Crumpled passport ‘proves’ Tibet independence claim

Crumpled, faded and torn at the edges, the sheet of paper looks unremarkable at first sight – a typical government document from Asia in the early 1900s, perhaps.

Closer inspection suggests that it is something extraordinary: a Tibetan passport issued to the Dalai Lama’s finance minister and used in at least eight countries, including Britain, in 1948.

The document goes on public display for the first time this weekend at a conference in Delhi organised by radical Tibetan independence activists.


Click for an enormous, high-resolution (21.7 MB) copy of Tsepon Shakabpa’s passport.

They say that it is the strongest evidence yet to support the Dalai Lama’s longstanding claim that Tibet was an independent nation before Chinese communist forces entered in 1950. China says that Tibet has been an integral part of its territory for centuries.

If the document is genuine, it supports the view that Tibet was at least considered a de facto sovereign state by Britain and several other countries.

Type-print on the passport says that it was issued to Tsepon Shakabpa, a Tibetan finance minister, who led a trade delegation to China, India, the Middle East, Europe and the United States.

More here.