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'South Tibet' (Chinese: ''Zàngnán'' ) refers to a geographic area of Tibet comprises Xigazê Prefecture, Shannan and Nyingchi^[1] as well as the disputed land Arunachal Pradesh,which is administrated by India but claimed as part of Shannan and Nyingchi by China. The disputed area, located on India's northern frontier, is claimed by both China and India.

Contents

Dispute

Description

See also

References

External links

Dispute

This is a long-standing unresolved border dispute. India currently administers the area called part of South Tibet by China and Arunachal Pradesh by India. Arunachal Pradesh is in the northeast part of the India. It is bordered on the north by the Tibet Autonomous Region (formerly Tibet) and on the east by Myanmar.
Currently China is renewing its claims to this area, stating that the area is part of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
China recently denied a visa to an Arunachal Pradesh official. The basis of the denial was that the official was already a citizen of China as he was a citizen of Arunachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh belongs to China.^[2]
The borderline was originally negotiated between Tibet and Great Britain at the Simla Convention in March of 1914. The border determined at that time is known as the McMahon Line.^[3] China's claim is that it was not a party to the Simla Conference nor to a separate treaty between Britain and Tibet and therefore the treaty is “illegal and invalid”.^[4] China further alleges the treaty was secretly amended one month later by British and Tibetan officials and the border line changed.
In addition to the McMalon Line and Arunachal Pradesh, the disputed border includes a section delineating a barren plateau in Ladakh called Aksai Chin claimed by India as part of Jammu and Kashmir but never thoroughly surveyed. This disputed frontier stretches from Bhutan to Myanmar (formerly Burma), and follows the ridge of the Himalayas. This area is claimed by India but currently administered by China as part of South Tibet.
One of issues at the root of a subsequent border dispute between Tibet and India is Tibet's claim that if the line drawn at the Simla Conference is valid, then this supports Tibet's position as an independent nation, and therefore India has no business entering into Tibet's affairs, as alleged in 1959 by the exiled Dalai Lama.^[5] Currently Tibet is a providence of China known as the Tibet Autonomous Region.
The disputed area is named as 6 counties in China,Zayü County,Mêdog County,Mainling County,Lhünzê County,Cona County and Nang County

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 of China. 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. The Gangdisê and Nyainqêntanglha mountain ranges (sometimes referred to as "Trans-Himalaya") separate South Tibet from North Tibet (Chinese: ''Zàngběi'' 藏北).^{[6][7][8][9][10]}
South Tibet includes the following geologically important areas: the Tibetan Plateau, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the Tarim Basin,
the Taklamakan Desert, Lop Nur and the Turfan Depression.
Politically, South Tibet comprises the Autonomous regions of China divisions of Xigazê, Shannan and Nyingchi.^[1] All or parts of these areas are disputed areas claimed by three parties: the Peoples Republic of China, the Government of Tibet in Exile, and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.
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 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. This part of South Tibet roughly corresponds to what India refers to as Arunachal Pradesh.^[12][13]

See also

★ Government of Tibet in Exile

★ Tibet Autonomous Region

References

1. http://www.china.org.cn/english/zhuanti/tibet%20facts/163846.htm
2. Chinese Chequers Don’t Simply Hope For The Best, Match Beijing Move For Move
3. border dispute (in India: Foreign policy)
4. China: Why Scholars Are Revisiting The Tibet-India Border fixed by the British-Tibet Treaty (1914)
5. The Bobber
6. Tibetan Geography, Yang Qinye, Zheng Du, , , China Interncontinental Press, 2004, ISBN 7-5085-0665-0
7. Zheng Du, Zhang Qingsong, Wu Shaohong: 'Mountain Geoecology and Sustainable Development of the Tibetan Plateau' (Kluwer 2000), ISBN 0-7923-6688-3, p. 312;
8. Zàngnán 藏南 (South Tibet) territorial definition on a website of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences ;
9. China's Tibet - Facts and Figures: Topography (New Star Publishers / China Tibet Information Center);
10. South Tibet Valley (China Tibet Information Center).
11. http://www.china.org.cn/english/zhuanti/tibet%20facts/163846.htm
12. China-India Border: Eastern Sector (tripway.com.cn)
13. Màixiàn yǐnán wèixīngtú 麦线以南卫星图 Satellite Map of the areas south of the McMahon Line (Chinese National Geography) .

External links

★ Tibet Facts and Figures 2005

★ Knitting women in south Tibet

★ Position of the Lhasa block, South Tibet, during the late Cretaceous

★ South Tibet economy expanding