1911年,辛亥革命爆发,推翻了清王朝,建立了中华民国。1912年3月11日,中华民国第一部宪法《中华民国临时约法》明确规定中央对西藏的主权,宣布“西藏是中华民国领土的一部分”,提出“合汉、满、蒙、回、藏诸族为一人,实行五族共和”。7月17日,民国政府设蒙藏事务局,隶属国务院,管理蒙藏事务。1929年,南京国民政府设立蒙藏委员会,行使对西藏的行政管辖。1940年,国民政府在拉萨设立蒙藏委员会驻藏办事处,作为中央政府在西藏地方的常设机构。历史事实表明,虽然民国期间军阀混战,内乱频仍,但中央政府仍在十分艰难的条件下维护了国家在西藏的主权。十四世达赖喇嘛丹增嘉措就是经当时国民政府批准免于金瓶掣签继位的。国际上没有一个国家和政府承认过西藏独立。
(二)所谓的“西藏独立”问题是近代帝国主义侵略势力瓜分中国图谋的一部分
The Revolution of 1911 toppled the Qing empire, and the Republic of China (1912-1949) was founded. On March 11, 1912 the Republic of China issued its first constitution — the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, which clari-fied the central government’s sovereignty over Tibet. It clearly stipulated that Tibet was a part of the territory of the Republic of China, and stated that “the Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui and Ti-betan peoples are of one, and the five ethnic groups will be of one republic.” On July 17 the government set up the Bureau of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs under the State Council. After the Provisional Government of the Republic of China was set up in Nanjing, the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs was established in 1929 to exercise administrative jurisdiction over Tibet. In 1940 the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs opened an office in Lhasa as the permanent mission of the central government in Tibet. The central government of the Republic of China safeguarded the nation’s sovereignty over Tibet in spite of frequent civil wars among warlords in the inte-rior. The 14th Dalai Lama, Dainzin Gyatso, succeeded to the title with the approval of the national government, which waived the lot-drawing convention. No country or government in the world has ever acknowledged the independence of Tibet.
2. So-called “Tibet independence” was part of imperialist aggressors’ attempt to carve up China.
1840年英国发动鸦片战争以后,中国逐步沦为半殖民地半封建社会。19世纪末,帝国主义掀起瓜分中国的狂潮,英国侵略势力趁机染指西藏。英军先后于1888年、1903年两次武装入侵西藏,因遭到西藏军民的抵抗而失败。在靠武装侵略没能达到将西藏变为殖民地的目的后,帝国主义开始在西藏培植亲帝分裂势力,策划把西藏从中国分裂出去的活动,煽动“西藏独立”。1907年8月31日,英俄帝国签订《西藏协定》,第一次在国际文件中把中国对西藏地方的主权篡改为“宗主权”。1913年,英帝国策划召开西姆拉会议,唆使西藏代表首次提出“西藏独立”的口号,当即遭到中国政府代表的拒绝。英国代表于是提出所谓“折衷”方案,企图将中国在西藏地方的主权篡改为“宗主权”,使西藏在“自治”的名义下脱离中国政府的管辖,遭到中国政府和人民的坚决反对。1914年7月,中国政府代表奉命拒绝在《西姆拉条约》上签字,并发表声明概不承认任何此类条约或文件,同时将立场照会英国政府,西姆拉会议遂以破产而告终。1942年,西藏地方政府在英国代表的支持下突然宣布成立“外交局”,公开进行“西藏独立”活动,因遭到全国人民和国民政府的反对而不得不改变原议。
1947年,英帝国主义幕后策划邀请西藏派代表参加“泛亚洲会议”,在会场上悬挂的亚洲地图和万国旗中把西藏作为一个独立国家来对待,经中国代表团严正交涉,会议组织者不得不改正。1949年7月8日,西藏地方政府以“防止共产党混迹西藏”为借口,下令将国民政府驻藏办事处人员及相关人员驱赶出西藏,制造了“驱汉事件”。1949年11月,西藏地方政府决定派所谓的“亲善使团”赴美国、英国、印度、尼泊尔等国,寻求对“西藏独立”的政治支持和军事援助,加紧分裂国家的活动。1949年底,美国人劳尔·汤姆斯以“无线评论员”名义在西藏探索“华盛顿给西藏以可能的援助”,并在美国报刊上宣称“美国已准备承认西藏为独立自由”的国家。1950年上半年,一批美国枪支弹药经由加尔各答进入西藏,用以对抗中国人民解放军进藏。
Since the Opium War Britain started in 1840, China had been gradually reduced to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country. At the end of the 19th century imperialist forces set off mad spree to carve up China, and the British aggressors took the op-portunity to invade Tibet. British troops intruded into Tibet twice — in 1888 and 1903 — but failed due to the resistance of the Tibetan army and civilians. After their failure to turn Tibet into a colony through armed aggression, the imperialists started to foster pro-imperialist separatists in Tibet,plotted activities to separate Tibet from China and trumpeted “Tibet independence.” On August 31, 1907 Britain and Russia signed the Convention between Great Britain and Russia on Tibet, changing, for the first time, China’s sovereignty over Tibet into “suzerainty” in an international document. In 1913 the British government engi-neered the Simla Conference to instigate the Tibetan representative to raise the slogan of “Tibet independence” for the first time, which was immediately rejected by the representative of the Chinese government. The British representative then introduced the so-called “compromise” scheme, attempting to change China’s sovereignty over Tibet into “suzerainty” and separate Tibet from the authority of the Chinese government under the pretext of “autonomy.” These ill-intentioned attempts met with resolute opposition from the Chinese people and government. In July 1914, upon instruction, the representative of the Chinese government refused to sign the Simla Convention, and made a statement saying that the government of China refused to recognize any such agreement or document. The Chinese government also sent a note to the British government, reiterating its position. Thereupon, the conference collapsed. In 1942 the local government of Tibet, with the support of the British representative, suddenly announced the establishment of a “foreign affairs bureau,” and openly carried out “Tibet independence” activities. With opposition from the Chinese people and the national gov-ernment, the local government of Tibet had no choice but to withdraw its decision.
In 1947 the British imperialists plotted behind the scenes to invite Tibetan representatives to attend the “Asian Relations Conference,” and even identified Tibet as an independent country on the map of Asia hung in the conference hall and in the array of national flags. The organizers were forced to rectify this after the Chinese delegation made a stern protest. On July 8, 1949 the local government of Tibet issued an order to expel officials of the Tibet Office of the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs on the excuse of “prohibiting Communists from staying in Tibet.” In November 1949 the local government of Tibet decided to dispatch a so-called “goodwill mission” to the United States, Britain, India, Nepal and some other countries to seek political and military support for “Tibet independence,” making it obvious that it was intensifying separatist activities. Around the end of 1949 the American Lowell Thomas roamed Tibet in the guise of a “radio commentator” to explore the “possibility of aid that Washington could give Tibet.” He wrote in a US newspaper: “The United States is ready to recognize Tibet as an independent and free country.” In the first half of 1950 American weaponry was shipped into Tibet through Calcutta in order to help resist the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in its entry into Tibet.