December 2009 / January 2010 - Association of Dutch Businessmen

Special
Tibet, or did the 13 th
Dalai Lama kowtow?
By Willem Anne Hoekstra
Kowtow: To kneel and touch the forehead to the
ground in expression of deep respect, worship,
or submission, as formerly done in China.
My good father taught me that there are
three subjects to avoid during conversations at
the dinner table: Money, Politics and Women.
How right he was. When I was having dinner with
a Greek colleague in Athens many moons ago, I
casually mentioned the case of Macedonia. This
resulted in a 3-hour passionate lecture from
his side on how unfair and wrong the claim of
independence of the Macedonians was, because
in 14 th century... Similarly I was ignorant enough
to mention something neutrally supportive of
the Palestinians to an Israeli friend of mine. A
big mistake, it took months before we were on
speaking terms again. Did I mention my friend
in Northern Ireland yet? Maybe I am ‘een beetje
dom’?
Two years ago, I was on a business trip to our
office in Shanghai, and I was silly enough to ask
about the situation in Tibet. Me and my big Dutch
opinionated mouth. Wasn’t it that China invaded
poor Tibet, and the Dalai Lama is the good guy who
now tries to liberate the poor monks, right? Well,
not quite, according to my Chinese colleagues.
Soon I understood that Chinese students are
taught that Tibet has been an “inalienable part
of Chinese territory”, from the time of the Yuan
Dynasty conquest onward. Now how did today’s
dispute start? The essence of the conflicting claims
of three parties of the sovereignty over Tibet can
only be understood in the context of history, and
more importantly, the interpretation of history.
First a few facts. Tibet was first unified under
King Songtsän Gampo in the 7 th century. Over the
last centuries, a line of spiritual leaders called
Dalai Lamas ruled as head of government, ruling in
a close relationship with the Chinese Dynasties.
In 1904, the British invaded the country,
after Tibet had been closed to all foreigners for
half a century. The British then agreed with the
Chinese that the Qing would have sovereignty
in return for a British fee and free trade with
Tibet. Following this, the Qing government sent
a military expedition of its own to establish direct
Chinese rule and deposed the Dalai Lama in an
imperial edict.
In 1913, (after the fall of the Chinese
Qing dynasty) the 13 th Dalai Lama proclaimed
independence and expelled all Chinese
representatives, an action never accepted by
China, or by any other state. Tibet however de
facto lived autonomous for the next 36 years,
whilst the republic of China (ROC) endured its
Warlord era, civil war, and World War II.
The ROC was ruling mainland China between
1912-1949, before it took refuge, and today de
facto is based and governing Taiwan. It has kept
its claim to legitimate sovereignty over China,
including Tibet. Note that even during its factual
government of China, it did never have real
control over the region.
The new People’s Republic of China PRC,
which governs China since 1949, contends that
according to the “Succession of States Theory”
in international law, all subsequent Chinese
governments (Ming Dynasty, Qing Dynasty, ROC
and PRC) have succeeded the Yuan Dynasty
in exercising de jure sovereignty and de facto
power over Tibet.
The Tibet government in exile, under
leadership of the 14 th Dalai Lama, has a different
reading of history. In their view, during the earlier
dynasties, Tibet and China cooperated on the
basis of ‘benefactor and priest’ relationship,
perhaps comparable to the Vatican and Italy.
The relationship did not imply “subordination
of one to the other”. The 13 th Dalai Lama, for
example, knelt, but did not kowtow, before the
Empress Dowager and the young Emperor while
he delivered his petition in Beijing. Chinese
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Vol.19 • No. 10 • December 2009 / January 2010