> tibet had defacto independence before it was annexed by the communist party in 1951. Tibet was struggling to gain any sort of international recognition and w

> tibet had defacto independence before it was annexed by the communist party in 1951. Tibet was struggling to gain any sort of international recognition and was, as you say, independent de facto and not de jure. They were about as independent as the Principality of Sealand. In 1906 Great Britain and China signed the Convention Between Great Britain and China Respecting Tibet, which recognized China's sovereignty over the region. The brief period during which the de facto independence existed was during the Chinese civil war, when the Tibetans took advantage of that situation and agitated for independence. Nothing ever became of that effort, because the formation of a new state requires international recognition. The list of treaties recognizing China's authority over Tibet goes on, whereas there exists a distinct lack of anything resembling international recognition for the existence of an independent Tibet. So that's why I have the idea that Tibet is a province, subordinate to the central Chinese government.