Policy Studies 7

The Tibet-China Conflict:History and Polemics

Elliot Sperling

East-West Center Washington

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About this Issue

About the Author

Dr. Elliot Sperling is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Central EurasianStudies at Indiana University at Bloomington.

The status of Tibet has been at the core ofthe Tibet-China conflict for all partiesdrawn into it over the past century. Chinamaintains that Tibet is an integral part ofChina, while Tibetans maintain that Tibet hashistorically been an independent country. Inreality the conflict over Tibet’s status hasbeen a conflict over history. When Chinesewriters and political figures assert that Tibetis a part of China, they do so on the basisof history. The People’s Republic of Chinahas pointedly accused the Dalai Lama ofduplicity, stating that his unwillingness torecognize that Tibet has been an integralpart of China for centuries renders hisattempts to compromise on the Tibet issueunacceptable. The centrality of history inthe question of Tibet’s status could not bemade clearer. This paper is a guide to thehistorical arguments made by the primaryparties to the Tibet-China conflict. It drawson the key assertions about the issue asthey have been framed in Chinese andTibetan to examine the extent to whichpositions on the Tibet issue that arethought to reflect centuries of popularconsensus are actually very recent construc-tions, often at variance with the history onwhich they claim to be based.

ISBN 1-932728-12-0

Previous Issues:Policy Studies 1The Aceh Peace Process: Why it FailedDr. Edward Aspinall, University of SydneyDr. Harold Crouch, Australian National University

Policy Studies 2The Free Aceh Movement (GAM):Anatomy of a Separatist OrganizationDr. Kirsten E. Schulze, London School ofEconomics

Policy Studies 3Security Operations in Aceh:Goals, Consequences, and LessonsDr. Rizal Sukma, Centre for Strategic andInternational Studies - Jakarta

Policy Studies 4Beijing’s Tibet Policy:Securing Sovereignty and LegitimacyDr. Allen Carlson, Cornell University

Policy Studies 5The Papua Conflict:Jakarta’s Perceptions and PoliciesDr. Richard Chauvel,Victoria University-MelbourneDr. Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, Indonesian Institute ofSciences

Policy Studies 6A Violent Separatism in Xinjiang:A Critical AssessmentDr. James Millward, Georgetown University

Forthcoming Titles“The Moro Conflict: Landlessness andMisdirected State Policies”Mr. Eric Gutiereez, Institute for Popular DemocracyDr. Saturnino M. Borras, Institute of Social Sciences-The Hague

“Southern Philippines and the InternationalWar Against Terror”Dr. Christopher Collier,Australian National University