The status of Tibet

On 29 October 2008, the British government rewrote Tibetan history.

The former Foreign Secretary David Miliband issued a Written Ministerial Statement in which Britain’s position on Tibet changed unequivocally, ending its stance that China only had a “special position” in Tibet (based on principles of suzerainty) and reversing history by recognising Tibet as part of the People’s Republic of China.

This change in position was made without parliamentary oversight.

The change of position has already had damaging consequences for the Tibetan people. With Britain now stating that Tibet is “part” of China, any incentive for the Chinese government to negotiate on the issue of autonomy has vanished.

The Ministerial Statement was issued only days before the last round of Sino Tibetan talks which later collapsed.

The Foreign Secretary claimed that this concession would remove obstacles from human rights engagement with China.

While China has hailed the concession as a ”victory” at the last round of the Sino-Tibetan Dialogue, no demonstrable gains were secured by the UK government in return.

The importance of Britain's position on Tibet:

Britain’s previous position on Tibet carried great weight: Britain was the only major power to have dealt directly with the Tibetan government before the Chinese invasion of 1950. These direct dealings included the signing of treaties. British India shared a border with Tibet and Britain maintained a diplomatic mission in Lhasa until 1947. Britain was therefore uniquely competent to judge the precise nature of China’s influence within Tibet and for 94 years Britain did not recognise Tibet as part of China.

Britain’s previous position meant that China was unable to claim that the entire international community viewed Tibet as a part of China because the country best able to judge disagreed.