Tibet Autonomous Region

The Tibet Autonomous Region, or Xizang Autonomous Region, typically called Tibet or Xizang for short, is a province-level autonomous region in Southwest China. It spans the traditional Tibetan regions of Ü-Tsang and Kham.

The question of Chinese sovereignty over Tibet remains controversial to this day. Critics accuse the government of extensive human rights abuses against native Tibetans, including denial of freedoms of religion and association, mistreatment of prisoners, torture, extrajudicial execution, and forced abortions and sterilization, and argue that Tibetan independence is necessary to rectify these issues. The CCP maintains Tibet is rightful Chinese territory, and that it is working to eliminate "terrorism and religious extremism", including sectarian violence between Tibetan Buddhists and Hui Muslims.

History
From 1912–1951, Tibet was a de facto independent country, under nominal jurisdiction of the Republic of China. It was an insular theocratic serfdom ruled by the Dalai Lama, and with some exceptions it had very limited contact with outsiders for the duration of the Warlord Era, the Chinese Civil War, and World War II.

Tibet was annexed by the People's Republic of China in 1951 following the Battle of Chamdo and the signing of the Seventeen-Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet. A provision of this Agreement between Tibet and the PRC provided for an autonomous administration led by the Dalai Lama, despite establishing Chinese sovereignty over Tibet – fairly similar to the previous arrangement between Tibet and the ROC. In 1955, however, the Chinese Communist Party established a "preparatory committee" which excluded the Dalai Lama's government and laid the foundation for a system of administration more closely in line with the CCP.

Traditionalist Tibetan dissidents, often trained and supplied by the American CIA, led a series of unsuccessful rebellions in the following years, culminating in the Lhasa Uprising of 1959. The extend to which these rebellions were supported by the common people of Tibet is debated, but a great number of the fighters were members of aristocratic clans disempowered under Communist rule. After the 1959 uprising, the Dalai Lama fled to India, fearing imprisonment or execution by the Chinese, and renounced the Seventeen Point Agreement.

After consolidating power, the CCP led a program of extensive land reform, abolishing traditional systems of slavery and serfdom. Monastic schools were broken up and secular educational systems put in place. The territory was formally reorganized into an autonomous region in 1965. Among other things, this provided that the head of government would be an ethnic Tibetan. The powerful office of First Secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Regional Committee of the CCP, however, has never been occupied by an ethnic Tibetan.

The Chinese government's treatment of Tibetans and the extent of Tibetan autonomy (or lack thereof) has been a continuous source of debate and occasional unrest over the years. International organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have accused the government of carrying out widespread human rights violations, especially with respect to political dissidents. Supporters, on the other hand, contend that Tibet is rife with sectarian violence, and accuse separatists of carrying out terrorism.

The most recent major instance of unrest in the region was in 2008, with a series of protests against the Chinese government's alleged persecution of Tibetans, coinciding with ethnic conflicts between native Tibetans an Han and Hui Chinese. These were quickly suppressed by the Chinese government. The events are referred to either as the 2008 Uprising (by Tibetan protestors) or the 3-14 Riots (by mainstream Chinese media).

Modern Support for Tibetan Independence
While the Communist Party of China maintains Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party, the largest opposition party by membership, has come out in support of self-determination and independence for Tibet (as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Xinjiang).