How Britain created the 'Tibetan issue'

Tibet is part of China, and the Tibetan people are important members of the Chinese nation. The so-called Tibetan issue was manufactured as part of the imperialist aggressors' attempts to carve up China. Britain, through its continuous involvement, has played a central role in this.

British troops invaded Tibet in 1888 and 1903, but were turned back by the resistance of the Tibetan army and civilians. After their failure to turn Tibet into a colony through armed aggression, British imperialists started to foster pro-imperialist separatists in Tibet, plotted activities to separate Tibet from China and trumpeted "independence for Tibet". In August 1907, Britain and Russia signed the Convention between Great Britain and Russia on Tibet. With this convention, Britain planned to turn Tibet into a "buffer zone" between India and Russia.

The Revolution of 1911 toppled the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). In 1913, the British government engineered the Simla Conference to instigate the Tibetan representative to raise the slogan of "Tibetan independence" for the first time, which was immediately rejected by the representative from the central government of the Republic of China. 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". Upon instruction, the representative of the central 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.