Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Tibete

"Tibet, a region coveted by western nations since the Opium War in the 1840s, has long been an inalienable part of Chinese territory and the Tibetans have been part of the big multi-national Chinese family. The so-called issue of "Tibet Independence," is originally an outcome of aggression by imperialist nations, said a Chinese expert.

Britain launched two invasions into Tibet, in 1888 and during 1903 and 1904, in an attempt to build up an exclusive colonial influence in the region. It also tried to separate Tibet from China and ultimately turn it into a "buffer zone" against British-controlled northern India.

"These two wars shall never be forgotten," said Hu Yan, a professor from the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

"You may tell those Tibet separatists that Chinese people will never forget history and it was imperialist nations that had invaded Tibet and had been trying to separate Tibet from China," he said. (...)" Interview: British invasions probed as root cause of Tibetan separatism

Adenda (wikipedia): British Invasion - "At the beginning of the twentieth century both the British Empire and Russian Empire competed for supremacy in Central Asia. Tibet was the biggest prize of this rivalry. (...) the British expedition did take the lives of a few thousand unprepared Tibetan soldiers and civilians. The biggest massacre took place on March 31, 1904 at a mountain pass halfway to Gyantse near a village called Guru. Colonel Younghusband tricked the 2,000 Tibetan soldiers guarding the pass into extinguishing the burning ropes of their basic rifles before firing at them with the Maxim machine guns and rifles."

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