Tibet Issue: The Truth in the Chinese Contensions

The Tibet issue has since caught the attention of the world community. As the stakeholders of the two sides, the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Tibetan government in exile have come out with their stand to full gaze of the world community, it is important that the truth is brought out and discused dispassionately.
As for the PRC, it claims soverignty over the Tibetan land as such. It included all the three provinces of erstwhile Tibet, the Utsang, the Kham and the Amdo. In its pursuit, parts of the then Amdo and Kham provinces of Tibet have been incorporated into the adjoining Han majority provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, Sichaun and Yunnan. The Utsang and parts of Kham constitute the present day Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The PRC has of late come out with 15 historical evidences to buttress its point. It goes to say that the Chinese political control of Tibet runs straight to 700 years, begining Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368 AD), the rule of Mongols invaders. It quotes, in the same spirit, the rule of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the rule of Manchu invaders until 1911. For the reasons best known to them, the PRC is silent about its political control over Tibet during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), the rule of the native Han Chinese. It does not have any thing to say for the period following the down fall of the Qing Dyansty in the wake of 1911 Democratic Revolution until the signing of the so called 17 point agreement of 23rd May 1951. One can of course understand why the Chinese do not have a word about the Peace Traety of 821, signed by the Tang Dynasty Chinese emperor Tang Xian Zong and the Tibetan King Trisong Dechan, demarcating the boundary between the two nations. It does not speak about the historical truth that the Tibetan King had once occupied Chang'an. If sovereignty stemmed from brutal control of georaphical unit, the Chinese claim over Tibet do stand ground. (to be continued)