FACTBOX: Historical ties between China and Tibet

(Reuters) - At the heart of the conflict over Tibet’s status within China is their historical relationship.

The Chinese government and Tibet’s government-in-exile offer competing versions of whether the remote, mountainous territory was historically ruled as part of China, or whether it has legitimate claims to independence or autonomy.

Following are some details about the history of relations.

THE IMPERIAL ERA

- Most historians agree that Tibet’s assimilation into China was established during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). In China’s view, the relationship continued throughout the next two dynasties, the Ming and the Qing.

But the nature of relations are complicated by several factors:

- During the Yuan dynasty, both China and Tibet were ruled by the Mongols under Kublai Khan. The Qing dynasty (1644-1911) was similarly a period of foreign rule, under the Manchus. Some argue that during these periods Tibet was not ruled by China, but that both were ruled as part of a foreign empire.

- The relationship between China and Tibet varied over the centuries depending on the relative strength or weakness of the imperial government. The Qing emperors were especially weak towards the end of their reign, when British and other foreign forces began making inroads.

- Some say that over these centuries the relationship of Tibet to China is best described as that of a vassal state, but there are disputes over the nature of the priest-patron ties and whether Tibet was viewed as subordinate.

- Chinese scholar Wang Lixiong argues that many latter-day disputes stem from the fact that both the Chinese state and Tibet rulers were more comfortable with the traditional suzerain-tributary relationship before the Western concept of state sovereignty was extended to East Asia by colonial powers.

THE REPUBLICAN ERA

- The 13th Dalai Lama Tibet expelled Chinese troops stationed in Lhasa in the chaos following the 1911 revolution that toppled the Qing Dynasty. He declared Tibet independence in 1912, and Tibet largely ruled itself until 1950, when China struggled with foreign invasion and civil wars.

But the Republican Chinese government under Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek and others maintained China’s claim to Tibet.

- In support of Tibet’s claim to independence during this period, scholars point to the fact it had its own foreign affairs bureau, remained neutral during World War Two and issued passports.

- But neither China nor any major Western power recognized it as an independent country and China’s government refused to accept the border between British India and Tibet that was drawn up at the 1913-14 Simla Conference. Britain agreed in the convention to recognize China’s suzerainty over Tibet but also autonomy for the area that roughly conforms to the present-day Tibet Autonomous Region.

THE COMMUNIST ERA

- China says it was left with no choice but to dispatch People’s Liberation Army troops to Tibet in 1950 after local leaders there refused to send delegates to Beijing to negotiate its “peaceful liberation”.

- Under the 17-point Agreement of 1951, China pledged to leave Tibet’s traditional government and religion in place. But Communist efforts at land reform and collectivization left the region in turmoil, and in 1959 the Dalai Lama led an uprising against Chinese rule, despite his initial support of the 1951 accord.

- In the 1980s, the Dalai Lama, who had by then established a government-in-exile in India, abandoned claims of independence in favor of a “middle way” approach that advocates political autonomy for Tibet under Beijing’s rule.

- Beijing has dismissed the “middle way” as a sham, citing the Dalai Lama’s claims to a “greater Tibet” incorporating ethnic Tibetan areas of several western Chinese provinces, and says he has not truly abandoned independence.

Sources: “The Tibet-China Conflict: History and Polemics” by Elliot Sperling; “Tibet -- Its Ownership and Human Rights Situation, by China’s State Council; “Modern China: A Companion to a Rising Power” by Graham Hutchings; “Sky Burial: The Fate of Tibet” by Wang Lixiong.