As has always been the case in human history, being an apologist for the colonizing activities of empires is a desirable and rewarding business. One notable China apologist posing as an academic in Hong Kong is Barry Sautman, who recently has published a number of essays and even a PowerPoint presentation in which he puts for “historical” evidence for Tibet always being a part of China, since time began. Over at Rangzen.net Professor Elliot Sperling takes on Barry Sautman’s polemical case on Tibet’s historical status. Sperling does this by simultaneously using primary sources where Sautman is using only secondary or tertiary sources, as well as by exploding internal inconsistencies in Sautman’s writing.

Sperling’s piece is well written and you don’t have to be intimately familiar with the history of Tibet and China going back thousands of years for his case against Sautman to be devastating. I definitely recommend giving it a read.