Lhasa - Gyantse" was opened, in 1923 the first secular school was opened in the city of Gyantse.
However, the system of financing modernization measures was impressive. From 1914, new taxes were introduced in the country - first on salt, hides and wool, then on tea, the poll tax, and taxes on the ears and nose. The last tax was an unconditional "achievement" of the Tibetan theocracy: after its introduction, households had to pay a certain amount in silver for each ear of a person or pet, and the earless were exempt from the tax. The tax on the ears supplemented the tax on the nose, according to which long-nosed people were charged a larger amount than flat-nosed people. Despite the comical nature of these taxes, in reality, these innovations were hardly to the liking of the Tibetan population.
On the other hand, the modernization initiatives of the 13th Dalai Lama were negatively perceived by the conservative part of the high-ranking clergy. When in 1924 the wind broke the branches of a weeping willow near Jokan Monastery, and in 1925 a smallpox epidemic broke out in Lhasa, the conservative clergy unequivocally interpreted these events as a response to reforms. The Dalai Lama had no choice but to disband the police, reduce the army and close the secular school, returning to the previous thousand-year model of the Tibetan society. However, the Dalai Lama himself was convinced of the need for reforms, since he foresaw the possible collapse of the Tibetan statehood in the foreseeable future, and it was precisely with the aim of preventing it that he had previously insisted on improving the army and creating a police force. He owns the largely prophetic words spoken in 1933: “Very soon in this country (with a harmonious combination of religion and politics) treacherous actions will happen, both from the outside and from the inside. At this time, if we do not dare to defend our territory, our spiritual personalities, including the Victorious Father and Son (Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama) may be destroyed without a trace, the property and authority of our Lakangs (residences of reincarnated lamas) and monks may be selected. In addition, our political system, designed by the Three Great Dharma Lords, will disappear without a trace. The property of all people, high and low, will be taken away, and people will be forced to become slaves. All living beings will have to endure endless days of suffering and will be riddled with fear. Such a time is coming."
The period of the last seventeen years of the existence of sovereign Tibet - from 1933 to 1950. - was characterized by events such as the death of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1933, the creation of a regime of temporary regents who were to rule until the search for and coming of age of a new Dalai Lama, and periodic wars with Chinese generals on the eastern borders of Tibet. Since the new 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, born in 1935, "discovered" in 1937 as a reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama, and formally elevated to the rank of spiritual leader in 1940, was still a child, Tibet was plagued by ongoing political tensions between aristocrats who claimed to leading positions in the court of the Dalai Lama. In 1947, the situation escalated to the limit - the regent Ngavan Sunrabon received a parcel with a grenade, there were armed skirmishes between the regent's people and supporters of his opponent Jampel Yeshe.
Meanwhile, in the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communists, which had torn apart the territory of China for a long time, the Communist Party of China gained the upper hand. The CCP's position on Tibet remained adamant - Tibet is an integral historical part of China and will sooner or later be reunited with the Chinese state. It is noteworthy that this position found its supporters in Tibet as well. In particular, the 9th Panchen Lama, the second most influential person after the Dalai Lama in the spiritual hierarchy of Tibetan Buddhism and a longtime rival of the Dalai Lama, was guided by China. As early as 1923, as a result of conflicts with the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama left for China, where the Kuomintang government appointed him "commissioner for the western borders." The Panchen Lama X, who succeeded him after his death, who was 10 years old in 1949, officially welcomed the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (of course, this choice was made by his entourage).
Accession to China
On October 7, 1950, 40,000 units of the People's Liberation Army of China (PLA) entered Tibet from the provinces of Qinghai and Xinjiang. Naturally, the Tibetan army, which consisted of only 8,500 troops, poorly armed and untrained, could not offer full-fledged resistance. Moreover, not all Tibetans were in the mood for hostilities; on the contrary, many saw Chinese expansion as a solution to the country's internal problems. More than three thousand Tibetan soldiers and monks went over to the side of the PLA, and on October 11, the whole 9th battalion of the Tibetan army in full force. In December 1950, the fifteen-year-old Dalai Lama XIV left Lhasa with his retinue and moved to the Donkar Monastery. In parallel, negotiations began on the peaceful liberation of Tibet. Since Tibet was unable to continue armed resistance, and the support of world powers that were in no hurry to quarrel with China and the Soviet Union standing behind it, which won the war against the Nazis five years ago, the Dalai Lama could not enlist, the Tibetan leadership had no there is no other way out, how to make concessions to China and agree to the inclusion of Tibet in its composition as an autonomous entity, while maintaining full internal sovereignty.
The Tibetan side put forward the following demands: the complete internal independence of Tibet, the absence of Chinese troops on its territory, the preservation of the Tibetan army, the presence of a Chinese representative in Lhasa with no more than 100 guards, and the representative must be a Buddhist by religion. As a result of the negotiations, Tibet made concessions - all military and foreign policy issues were transferred to the competence of the PRC, a military district was created in Tibet and the PLA contingent was stationed. At the same time, China promised to preserve the political and social system of Tibet. On May 23, 1951, the agreement was signed. So Tibet became a national autonomous region within the PRC, although for some time after the introduction of Chinese troops it still retained the remnants of internal autonomy. In parallel, the PRC began the creation of Tibetan national autonomous regions within the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan, where a significant number of Tibetan-speaking populations who professed Lamaism traditionally lived.
After the establishment of Chinese rule over Tibet, the Dalai Lama headed the autonomous region. However, China, of course, was not really going to keep the political system of Tibet in an unshakable state, especially since it did not fit into the framework of the communist ideology, which the Chinese leadership was guided by. Gradually, a significant number of Chinese began to penetrate into Tibet - both military personnel and civilians, sent to propagate communist ideology and atheism. Naturally, this situation did not suit the Tibetan clergy and a significant part of the Tibetans, who were under the complete influence of the Dalai Lama. On the territory of the ancient provinces of Kham and Amdo, now part of the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai, the atheization of the Tibetan population was in full swing, which led to an uprising of believers and a massive outflow of refugees to Tibet, which still enjoyed a certain autonomy. A real guerrilla war unfolded on the territory of the southern regions of Tibet. Partisan detachments with a total strength of 80 thousand people acted against the PLA, which were fed by new people who fled from Chinese repression in the provinces of Gansu and Qinghai.
Guerrilla warfare in Tibet
On March 10, 1959, on the day of the religious holiday Monlam, a popular uprising broke out in Tibet, organized by Kama and Amdos refugees. The rebels seized a number of important buildings and attacked Chinese military and civilian administrative facilities. On March 28, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai announced that ""Most of the local Tibetan government kalons and the reactionary clique at the top of Tibet, colluding with imperialism and gathering rebellious bandits, rebelled, harmed the people, took the Dalai Lama with them, and disrupted the Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, consisting of 17 articles, and on the night of March 19 led a broad offensive by local Tibetan troops and rebels against the People's Liberation Army in Lhasa. The uprising lasted 20 days, and on March 30 was crushed by the People's Liberation Army of China. However, in the southern and central regions of Tibet, the guerrilla war against the Chinese authorities continued, which lasted until the end of the 1970s.
As a result of the suppression of the uprising, 87 thousand Tibetans were destroyed, 25 thousand were arrested. The 14th Dalai Lama and his supporters fled the country to neighboring India, Nepal and Bhutan. A mass exodus of believing Tibetans, mainly representatives of the clergy and aristocracy, began from Tibet to other states. In total, over 80,000 Tibetans emigrated during 1959. The Dalai Lama, based in India, announced the creation of a "Tibetan government in exile." Thus, the uprising, which pursued the goal of liberating Tibet from Chinese rule, actually turned out to be beneficial precisely to the Chinese authorities. Indeed, after its suppression, the regime of autonomous rule of the Dalai Lama was liquidated, destroyed or expelled from the country, the active core of the anti-Chinese opposition. China received a "broad corridor" for the final modernization of Tibet along the lines of the rest of the country's provinces and the establishment of communist ideology and an atheistic worldview on its territory. On the territory of Tibet, repressions began against the lamaist clergy, as well as the believing population. Monasteries were closed, monks were either "re-educated" or destroyed. The pre-1959 pre-1959 local governments were dissolved and their functions transferred to Chinese committees composed of PLA troops and communist Tibetans.
Supporters of the independence of Tibet counted on assistance from Western states, but, according to the Tibetan leaders, it was not provided in the proper amount. US intelligence agencies trained small groups of Tibetans in Colorado and on Sailan Island in the Pacific Ocean, after which they were airlifted into Tibet. In the 1960s Tibetan partisans began training in a training camp in the Mustang Kingdom in Nepal. However, detachments of partisans thrown into the territory of Tibet, armed with rifles, carbines, mortars, were very soon destroyed by superior units of the Chinese army.
Nevertheless, the United States did not increase the volume of military aid to the Tibetan guerrillas, since in reality they were interested not so much in the sovereignty of Tibet, but in weakening the Chinese positions in the region.
Until the end of the 1960s. up to 30-40 thousand partisans operated in southern Tibet, underground organizations in large cities of Tibet continued to function until 1976. However, they no longer posed a real danger to the established power in Tibet of the Communist Party of China. In particular, given that most of the Tibetan population over the past years managed to get used to Chinese rule, many Tibetans joined the ranks of the PLA, made military and party careers and no longer thought about returning to the country's former socio-political structure. US CIA assistance to the Tibetan guerrillas was also gradually curtailed, especially after China fell out with the Soviet Union and became one of the key opponents of the USSR in the world communist movement.
However, the suppression of the guerrilla war in Tibet did not mean a final solution to the Tibetan issue, as well as the termination of the resistance of the Tibetans to the Chinese authorities. So, in 1987-1989. The Tibet Autonomous Region of China, as Tibet has been called since 1965, was shaken by a wave of riots. Starting with a demonstration of monks in Lhasa on September 27, 1987, the riots spread not only to the territory of the Tibet region, but also spread to the neighboring provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu and Yunnan, where there is also a significant Tibetan population. As a result of the riots, from 80 to 450 people died (according to various sources). Another uprising broke out in March 2008 when Tibetan monks marched to commemorate the expulsion of the Dalai Lama. The crowd of young people who supported them began to smash Chinese shops and institutions. Several people died. As a result of the speeches, 6,500 Tibetans were arrested, four were sentenced to death. The unstable political situation in the region forced the Chinese leadership to significantly increase the number of prisons and camps in Tibet and neighboring provinces: there are 25 prisons and camps in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and 32 more in the neighboring Qinghai province.
Who benefits from the Tibetan issue
Stimulation of anti-Chinese actions in Tibet is carried out, first of all, by the 14th Dalai Lama and his entourage. Settled in India, the Dalai Lama naturally hopes for the return of Tibet's independence, arguing that Chinese rule is destroying the culture and religion of the Tibetan people. In many ways, he is right - the policy of modernizing the Tibetan society has really changed Tibet beyond recognition, eliminated many of the traditional foundations of the life of the Tibetan society. At the same time, it is difficult to assert that it was during the period of sixty years of Chinese rule in Tibet that the quality of life of the Tibetan population increased many times over. Secular educational institutions, enterprises, modern social and communication infrastructure, healthcare were created - that is, everything that the Tibetans were deprived of during the years of independence.
On the other hand, many Tibetans, especially members of the clergy, do not like China's policy of undermining the role of Lamaism in the public life of the region. These sentiments play into the hands of several world and regional powers at once. Firstly, Delhi is interested in the independence of Tibet, since this way out is optimal for creating a buffer state between India and China. Secondly, it is difficult to deny the interest of the United States, which is one of China's main geopolitical rivals, in undermining political and social stability in China. Finally, Japan also sees support for the Tibetan liberation movement as an opportunity to weaken China's position in Asia.
For the collapse of the Chinese state, or at least its significant destabilization, the United States will use, first of all, two key instruments of pressure - the Tibetan issue and the Uighur issue. At the same time, the United States, of course, has no interest in creating strong and independent states on the territory of the modern Tibet Autonomous Region and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The liberation movements in these territories for the American intelligence services are only an instrument of pressure on China, therefore, by supporting the Tibetan or Uighur oppositionists, the Americans pursue their own goals, although they cover them up with arguments about human rights and national self-determination. However, neither the United States nor other states are going to openly quarrel with China, so all Tibetan delegations arriving in the United States or Great Britain for support receive an answer that Tibet is part of China, but there is “concern about human rights on its territory.”
The Tibetan independence movement is supported by a significant part of the Western public. This is due, first of all, to the widespread interest in Buddhism, Tibet and Tibetan culture among the educated sections of the American and European population. Richard Gere, Harrison Ford, Sting and other world-class media personalities spoke out in support of Tibetan independence. A very large number of Americans and Europeans, and now Russians, have adopted Tibetan Buddhism and recognize the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader. Accordingly, they support his position, primarily guided by their worldview and confessional choice, and not by considerations of socio-political expediency, the benefit of sovereignty to the Tibetan people themselves.
The ideas of the American and European public about Tibet are largely based on the romanticization of life in this country before its inclusion in the PRC. Tibet is portrayed as a mythical fantasy land without violence, ruled by wise Buddhist lamas, although such an idealization is very far from reality. At least the Russian-language sources of travelers who visited Tibet at the beginning of the 20th century (and these are the memories of the Buryat Gombozhab Tsybikov, the famous orientalist Yuri Roerich - the son of the no less famous artist Nicholas Roerich) testify to the social backwardness, poverty of the majority of the population, the cruelty of the authorities in the then sovereign Tibet. The denial of China's real merit in providing the Tibetan population with modern social benefits, including access to education and health care, the eradication of slavery and feudal relations in the region, seems to be either the result of ignorance or a deliberate distortion of facts. Moreover, the mass support in the West of the movement for the independence of Tibet in reality only dooms the region to a tougher domestic policy of China, for which the position of the Western public on Tibet is evidence of the engagement of the Tibetan movement for independence by the Western powers and their special services.
As for Russia's position on the Tibetan issue, it should be remembered that Russia is a neighbor and strategic partner of the PRC, which encourages the Russian leadership to keep a distance from the Tibetan national movement. Thus, the Dalai Lama was regularly denied permission to visit the territory of the Russian Federation, although in Russia in three republics - Kalmykia, Buryatia and Tuva, as well as in the Irkutsk and Chita regions - there is a significant number of Buddhists - representatives of the indigenous population of these regions. Buddhism of the Gelugpa school, headed by the Dalai Lama, is recognized as one of the four traditional confessions of the Russian Federation. Naturally, the Buddhists of Russia have the right to see their spiritual leader, but allowing the Dalai Lama to enter the country could complicate relations with China, and Moscow is well aware of these consequences.
Obviously, the Tibetan issue needs a political solution, since any other outcome will only bring grief and suffering to the Tibetan people and other peoples of the region and will in no way contribute to the true prosperity of this ancient land. Since the history of relations between China and Tibet has more than a thousand years, we can say that the Tibetan issue in its current form is only one of the stages of centuries-old communication. It is likely that the harmonization of relations between the Tibetans - supporters of the traditional model of development, and the Chinese government would have come much faster if the American, British, and Indian authorities had not aggravated the situation, in fact, fueling and stimulating the destabilization of the political situation in Tibet.
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