The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

Development takes time. Between now and then,
Chinese leaders must find ways to get the people in
these two regions engaged in the development efforts.
At the same time, the Chinese government has to deal
with the external forces that are persistently pressing
for the separation/independence of the two regions
from China. The Chinese leaders are particularly
concerned with the U.S. factor in these two explosive
problems. They hold that the United States has many
reasons to play these two issues as leverage against
China; it has the capacity to influence the course of
the separation/independence movements; it has been
actively involved in the affairs of these two regions;
and will continue to be so in the future.
Tibet, China, and the United States. The history between
Tibet and China can be divided into three broad
periods. The first goes from mythical or legendary
times to the beginning of the 7th century when Tibet
emerged as a unified kingdom in the Himalaya Mountain
region. The second period goes from the 630s AD
when Tibet under its founding ruler, Songtsen Gampo
(松赞干布), and Tang China fought their first of many
wars, through the Mongol-ruled Yuan Dynasty (1271-
1368), the Chinese restored Ming Dynasty (1368-1644),
the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the Chinese
ROC (1911-49), to 1950, when Tibet became a formal
part of the PRC, to the present.
There is much controversy involved in the presentation
of this long history. Chinese and Tibetans-inexile
hold opposing views. Whereas China routinely
produces its interpretation of this history to legitimize
its rule of Tibet, the Tibetans-in-exile make every effort
to dispute China’s claims and provide their own
versions of this history to justify their struggle for Tibet
independence. Between these two opposing forces
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