1913 Mongolia-Tibet Treaty’s historical significance discussed

(TibetanReview.net, Jan 03, 2011)  A discussion was organized Dec 30-31 by the exile Tibetan government’s Department of Information and International Relation at Dharamsala on the historical significance of the 1913 Treaty of mutual recognition between Mongolia and Tibet.

The participants were Prof Elliot Sperling of Indiana University, exile Tibetan MP Mr Kelsang Gyatsen, Mr Tashi Tsering of Amnye Machen Institute, Mr Sonam Gyaltsen of the College of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarah, Prof Tsering Shakya of the University of British Columbia, Prof Jampa Samten of the Central University of Tibetan Studies at Varanasi, and Mr Chung Tsering from the exile government’s Department of Education.

The discussion followed a symposium held Oct 13-14, 2010, also at Dharamsala, on the same subject. Twenty-seven experts from Mongolia, India, America, Korea, Russia, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Holland and Germany who took part in it concluded that the treaty was 99 percent factual and official.

The “Treaty of Friendship and Alliance between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet” was signed at Urga in Jan 1913 and proclaimed the formation of the independent states of Tibet and Mongolia. It occurred after the 13th Dalai Lama had declared Tibet an independent country.