Dharamsala Hosts
Discussion on Significance of 1913 Tibeto-Mongol Treaty[Friday, 31 December 2010, 11:52 a.m.]

From left: Prof Elliot Sperling of Indiana University, Mr Kelsang Gyatsen, Member of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, Mr Tashi Tsering of Amnye Machen Institute, Mr Sonam Gyaltsen of the College of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarah, Prof Tsering Shakya of the University of British Columbia, Prof Jampa Samten of the Central University of Tibetan Studies, Varanasi and Mr Chung Tsering, a researcher at the Department of Education, Central Tibetan Administration during the opening session of the discussion on “1913 Treaty between Mongolia and Tibet” being held in Dharamsala on 30 December 2010

DHARAMSHALA: A two-day discussion cum debate on
the historic significance of 1913 treaty between Mongolia and Tibet is
being organised by the Department of Information and International
Relations at Gangchen Kyishong from 30-31 December.A group of
seven scholars and historians have been invited to make their
presentations and shed lights on the treaty and Tibet’s relationship
with Manchu dynasty and Mongolia.The highlights of the opening
session includes a presentation on “Tibet’s relationship with Manchu
dynasty before signing the treaty with Mongolia in 1913” by Mr Kelsang
Gyaltsen, a Member of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile.Prof Elliot
Sperling, Associate Professor of Tibetan Studies, Indiana University’s
Department of Central Eurasian Studies, spoke on the international
reception and circulation of the 1913 Tibeto-Mongol Treaty.Mr
Sonam Gyaltsen, a Tibetan historian presently teaching at the College of
Higher Tibetan Studies near Dharamsala, shed light on Tibet’s
relationship with Mongolia before and after the signing of the 1913
treaty.Prof Tsering Shakya, noted historian and expert on
Tibetan studies who is currently Canadian Research Chair in Religion and
Contemporary Society in Asia at the Institute for Asian Research at the
University of British Columbia, presented a “Comparative study of
Mongolia and Tibet in their search for nationhood in the early part of
20th century”.The presentation was followed by an interactive
question and answer with the members of the audience comprising of senior officials of the Central Tibetan
Administration and members of NGOs. On the second day, Prof Jampa Samten of the Central
University of Tibetan Studies in Varansi, Mr Chung Tsering, researcher
at the Department of Education of the Central Tibetan Administration and
Mr Tashi Tsering, noted historian and director of Amnye Machen
Institute in Dharamsala, will make their presentations on the treaty.Earlier
on 13-14 October this year, twenty-seven experts from Mongolia, India,
America, Korea, Russia, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Holland and Germany
gathered for a two-day symposium on the treaty in Mongolia’s capital
Ulaanbaatar. On the basis of profound research done in Tibetan,
Mongolian, Russian, English and Chinese, the members had concluded the
debate; unanimously agreeing that 99 per cent of “1913 Treaty between
Mongolia and Tibet” is factual and official.The historic “Treaty of Friendship and
Alliance Between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet” was signed at
Urga in January 1913. The treaty,
consisting of 9 Articles, proclaimed the formation of independent
states of Tibet and Mongolia.