South Tibet (Chinese: Zàngnán 藏南) is the name of a disputed region located on the middle of the Yarlung Zangbo River, 300 km north of the Himalayas. It is entirely administered by India as part of its Arunachal Pradesh state; the People's Republic of China claims it as a part of its Tibet Autonomous Region.[1][2][3] In particular, China contests the legitimacy of the 1914 Simla Accord with the British Empire for multiple reasons. The people of South Tibet have cultural, linguistic, and ethnic ties to Tibet.[4]
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[edit] Dispute
Although administered by India as part of the state Arunachal Pradesh, the area is claimed by People's Republic of China. Arunachal Pradesh is in the northeast part of the India, and is bordered on the north by Tibet and on the east by Burma.[5] China claims the area as part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and in 2007, it denied a visa to an Arunachal Pradesh official.,[1] on the basis that the official was already a citizen of China as he was a citizen of Arunachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh belonged to China but now India .[vague][6]
A 1914 conference to determine the status of Tibet, the Simla Accord, was attended by representatives of Britain, China, and the local Tibetan government.[7] However China only had observer status in the negotiations.[8] The Chinese representative rejected British designs for Tibet, including its division into "inner" and "outer" Tibet, with the withdrawal of Chinese administration in the latter, so the negotiations broke down.[9] Nonetheless, British and Tibetan representatives, secretly and separately from Simla, negotiated the Indo-Tibetan border in Delhi, and the Tibetan representative reluctantly agreed to cede the disputed territory. They later presented this as an extended interpretation of the line drawn on the Simla map,[10] and declared the convention binding on themselves.[9] China regarded this joint declaration as illegal, maintaining that Tibet did not have treaty-making powers: a view, it pointed out, that was affirmed in the Anglo-Chinese Agreement of 1906 and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907.[10]
After his exile, the 14th Dalai Lama argued that India's use of the Simla border means that India considered Tibet independent.[11]
[edit] The Dalai Lama's opinion
The 14th Dalai Lama, who led the Tibetan government from 1950 to 1959, said as recently as 2003 that Tawang is "actually part of Tibet".[12] He reversed his position in 2008,[why?] saying that it was part of India.[12]
[edit] Description
South Tibet includes the Yarlung Tsangpo Canyon, formed by the middle reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River in the south of the Tibet Autonomous Region. It stretches 1200 kilometres from Mainling in the east to Saga (Tibetan: sa dga’ rdzong ས་དགའ་རྫོང་; Chinese: Sàgā Xiàn 萨嘎县) in the west, and some 300 kilometres from the Himalaya range in the south to the Gangdisê (Kangrinboqê) and Nyainqêntanglha massifs in the north. The bottom of the valley ascends from an altitude of 2800 metres in the east to 4500 metres in the west.[13][14] The Gangdisê and Nyainqêntanglha mountain ranges (sometimes referred to as "Trans-Himalaya") separate South Tibet from North Tibet (Chinese: Zàngběi 藏北).[citation needed]
South Tibet includes the following geological areas: the Tibetan Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Politically, South Tibet comprises the Autonomous regions of China divisions of Xigazê, Shannan and Nyingchi. All or parts of these areas are disputed areas claimed by four parties: the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, the Tibetan Government in Exile, and India.
In the south-east, part of South Tibet is claimed by China, but controlled by India. China views these areas as parts of the counties of Mêdog and Zayü in Nyingchi, parts of Cona and the south of Lhünzê in Shannan. This is the area south of the McMahon Line, which is not recognised by China as an international border. (Copy of wikipedia)
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