Historical Status of China in Tibet

China invaded Tibet in 1950. Its occupation has resulted in the
deaths of hundreds of thousands of Tibetans and the imprisonment
and torture of thousands more. After a failed uprising against
Chinese rule in 1959, Tibet's political and spiritual leader, the
Dalai Lama, fled into exile in India followed by tens of thousands
of Tibetans. Inside its borders and across the world, Tibetans have
never stopped believing Tibet is a nation. Since 1959, they have
continued to oppose and resist China's rule and China has
responded with intense repression. From a legal standpoint, Tibet
to this day has not lost its statehood. It is an independent state
under illegal occupation. Neither China's military invasion nor
the continuing occupation by the PLA has transferred the
sovereignty of Tibet to China. As pointed out earlier, the Chinese
government has not claimed to have acquired sovereignty over
Tibet by conquest. Indeed, China recognizes that the use or threat
of force (outside the exceptional circumstances provided for in the
UN Charter), the imposition of an unequal treaty or the continued
illegal occupation of a country can never grant an invader legal
title to territory. Its claims are based solely on the alleged subjection
of Tibet to a few of China's strongest foreign rulers in the thirteenth
and eighteenth centuries. As the book addresses this crucial issue
quite deftly, it is hoped that it would prove to be a source of great
information for the reader.