Tibet Today and Tomorrow

Abstract

As shown above, the course of Sino-Tibetan relations since 1951 has passed through a number of distinct stages, differentiated by varying emphasis on alternate goals, changes in the modalities of operational strategy, shifts in the choice of tactics and executory instrumentalities. Nor is this process yet at an end, for one can safely expect further adjustments, improvisations, and mapping of new tactics in Peking’s continuing struggle for undisputed mastery of Tibet. Still, a basic pattern has by now been set and much of what will be tried in the foreseeable future by the Communist Chinese leadership in its drive further to consolidate its hold on the region will be influenced and determined, both positively and negatively, by its experience so far on this score. So as better to gauge the prospects ahead of Tibet in its unwilling political association with the Chinese People’s Republic and try to chart the country’s likely path of proximate evolution under such conditions, a brief recapitulation of the record up to this point seems in order.