Melvyn C. Goldstein, “The Dalai Lama’s Dilemma”, From Foreign Affairs, January/ February 1998 “The founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 quickly ended Tibet’s de facto independence. The communists, like the previous Chinese government of Chiang Kai-shek, claimed Tibet as part of China, but unlike that government they had the military power to impose their views. Nevertheless, China wanted more than the simple conquest of Tibet-it sought to secure the formal agreement of the Dalai Lama and his government to reunification. Tibet, however, refused, and China invaded Tibet’s eastern province in October 1950 to force the Tibetan government to negotiate.”
Comment & Debate