China's Unlawful Control over Tibet: The Tibetan People's Entitlement to Self-Determination
![handle is hein.journals/iicl12 and id is 299 raw text is: CHINA'S UNLAWFUL CONTROL OVER TIBET: THE
TIBETAN PEOPLE'S ENTITLEMENT To
SELF-DETERMINATION
I. INTRODUCTION
Few people who travel to the Himalayas realize that hundreds of
Tibetans have traveled over the area to flee Chinese-occupied Tibet.' As one
twenty-one year old male from Chamdo remembered:
It was very difficult crossing over the mountains. The
snow was up to our waists, but I was so anxious to reach
Nepal I kept walking, I didn't give up. We heard that
refugees often die in the mountains because of the cold. We
joined a guide with five children; one small boy almost died,
we took turns carrying him. For three days I was snow blind
and couldn't see anything.
We know our Tibetan mountains, we know how to hide
in them, but Nepal is unfamiliar to us; it is easy for the
Nepalese to catch and arrest us. I didn't want to leave my
country, but living in Tibet has become difficult. In India we
will be protected by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Only then,
will we be able to work for our country's independence.2
This Note will demonstrate that the Tibetan people are entitled to
exercise their right to self-determination because the Chinese are attempting
to destroy the Tibetan way of life by illegally controlling Tibet.3 This Note
will also demonstrate that the Chinese do not have a valid claim to rule Tibet
because the Seventeen Point Agreement, which the Chinese rely on, is void
under international law.4
The Chinese assert that Tibet has been a part of China since the
Thirteenth century.5 This is contrary to Tibet's claim that the Tibetan people
were independent prior to China's invasion.6 Part I[ of this Note will discuss
1. See The Situation of Tibet and its People: Hearing on S. Hrg. 105-124 Before the
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, 105th Cong. 76 (1997) (An Issue of Protection:
Tibetan Refugees by Maura Moynihan) [hereinafter Senate Hearing].
2. Id. at 82. For accounts by other Tibetans leaving Tibet to resettle in India, see
generally id.
3. See NTERNATIONALCOMMISSION OFJURISTS, THE QUESTION OFTIBET ANDTHE RULE
OFLAW 21 (1959) [hereinafter ICJ].
4. See infra notes 90-99 and accompanying text.
5. See Frederick J. Petersen, The Facade of Humanitarian Intervention for Human
Rights in a Community of Sovereign Nations, 15 ARIZ. J. INT'L & COMP. L. 871, 899 (1998).
6. See id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/iicl12&div=18&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
China's Unlawful Control over Tibet: The Tibetan People's Entitlement to Self-Determination
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most