Convention of Calcutta

The Convention of Calcutta[1] or Anglo-Chinese Convention of 1890,[2] officially the Convention Between Great Britain and China Relating to Sikkim and Tibet, (Chinese: 中英藏印條約; pinyin: Zhōng yīng zàng yìn tiáoyuē) was a treaty between Britain and Qing China relating to Tibet and the Kingdom of Sikkim. It was signed by Viceroy of India Lord Lansdowne and the Chinese Amban in Tibet, Sheng Tai, on 17 March 1890 in Calcutta, India.[3] The Convention recognized a British protectorate over Sikkim and demarcated the Sikkim–Tibet border.

China is said to have negotiated the treaty without consulting Tibet, and the Tibetans refused to recognize it.[2] China's inability to deliver on the treaty eventually necessitated a British expedition to Tibet in 1904, setting in motion a long chain of developments in the history of Tibet. Modern international law jurists state that the convention exposed the Chinese 'impotence' in Tibet.[4]

The boundary established between Sikkim and Tibet in the treaty still survives today, as part of the China–India border.[5] It has an impact on the modern day Doklam dispute between China, India and Bhutan.[6]

  1. ^ Green, L. C. (July–September 1960), "Legal Aspects of the Sino-Indian Border Dispute", The China Quarterly, 3 (3): 42–58, doi:10.1017/S0305741000026230, JSTOR 763286, S2CID 247327065
  2. ^ a b Norbu, China's Tibet Policy (2001), p. 169.
  3. ^ Younghusband, India and Tibet (1910), p. 51.
  4. ^ International Commission of Jurists (1959), p. 77.
  5. ^ Prescott (1975), pp. 261–262
  6. ^ Ankit Panda (13 July 2017), "The Political Geography of the India-China Crisis at Doklam", The Diplomat, archived from the original on 14 July 2017