The central government continued to exercise sovereignty over Tibet during the Republic of China period (1912-1949). In 1912, the central government established the Bureau of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs (renamed the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Yuan in 1914) to replace the late Qing's Ministry of Tribal Affairs, and dispatched the commissioner resident in Tibet to exercise the functions and power of the grand minister resident in Tibet. In 1929, the nationalist government established the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission to exercise administrative jurisdiction of Tibet. In 1940, the nationalist government set up the Tibet Office of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission in Lhasa. The Organic Law of the Congress of the Republic of China stipulated the methods whereby the people of Tibet would participate in elections, and the rights of elected congressmen from Tibet to directly participate in deliberation and administration of state affairs. The identification and enthronement of both the 14th Dalai Lama and the 10th Panchen Erdeni were approved by the government of the Republic of China.

Since its birth in 1921, the CPC has supported ethnic equality and unity in China, vigorously exploring the path through which to achieve ethnic equality and resolve ethnic issues. Since the founding of the PRC in 1949, the Chinese government has promoted equality, unity, mutual support, fraternity, and common development and prosperity among all ethnic groups as fundamental principles under which to address ethnic issues and relations. Taking into consideration China's history and social conditions in modern times, the PRC did not choose the composite system (also known as the federal system) for its state structure, but the unitary system instead; it decided to exercise regional ethnic autonomy in areas inhabited by minority ethnic groups under unified state leadership, thus to ensure that ethnic minorities enjoy the rights of being masters of the country.

Regional ethnic autonomy is the correct choice for China, a unified multiethnic country, to address ethnic issues and relations. China's regional ethnic autonomy is a form of autonomy under unified state leadership. All ethnic autonomous areas are inseparable from the country, and the organs of self-government of all ethnic autonomous areas shall be subject to the central government's leadership.

The regional ethnic autonomy system is also a significant component of China's socialist system. Under the socialist system, all power belongs to the people, and the state safeguards the democratic rights of the people. All autonomous areas exercise the power of autonomy in their economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological development, and in managing their regional affairs. This exemplifies the exercise of socialist democracy in regions inhabited by ethnic minorities.

Through the peaceful liberation in 1951 and the democratic reform in 1959, Tibet Autonomous Region was founded in 1965, so officially establishing the system of regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet. The exercise of this system in Tibet has combined unification and autonomy, taking into account both ethnic and regional factors. This system inherits historical traditions and signifies socialist democracy; it conforms to the historical traditions of Tibet and the whole country, as well as to the common will and fundamental interests of the people of all ethnic groups.

Currently, the People's Congress and the People's Government of Tibet Autonomous Region are organs of self-government as well as local organs of state power through which to implement state laws and policies based on local reality. Through several decades of exploring the path of regional ethnic autonomy, the people of all ethnic groups in Tibet Autonomous Region have achieved equality, unity, mutual support and harmony, and the system of regional ethnic autonomy has won the wholehearted support of all ethnic groups in China.