Table Of ContentCHINA'S TIBET POLICY
Durham East Asia Series
Edited from the Department ofEast Asian Studies
University ofDurham
The Book of Changes (Zhouyi)
Bronze Age document translated with introduction and notes
Richard Rutt (1996)
Strengthen the Country and Enrich the People
The reform writings of Ma ]ianzhong (1845-1900)
Paul Bailey (1998)
China: a Historical and Cultural Dictionary
Michael Dillon (1998)
Korea: a Historical and Cultural Dictionary
Keith Pratt and Richard Rutt (1999)
State Formation in Korea
Historical and archaeological perspectives
Gina L. Barnes (2001)
China's Tibet Policy
Dawa Norbu (2001)
CHINA'S TIBET POLICY
Dawa Norbu
CURZON
First Published in 2001
by Curzon Press
Richmond, Surrey
http://www.curzonpress.co.uk
(' 2001 Dawa Norbu
Typeset in Sabon by LaserScript Ltd, Mitcham, Surrey
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
TJ International, Padstow, Cornwall
All rights reserved. No partofthis book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Library ofCongress Cataloguing in Publication Data
Acatalogue record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-7007-0474-4
For Rinchen Lhamo
Contents
Acknowledgements IX
List ofTables XllI
Map ofTibet and Her Neighbours XIV
Introduction 1
PART I Patterns of the Sino-Tibetan Past and Current Political
Realities
1 The Origins of Tribute Relations and the Buddhist Factor in
Sino-Barbarian Relations 15
2 The Warrior Kings of Tibet (624-842 AD) and Tang China
(618-756 AD): The Strategic Factor 33
3 The Song Dynasty (960-1126) and the Buddhist Revolution in
Tibet (842-1247): A Period of Benign Neglect 39
4 The Mongol Empire (1207-1368) and the Sakya Lamas
(1244-1358): The Buddhist Factor in Operation 44
5 The Confucian Restoration in Ming China (1368-1662) and the
Refeudalization ofPost-Sakya Tibet (1337-1565): The Role of
Karmapa in Tibetan Politics 55
6 The Manchu Empire (1662-1912) and the Gelugpa Hegemony
(1642-1950): The Indigenous Instruments of Indirect Rule 65
7 The Rise of the Han Nation and the End of Indirect
Rule: The Consequences of Non-Change in Tibet 86
8 The Anatomy of Tibetan Autonomy: An Agenda for the
Twenty-first Century 100
VB
Contents
PART II China and Tibet in War and Peace
9 The Warrior Kings of Tibet and the Tang Dynasty 125
10 Imperial China and the Lama Rulers: Imperial Power, a
Non-coercive Regime and Military Dependency 137
11 British Interpretations of Sino-Tibetan Relationships:
The Genesis of Tibetan "Autonomy" and Chinese "Suzerainty" 148
PART III Tibet in Communist China
12 The Problematics ofthe Sino-Tibetan Agreement of 1951 179
13 The 1959 Revolt: In Defence of the Value System 210
14 The Political Economy of Communist Rule: Strategic
Developments 1951-1998 228
PART IV Tibet in International Politics
15 The Tibet Factor in Sino-American Relations 1948-1998:
From Secret Service to Public Pressure 263
16 The Tibet Factor in Sino-Indian Relations: The Centrality of
Marginality 283
17 Beijing, Taiwan and the Tibet Question: The Politics of Internal
Differentiation 298
PART V Tibet's Future
18 China's Dialogue with the Dalai Lama 1979-1998 315
19 Tibet's Possible Future Structures: The Dalai's and the Dissidents'
Visions of Federation 340
20 Self-Determination in the Post-Con1munist Era: The Tibetan
People's Case 363
Notes 392
Bibliography 445
Index 462
Vlll
Acknowledgements
The germination of this book began in the early 1970s when I was editing
the Tibetan Review in which most issues unavoidably centred around the
question of Sino-Tibetan relations, present and past. But it has taken me a
long time to give it its present shape and form, a long process as a result of
which lowe a debt to several kind individuals.
A suggestion to write for the Durham East Asian Series came from
Professor K. L. Pratt in 1992, then the head of the Department of East
Asian Studies, University of Durham. Ever since that time Professor Pratt
has been patient but quite persistent in his gentle encouragement and level
headed guidance. His successor as Series Editor and Director, Centre for
Contemporary Chinese Studies at Durham University, Dr Michael Dillon
has proved to be equally helpful. He critically read and commented on the
typescript as a specialist in Chinese history. I am grateful to both.
This book represents a line ofthinkingon China-Tibet relations that has
been encouraged and facilitated by the academic atmosphere at the
Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), where there are no intellectual
hegemonies but only contending theories. I am grateful to its present and
past Vice-Chancellors, Professors Asis Datta and P. N. Srivastava both of
whom have shown particular interest in my growth and well-being.
I am also grateful to my colleagues for their intellectual fellowship over
the years. Above all, I thank my students, young men and women who in
their youthful excitement and thirst for knowledge have crossed almost all
the barriersthat Iethnicallyrepresent. They makeme feel at home. We learn
a lot from each otherthrough ouropen-ended and open-minded discussions,
seminar after seminar. I must thank all of my student-friends at]NU.
My academic pursuit and its method have been largely dictated by
relative poverty and an independentspiritwithwhichIhave undertaken my
studies. Sincescholarshipwith nostringsattached is rather difficultto getin
IX
Acknowledgements
these excessively political and commercial days, I have learned, from early
on, to rely on my inner resources and those which happened to be within
the reach of my small local universe. This means, for instance, as I did not
have funds for necessary fieldtrips, desirable for my research, I spent the
summer months from 1994 to 1999 at the Library of Tibetan Works and
Archives, Dharmasala (India), partly to continue my research there and
partly to run away from Delhi's summer heat.
While access to original materials was denied to me without sanction
from higher authority (even though several scholars before and during my
research, were granted this privilege), men on the floor were always helpful
with the materials within their jurisdiction. In this respect I must thank
Lobsang Shastri and Perna Yeshi at the Library of Tibetan Works and
Archives for giving me full access to published materials.
One ofmy nagging regrets still remains: I have not been able to help my
poor relatives in India, as it is a customary obligation of an educated man
towards his unlettered kin in our community. They never cease to wonder
why someone with his educational qualifications and international
publications, has not joined the refugee power elite who, being enriched
and empowered by their host government and certain Western countries
(like the USA and Germany) have done sowell for themselves and their kin.
To such innocent souls I offer my apologies and sincere gratitude for their
love and affection which keeps me going. They are: brother Abu and his
wifeTsetenand theiradopteddaughterTenzinPerna; sisterDawa Bhuti and
her sons, Kelsang and Dorje; brother Kesang Tenzing and his wife Chungla
and their wonderful children, ]igme Dorje, Tenzin Zompa and Sonam
Gyatso; my late sister Dolkar's children, Choki Gope, Lobsang Thargyal
and Tenzing Chomphel. And ifImake some money out ofthis book, Ihope
to help some ofthe poorestofthe poor relatives like Wanchuck in Ravangla
(Sikkim), Penchung-Ia in Puruwala (Himachal Pradesh) and Lhakpa in
Bylakuppe (Karnataka).
This book has been in the making for a long time (writing on and off
since the early 1990s), and in its meandering course Ihave benefited from
interactions and discussions with a number of individuals: John
Billington, Mira Sinha Bhattacharjea, Kalzang Diki Bhutia, Kesang
Tenzing Bhutia, David D. Buck, Jill Buxton, S. K. Das, G. P. Deshpande,
Lowell Dittmer, Karl Heinz Ever-ding, Tara Lynne Hopkins, HuangI-shu,
Ganganath Jha, Chalmers A. Johnson, Ashild Kolas, Judith Kendra,
Zhang Li, V. S. Mani, Surjit Mansingh, P. L. Mehra, Marleane Mitchell,
Priyadarsi Mukherji, Avijit Pathak, M. V. S. V. Prasad, Krishna Raj,
Senthil Ram, Mohammad Sadiq, Robert A. Scalapino, Lobsang Sham
bala, the late Paul Seabury, Tsering and Lhamo Shakya, M. L. Sondhi,
Tsering Topgyal, John Bryan Starr, Willy Wo-Lap Lam, and, above all,
Dick Wilson whose level-headed writings on China have been a source of
inspiration.
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