Tibet’s Forgotten Independence: China’s Biggest Historical Lie – OpEd

Tibet’s assertion of sovereignty in 1913 under the 13th Dalai Lama stands as a direct rebuttal to Beijing’s claim that Tibet was “always part of China.” From military victories over Qing forces to decades of autonomous governance, history tells a far more inconvenient truth for the Chinese Communist Party.

For more than seven decades, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has insisted that Tibet has been an inseparable part of China “since ancient times.”

This claim has been repeated so often that it is treated as fact in official narratives, textbooks, and diplomatic messaging.

Yet a closer look at Tibet’s own political history, especially the pivotal events of February 13, 1913, exposes this assertion as deeply flawed and historically misleading.

In the wake of the Qing dynasty’s collapse in 1911, Tibet moved swiftly to reassert its sovereignty.

On February 13, 1913, the 13th Dalai Lama issued a formal proclamation declaring Tibet’s independence.

This was not a symbolic gesture.

It followed the expulsion of Qing troops from Tibetan territory, achieved through direct military confrontations in which Tibetan forces decisively defeated imperial Chinese units.

These events alone challenge the idea of uninterrupted Chinese sovereignty over Tibet.

What followed was not a brief or contested interlude, but nearly 38 years of de facto independence.

From 1912 until the People’s Liberation Army entered into Tibet in 1950, Lhasa exercised autonomous control over its internal affairs.

The Tibetan government collected taxes, maintained its own army, ran administrative institutions, and conducted foreign relations, particularly with British India and Nepal.

These are not the attributes of a region under firm imperial control; they are hallmarks of a functioning sovereign entity.

Crucially, international interactions during this period further undermine Beijing’s narrative.

While Tibet did not enjoy widespread formal diplomatic recognition as a modern nation-state, multiple treaties and agreements treated it as a distinct political entity.

The Simla Convention of 1914, for instance, was negotiated directly with Tibetan representatives, acknowledging Tibet’s autonomous status and its capacity to enter into international agreements: something incompatible with the notion of it being merely a Chinese province.

The CCP’s claim that Tibet was “always part of China” relies heavily on selective readings of history, particularly the loose suzerainty exercised by the Qing dynasty.

However, suzerainty is not sovereignty.

The Qing relationship with Tibet was marked by fluctuating influence, not continuous administrative control.

Tibetan governance remained largely intact, rooted in its own political, religious, and legal traditions.

Even Chinese historical records acknowledge long periods where imperial authority in Tibet was nominal at best.

After 1949, the newly established People’s Republic of China retroactively reinterpreted this complex history to legitimise its expansion into Tibet.

By collapsing centuries of varied interactions into a single, linear story of ownership, the CCP erased Tibet’s agency and political voice.

The 1913 declaration and the decades of autonomy that followed are particularly inconvenient facts because they show Tibet acting as a self-governing state in the modern era, well within living historical memory.

Why does this matter today? Because history shapes legitimacy.

Beijing’s policies in Tibet, ranging from cultural assimilation to restrictions on religious freedom, are justified internationally on the premise that Tibet is an internal Chinese matter.

Exposing the falsity of the “always part of China” claim weakens that premise and strengthens global advocacy for Tibetan rights and self-determination.

Understanding Tibet’s sovereign past is not about romanticising history; it is about confronting deliberate historical erasure.

The truth of Tibet’s independence assertions, its autonomous governance, and its resistance to Qing control empowers a more honest global conversation.

In an era where authoritarian narratives increasingly clash with documented history, Tibet’s story serves as a reminder: facts, once uncovered, remain stubbornly resistant to propaganda.

The 1913 proclamation did not just mark a moment in Tibetan history. It shattered a myth that continues to shape geopolitics today.