The 13th Dalai Lama on the Status of Tibet

Abstract

Goals. The work aims at analysis of the views of the 13th Dalai Lama on the status of Tibet. Russian archival diplomatic and intelligence documents, as well as earlier published data from archives and memoirs of eyewitnesses, were used as materials. Received results reveal that the 13th Dalai Lama had shown that connections between the Dalai Lamas and the Qing emperors were limited only by the fact that the former were ‘spiritual masters’ of the latter, while the 5th Dalai Lama received secular power over Tibet from the Mongol Gushri Khan. Over time, the Qing power in Tibet was strengthened, and the Chinese began to consider Tibet a semi-dependent state. However, there were neither military conquest, nor any state act confirming such dependence, except for unilateral administrative orders from Chinese officials. Tibet was never under the rule of China, only later their relations began to transform into the vassal dependence of Tibet. With the abdication of the Manchu Dynasty, Tibet should become independent as before. These statements of the 13th Dalai Lama correspond to historical facts. Connections between the Dalai Lamas and the Qing emperors may be sufficiently described by the ‘priest–patron’ principle. Documents reveal that the Tibetan– Qing relations were treated in many aspects differently by both sides. Until the end of the Manchu Dynasty, the Dalai Lama never became a vassal to the Emperor, and Tibet was not a part of the Qing Empire. The collapse of this empire and the abdication of this dynasty gave the Dalai Lama new reason to declare final termination of the former connections between Tibet and China. The article quotes the Dalai Lama’s talks with Russian officials. Elaboration of ceremony of his reception by the Dowager Empress Cixi and Guangxu Emperor in Beijing is discussed.

Keywords

• qing
• china
• tibet
• russia
• great britain
• suzerainty
• independence
• statehood