CHINA-ANNIVERSARY/TIBET China's Tibetan Autonomous Region turns 50

Record ID: 135987

  • Title: CHINA-ANNIVERSARY/TIBET China's Tibetan Autonomous Region turns 50
  • Date: 1st September 2015
  • Summary: UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION, CHINA (FILE - UNKNOWN DATE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) IMAGE SHOWING MAO AND THE DALAI LAMA SITTING
  • Embargoed: 16th September 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1UCYKXJZVE1UKP83MJWMV49CJ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
    Set against a backdrop of renewed official calls for an unceasing fight against separatism, China's Tibetan Autonomous Region turned 50 on Tuesday (September 1).
    Spanning over 1,200,000 square kilometres (460,000 sq mi), the region was formed in 1965, six years after the Dalai Lama fled to India following an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
    At the heart of the conflict over Tibet's status within China is the historical relationship.
    The Chinese government and Tibet's government-in-exile offer competing versions of whether the remote, mountainous territory was historically ruled as part of China, or whether it has legitimate claims to independence or autonomy.
    China maintains it "peacefully liberated" Tibet in 1950. Under an agreement signed in 1951, China pledged to keep Tibet's traditional government and religion in place. But Communist land reform and collectivisation left the region in turmoil.
    Following his flight to India, in 1979, the Dalai Lama, who had by then established a government-in-exile, abandoned claims of independence.
    He has since advocated a "Middle Way" approach that calls for political autonomy for Tibet under Beijing's rule. Beijing dismisses the "Middle Way" as a sham and says the Dalai Lama has not truly abandoned independence.
    China says it guarantees freedom of religion in today's Tibet and that its rule ended serfdom and brought development to a backward, poverty-stricken region.
    "The living standards in general in Tibet has improved profoundly so all these achievements are obvious to anyone who wants to look at the Tibetan situation with objectivity," said Victor Gao, director of the China National Association Of International Studies and former translator for former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.
    Activists and Tibetans in exile have long maintained that autonomy in the Tibetan Autonomous Region exists in name alone. The only legal authority is China's Communist Party, and the Region's top official, the Communist Party chief, is traditionally Han Chinese. Cadres are elected by a rubber-stamp Peoples' Congress.
    Many Tibetans chafe under Chinese rule, and what many say are the restrictions it places on their religion and culture.
    In March 2008, these frustrations saw monk-led protests in the provincial capital Lhasa give way to violent anti-Chinese riots that killed 19 people and triggered unrest in other ethnically Tibetan areas of neighbouring provinces, such as Xiahe, in neighbouring Gansu Province.
    The years following the riots saw an upsurge in self-immolations, though most of the burnings have happened in heavily Tibetan areas outside of what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region.
    China blamed the riots on separatist forces backed by the Dalai Lama, a claim he and human rights groups have strongly denied.
    "So the problem is really you have long-standing human rights violations, you have ethnic discrimination against Tibetans and you have economic development that is visible but may actually not really directly benefit Tibetans, and in any case they don't have a voice in how this development is happening," said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty International's East Asia Director.
    The number of self-immolations has fallen in the past couple of years after the Chinese government implemented strict penalties for those accused of assisting self-immolators, said Bequelin.
    In the run up to the anniversary, President Xi Jinping said the government will wage an unceasing fight against separatism in the region, as Beijing repeated it would never accept exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's genuine autonomy proposals.
    "Why the Chinese state chooses to focus on anti-separatism as the core of its policies is really simply a politically expedient way to silence any dissent and criticism on the plateau," said Bequelin.
    Xi called for efforts to promote patriotism among the Tibetan Buddhist circle and effectively manage monasteries in the long run, encouraging interpretations of religious doctrines that are compatible with a socialist society, state media said.
    There should also be more campaigns to promote ethnic unity and promote a sense of belonging to the same Chinese nationality, he added.
    Tibet remains under heavy security, with visits by foreign media tightly restricted, making an independent assessment of the situation difficult.
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