Britian Invades Tibet

At the Younghusband Expedition to Lhasa in 1904 a treaty was signed by the British Government directly with the Tibetans agreeing inter alia the frontier between Sikkim and Tibet, establishing Trade Marts in Tibet, and attempting to exclude any other foreign power from political influence in Tibet.

In 1906, without the participation of the Tibetans, the British Government concluded a treaty with China which, although refusing to acknowledge Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, greatly reduced the advantages of the 1904 Treaty. In 1907, again without informing the Tibetans, the British Government signed a treaty with Russia binding itself not to negotiate with Tibet except through the Chinese and not to send representatives to Lhasa.

For the next few years they could only watch the Chinese attempting to restore their lost influence in Tibet. That culminated in a Chinese invasion of Lhasa in 1910 and the flight of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama to India where he established a close rapport with Charles Bell, the Political Officer of the Government of India in Sikkim.

Declaration of Tibetan Independence

The Chinese Revolution in 1911 led to the eviction of all Chinese from Tibet and a declaration of Tibetan Independence by the Dalai Lama on his return to Lhasa. The British Government sent him a message expressing their desire to see the internal autonomy of Tibet under Chinese suzerainty so long as treaty obligations were duly performed. To Yuan Shih-hai a memorandum was addressed stating the willingness of the British Government to recognize Chinese suzerainty over Tibet but not to admit the right of China to intervene in the internal administration of the country or to maintain an unlimited number of troops there. Unless that was agreed the Chinese would not be permitted to travel to Tibet through India. The Chinese rejected those conditions.

In 1913/14, in an attempt to establish peaceful relations between China and Tibet the British Government convened a tripartite conference at Simla at which the three parties were represented by plenipotentiaries. A convention was drafted by which Tibet was to be divided in to Inner and Outer Tibet. In the latter, roughly all to the west of the upper waters of the Yangtze, Britain would recognise that Tibet was under Chinese suzerainty but China was to recognize the integrity of Tibet and to abstain from interference in its internal affairs. No troops or officials were to be stationed in Inner Tibet except for an Amban and his escort of three hundred men. In Outer Tibet, the country east of the upper Yangtze, the Chinese could station officials but were not to attempt to convert it into a Chinese province.

The Tibetans were prepared, reluctantly, to acknowledge Chinese suzerainty in return for a fixed frontier and the precise limitation of the extent of that suzerainty.

The Convention was initialled by all parties but later the Chinese refused to proceed to full signature. The British and Tibetan plenipotentiaries then signed an agreement that the Convention would be binding on their Governments and that so long as the Chinese Government withheld its signature it would be debarred from the enjoyment of privileges thereunder. That implied the non-recognition of unconditional Chinese suzerainty over Tibet and that position was later reaffirmed by the British Government. In 1920 the British Government agreed that Charles (later Sir Charles) Bell should go on a mission to Lhasa in order to establish closer relations with the Tibetan Government and with the hope of furthering a peaceful agreement between Tibet and China. That hope was disappointed but considerable practical assistance was given to the Dalai Lama's government including a limited supply of arms and ammunition to help them to maintain their position in continued warfare with the Chinese in Eastern Tibet. From then onwards relations with Tibet developed on close friendly lines and were helped by occasional visits to Lhasa by Political Of ficers of the Indian Government from Sikkim.

In 1933 the Thirteenth Dalai Lama died. He had been a determined defender of the independence of his country and had not allowed any Chinese to enter Tibet but in 1934, taking advantage of weakness and confusion at Lhasa following the loss of a strong leader, the Chinese contrived to send a so-called condolence mission there and when its leader returned to China he left at Lhasa a small number of Chinese as a sort of political Mission. The Government of India, concerned at this apparent infringement of their agreement with Tibet were allowed to send a British Mission under Sir Basil Gould to see what was going on. He returned to India early in 1937 leaving me in charge to watch developments and to maintain relations with the Tibetan Government which was facing pressure from the Chinese to allow the return to Tibet of the exiled Panchen Lama with a Chinese armed escort.

I was at Lhasa in charge of the mission for some six years at intervals between 1937 and 1947 as representative of the Government of India, and for a further period of about three years from August 1947 representing the Government of Independent India and was in regular contact with the Tibetan Government on of ficial matters. It was unmistakably clear that they were in sole and complete control of all their affairs without any external influence or intervention.

De facto independence since 1911

In 1943 the British Government formally expressed its view of the status of Tibet in a memorandum by the Foreign Secretary, Sir Anthony Eden to the Chinese Foreign Secretary, Mr T.V. Soong in which he stated that Tibet has enjoyed de facto independence since 1911 and that the British Government had always been prepared to recognize Chinese suzerainty over Tibet but only on the understanding that Tibet is regarded as autonomous (FO371/93001 of 5th August 1943). The Chinese did not reply.

In 1947 when British rights and responsibilities in and towards Tibet were transferred to the new Government of India, the British Government informed the Tibetan Government that they would continue to take a friendly interest in the welfare and autonomy of their country and expressed the hope that contact might be maintained by visits to Tibet from British representatives in India.

China invades Tibet

On November 6th 1950, shortly after the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese communists the Foreign Secretary, Mr Earnest Davies repeated in Parliament the assurance given in 1947 about British interest in the maintenance of Tibetan autonomy which he said had amounted to de facto independence.

Tibet at the UN

The Tibetan Government sought to appeal to the United Nations against unprovoked Chinese aggression and the Foreign Of fice informed their delegation in New York that they considered that Tibetan autonomy was sufficiently established for her to be regarded as "a staten within the meaning of the United Nations Charter and sought means of helping the Tibetan case (FO371/84454 of the 9th November 1950); but on representation from the head of their delegation, Sir Gladwyn Jebb, they reversed their position and allowed him to abstain from supporting the Tibetan appeal on the grounds that the legal position was extremely obscure.

The Dalai Lama leaves Tibet

In 1959, after the Tibetan uprising at Lhasa and its savage suppression by the Chinese, the Dalai Lama fled for refuge in India. He sought to have Tibet's case heard at the United Nations and in October a Resolution was proposed by the Federation of Malaya and by Ireland in which they called for respect for the fundamental human rights of the Tibetan people and for their distinctive cultural and religious life. The resolution was carried by forty-six votes to nine with twenty-six abstentions among which was the United Kingdom. The majority of the Commonwealth countries voted in favour.

On subsequent occasions the British Government has supported resolutions of the United Nations regarding the abuse of human rights in Tibet. In two such resolutions hurnan rights were stated to include the right to self determination.

The Dalai Lama has visited the United Kingdom several times since 1973, but in spite of the former close relationship between Britain and Tibet no official of the British Government was willing to meet him until the Prime Minister did so in 1992 followed by the Foreign Secretary in 1993.

Hugh Richardson,Head of BritishMission in Tibet (1936-1947) and Government of Independent India (15 August 1947 to 1950).<

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Last updated: 2-Feb-96