The Tibetan Government-in-exile, headed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled head of state and spiritual leader, has consistently held that Tibet has been under illegal Chinese occupation since China invaded the independent state in 1949/50. The People's Republic of China (PRC) insists that its relation with Tibet is purely an internal affairs, because Tibet is and has been for centuries an integral part of China. The question of Tibet's status is essentially a legal question, albeit one of immediate political relevance. The PRC makes no claim to sovereign rights over Tibet as a result of its military subjugation and occupation of Tibet following its armed invasion in 1949-50. Indeed, the PRC could hardly make that claim, since it categorically rejects as illegal claims to sovereignty put forward by other states based on conquest, occupation, or the imposition of unequal treaties. Instead, the PRC bases its claims to Tibet solely on the theory that Tibet became an integral part of China 700 year ago.
