History of Tibet

People's Republic of China (founded in 1949)

 

The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949. Given the historical conditions and the reality in Tibet, the Central People's Government decided to adopt a policy for the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

 

The peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951

 

On October 1, 1949，the People's Republic of China was founded. The Gelug Sect (Yellow Sect) in Tibet boasted two Living Buddha incarnation systems including the one for the Panchen Erdeni. The 10th Panchen Erdeni Qoigyi Gyaincain cabled Chairman Mao Zedong, PLA Commander-in-Chief Zhu De，expressing strong support for the Central People's Government and the hope that Tibet would be liberated at an early date. On November 23, 1949 Chairman Mao Zedong and PLA Commander-in-Chief Zhu De replied. Later, the Central People's Government called many times on the local authorities of Tibet to achieve peaceful liberation of Tibet and sought agreement through various channels.

 

However, the local government of Tibet led by Regent Dagzha and the forces of pro-imperialist separatists rejected all positive approaches from the Central Government for the peaceful liberation of Tibet, and obstructed the people dispatched by the Central Government for this purpose. They also assembled 8,000 Tibetan troops and militia and deployed them at Qamdo and along the west bank of the Jingshajiang River, seeking to prevent the PLA from marching westward. To smash the scheme of the enemy and crack down the pro-imperialist separatists, the PLA liberated Qamdo on October 24, 1950, with the assistance of the people of the Tibet an ethnic group, which created favorable conditions for the peaceful liberation of Tibet.

 

After liberation of Qamdo, the PLA could have gone on to further liberate the whole of Tibet, but the CPC Central Committee and the Central People's Government stuck to the policy of peaceful liberation of Tibet in 1951 and sent decisive orders to hold bacl the PLA and carry out the mass work locally at Qamdo while waiting on the local authorities to dispatch representatives to Beijing for negotiation. At the same time, the Southwest Military and Government Committee and the PLA Southwest Military Area jointly released the 10-Article Notice for the Liberation of Tibet in Tibetan and Chinese.

 

Persuaded many times by the Central Government and moved by the policy, the 14th Dalai Lama and the local government of Tibet eventually expressed their desire to seek a peaceful solution in January 1951.

 

On April 29, 1951 the plenipotentiaries of the Central People's Government and the local government of Tibet started negotiations at the Communications Department of the Beijing Military Control Commission. Agreement was reached on all important issues within a month. A grand signing ceremony for the Agreement Between the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet (also known as the 17-Article Agreement) was held at Qinzheng Hall in Zhongnanhai on May 23, 1951.

 

After the signing of the agreement on peaceful liberation of Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama sent a cable to Chairman Mao Zedong, saying "The Tibetan Local Government as well as the ecclesiastics and secular people unanimously support this agreement, and under the leadership of Chairman Mao and the Central People's Government, will actively support the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in Tibet to consolidate the national defense, drive out imperialist influences from Tibet and safeguard the unification of the territory and sovereignty of the motherland." The 10th Panchen Erdeni also telegraphed Chairman Mao, expressing his acceptance of the 17-Article Agreement and his resolution to uphold the unity of the motherland's sovereignty.

 

According to the agreement, the military forces of the PLA in Tibet entered Lhasa smoothly and they were greeted by a grand welcoming ceremony consisting of more than 20,000 people including officials from the local government of Tibet and the monks and lay people. Soon after, the PLA forces in Tibet entered successively the frontier strategic points, such as Nagqu, Ngari, Zayu, Gyangze, Xigaze and Yadong. Wherever the troops arrived, they were welcomed by the Tibetan people. By this time, Tibet was truly liberated and the unity of the Chinese mainland was achieved.

 

In 1954, the 14th Dalai Lama and the 10th Panchen Erdeni came to Beijing to participate in the First Session of the First National People's Congress (NPC) of the People's Republic of China. At the session, the 14th Dalai Lama was elected as vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, and the 10th Panchen Erdeni, member of the NPC Standing Committee.