Kirakira, we've had this discussion before. What Ronin4hire seems to have forgotten from that debate was the main point that if Tibet were to become independent, people would live in poverty. China has invested a lot of money on infrustructure, education, health, transport etc. If China were to just drop everything, it'd go back to the way it was in the 1950's, which any Tibetan old enough to have lived through this horrific period, would rather avoid.
And another thing, I'm sure Ronin will once more ignore my post, but, Tibet has been part of China for centuries. The so called nation of Tibet that existed for a couple of decades prior to the 50's was illegal and China never agreed to it (heck, even if the treaty actually existed, it was signed by a Russian, 2 Tibetans and 2 Mongolians. There was no China in the equation so it's as if a French, 2 Scotish and 2 Welsh people signed on a treaty of Scotlands independence from UK). The British simply f**ked up. They thought they could be sly and get away with it, but it only took a matter of time for China to get through it's priorities and sort this out.
EDIT:
If however you take the other side of the story which says that the Chinese DID in fact sign the independence of Tibet, then anyone that knows anything about the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties would know that forcing someone to sign a treaty is illegal and does not validate the treaty. The British forced the Chinese to sign over at the time when China was weak. So, whatver version of the story you take, the independence of Tibet was ILLEGAL!!! lol, the funny thing is, if other countries force China to give independence to Tibet today, it'd still be an illegal independence... Sorry for all those blind Free Tibet supporters, you're simply supporting something that is in a sense illegal. Unless China WANTS to and Agrees to, Tibet is theirs.. o__O
ALL chinese citizens have a right to Tibet. Just because the Majority are Tibetan, it doesn't mean that it truely only belongs to Tibetan people. The same goes for Tibetans and the rest of China. There are lot's of Tibetans in other parts of the country, working in cities like Shanghai where there are more oportunities. What will happen to them if Tibet becomes independent? It will cause huge tensions between Tibetans and the rest of the Chinese. Thousands if not millions will suffer needlesly. Heck, if I was the Chinese Government, and Tibet wanted freedom, I'd give it to them, but I'd also destroy the Qingzang railway and anything that was built/created/made by the other 55 ethnic groups of China.
Giving independce to a people just because it fits a fantasy idiology is silly. It's like Berbers in Algeria. The majority want independence for stupid reason, like Pride! What they don't realise is that if they get independence from the part of Algeria in which most Berbers live (Kabylie), they will suffer. Explaining this to anyone that isn't well educated is a nightmare. If Tibetans really want independence, wait a couple more years before giving them the option (even though, I personally believe that the majority would not vote for independence. They've seen the improvements in their life and the future only looks brighter in the sense of quality of life).