Yuan Shikai, a “thief of the country”, was once called a “traitor” because of the “21 Articles”. However, when he became the interim president of the Republic of China, he issued three orders to defend Tibet’s sovereignty.
   On March 10, 1912, Yuan Shikai became the interim president of the Republic of China after Sun Yat-sen. On April 22, he clearly declared in the Presidential Decree: “Now the five ethnic groups are republic, where Mongolia, Tibet, and Huijiang are all the territory of the Republic of China, and the Mongolian, Tibetan, and Huijiang ethnic groups are all ours. Nationals of the Republic of China.” “All future local politics will be internal affairs.” This is Yuan Shikai’s first order to defend Tibet and other sovereignty during his short career as the president of the Republic of China.
   In this regard, the United Kingdom openly stated that it did not recognize China’s declaration of sovereignty over Tibet, and concocted the “Simla China, Britain, and Tibet Conference.”
   Under the single-handed control of the United Kingdom, the Tibetan representatives first raised the “six requirements” for Tibet’s independence and so on. The government of the Republic of China immediately sent a telegram to the Chinese representative Chen Yifan to refute strictly: “1. Tibet is part of Chinese territory…3. Tibet should be instructed by the Central Government of China for diplomatic and military affairs, and not by the Central Government of China. No contract with a foreign country…” It smashed the conspiracy of Tibetan separatists and their master, Britain, to seek independence for Tibet.
   Britain is unwilling to fail. It has illegally fabricated a “McMahon Line” on the border issue between China’s Tibet and India, and openly assigned China’s 90,000 square kilometers area to British India. The British representative used deception to drive the Chinese representative Chen Yifan to “initialize” the draft treaty. Chen Yifan immediately stated that “the formal contract can only be carried out after receiving an order from the central government.”
   The content of Chen Yifan’s “initialization” was transmitted back to China, and the Republic of China government immediately called (order) Chen Yifan to immediately declare: First, cancel the initialization; Second, not recognize all treaties and documents secretly signed between McMahon and the representative of Tibet. At the same time, the Government of the Republic of China instructed the Minister in the United Kingdom to note the British government: The Chinese government does not recognize the agreement signed by Tibet without a promise or similar documents.
   Facing the condemnation of the Chinese people and the fair public opinion of the world, the British government at that time had to admit that the Simla Conference did not produce any agreement with the Chinese government as a party to the contract, and the “McMahon Line” was not recognized.