Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China

{{Short description|1950–1951 annexation in Asia}} {{Pp-protected|reason=Persistent disruptive editing|small=yes}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}} {{Infobox military conflict | conflict = Annexation of Tibet by the<br>People's Republic of China | partof = | image = 解放军在康定.jpg | image_size = | caption = PLA marching into Kangding | date = 6 October 1950 – 24 October 1951 | place = Tibet | result = Chinese victory | territory = Ü-Tsang and Chamdo Region of Kham came under the control of China. | combatant1 = {{flagcountry|Tibet (1912–1951)}} | combatant2 = {{flag|People's Republic of China}} | commander1 = {{Plainlist| * {{Flagdeco|Tibet}} Ngawang Sungrab Thutob * {{Flagdeco|Tibet}} Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme{{POW}}<ref name="Mac">Mackerras, Colin. Yorke, Amanda. ''The Cambridge Handbook of Contemporary China''. [1991]. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-38755-8}}. p. 100.</ref> * {{Flagdeco|Tibet}} Lhalu Tsewang Dorje<ref name="Goldstein_1991_639">{{cite book|last1=Goldstein|first1=Melvyn C.|title=A history of modern Tibet, 1913–1951, the demise of the lamaist state|date=1991|publisher=University of California Press|page=639}}</ref> }} | commander2 = {{Plainlist| * {{Flagdeco|China}} Mao Zedong * {{Flagdeco|China}} Liu Bocheng * {{Flagdeco|China}} Zhang Guohua * {{Flagdeco|China}} Fan Ming }} | units1 = {{Army|Tibet (1912–1951)}}<ref>14th Dalai Lama (1990). ''Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama''. London: Little, Brown and Co. {{ISBN|0-349-10462-X}}.</ref> | units2 = {{Armed forces|China|1949}}<ref name=Laird301>Laird 2006 p. 301.</ref><ref name="shakya43">Shakya 1999, p. 43</ref> | strength1 = | strength2 = | casualties1 = Thousands (estimated) | casualties2 = Thousands (estimated) | casualties3 = | notes = | campaignbox = }} {{History of Tibet}} Central Tibet{{Efn|As well as the western part of Kham corresponding to the Chamdo Region}} came under the control of the People's Republic of China (PRC) after the government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951.<ref name="Grunfeld1996">{{cite book |author=A. Tom Grunfeld |title=The Making of Modern Tibet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odyxWQGD2eoC&pg=PA107 |date=30 July 1996 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-3455-9 |pages=107–}}</ref> This followed attempts by the Tibetan government to modernize its military, negotiate with the PRC, and the defeat of the Tibetan Army by the People's Liberation Army.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Anne-Marie Blondeau |author2=Katia Buffetrille |title=Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's 100 Questions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B6_FKtkYhdgC&pg=PA61 |year=2008 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-24464-1 |page=61 |quote=It was evident that the Chinese were not prepared to accept any compromises and that the Tibetans were compelled, under the threat of immediate armed invasion, to sign the Chinese proposal.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Tsepon Wangchuk Deden Shakabpa |title=One Hundred Thousand Moons: An Advanced Political History of Tibet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lGyrymfDdI0C&pg=PA955 |date=October 2009 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-17732-1 |pages=953, 955}}</ref> The Chinese government calls the signing of the agreement the "'''Peaceful Liberation of Tibet'''".<ref name="Guardian-051951">{{cite news |title=China confirms 'peaceful liberation' of Tibet – archive, 1951 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/china-confirms-peaceful-liberation-of-tibet-1951 |work=The Guardian |date=May 1951}}</ref><ref name="Norbu2001">{{cite book |author=Dawa Norbu |title=China's Tibet Policy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jHXUqP4ukgEC&pg=PA301 |year=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7007-0474-3 |pages=300–301}}</ref><ref name="GoldsteinRimpoche1989">{{harvp|Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, Vol. 1|1989|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k3BijVR0dVcC&pg=PA679 679] [https://books.google.com/books?id=k3BijVR0dVcC&pg=PA740 740]}}</ref> The events are called the "'''Chinese invasion of Tibet'''" by the exiled Central Tibetan Administration<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tibet.net/2017/05/china-could-not-succeed-in-destroying-buddhism-in-tibet-sangay/ |title=China could not succeed in destroying Buddhism in Tibet: Sangay |publisher=Central Tibetan Administration |date=25 May 2017 |access-date=16 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921210552/http://tibet.net/2017/05/china-could-not-succeed-in-destroying-buddhism-in-tibet-sangay/ |archive-date=21 September 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and much of the Tibetan diaspora.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Siling |first=Luo |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/world/asia/china-tibet-lhasa-jianglin-li.html |title=A Writer's Quest to Unearth the Roots of Tibet's Unrest |date=2016-08-14 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2020-02-15 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181127234528/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/world/asia/china-tibet-lhasa-jianglin-li.html |archive-date=27 November 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Tibetan government and local social structure remained in place under the authority of China until they were dissolved after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when the 14th Dalai Lama fled into exile<ref>{{cite news |last1=Latson |first1=Jennifer |title=How and Why the Dalai Lama Left Tibet |url=https://time.com/3742242/dalai-lama-1959/ |access-date=21 February 2021 |publisher=Time |date=March 17, 2015}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated54">{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|pp=54–55}}; {{harvp|Feigon|1996|pp=160–161}}; Shakya 1999 p.208,240,241. (all sources: fled Tibet, repudiated agreement, dissolved local government).</ref> and repudiated the Seventeen Point Agreement, saying that he had approved it under duress.<ref>{{cite web |date=18 April 1959 |title=The Dalai Lama's Press Statements - Statement issued at Tezpur |url=http://www.archieve.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/590418_Tezpur_Statement.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221029012204/http://www.archieve.claudearpi.net/maintenance/uploaded_pics/590418_Tezpur_Statement.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2022}}</ref>

== Background == {{Further|Political status of Tibet}}

=== Qing dynasty === {{Main|Tibet under Qing rule}}

Tibet came under the rule of the Qing dynasty of China in 1720 after the Qing expelled the forces of the Dzungar Khanate from Tibet.{{sfnp|Lin, Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier|2011|pp=7–8}} Emperor Kangxi then wrote an edict for the Imperial Stele Inscriptions of the Pacification of Tibet.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/125527070 | title=《御制平定西藏碑》The Imperial Stele Inscriptions of the Pacification of Tibet in Four Languages | work=西北民族论丛Northwest Ethnology Series | date=January 2015 | last1=Yangang | first1=S. H. I. }}</ref> His successor Emperor Yongzheng went on to establish new boundaries between what are now the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kolmaš |first=Josef |date=1967 |title=Tibet and Imperial China: A Survey of Sino-Tibetan Relations Up to the End of the Manchu Dynasty in 1912 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7JpCAAAAYAAJ |journal=Occasional Paper |publisher=Centre of Oriental Studies, Australian National University, Canberra |issue=7 |page=41}}</ref>

=== Republic of China and ''de facto'' independence === Central Tibet remained under Qing suzerainty until the 1911 revolution.{{sfnp|Lin, Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier|2011|p=9}} The succeeding Republic of China claimed inheritance of all Qing territories, including Tibet,<ref name="ROC">{{cite book |last1=Tanner |first1=Harold |title=China: A History |year=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VIWC9wCX2c8C&q=republic+of+china+inherit+all+territories+qing+dynasty&pg=PA419 |page=419 |publisher=Hackett |isbn=978-0872209152}}</ref> described in the Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor as an integral republic comprising different ethnic groups.<ref name="Edict1">{{cite book|last1=Esherick |first1=Joseph |last2=Kayali |first2=Hasan |last3=Van Young |first3=Eric |title=Empire to Nation: Historical Perspectives on the Making of the Modern World |year=2006 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=reKxAAAAQBAJ&q=complete+territories+of+manchu,+han,+mongol,+hui,+tibetan&pg=PA245 |page=245 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=9780742578159}}</ref><ref name="Edict2">{{cite book |last1=Zhai |first1=Zhiyong |title=憲法何以中國 |year=2017 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ziEwDwAAQBAJ&q=仍合滿、漢、蒙、回、藏五族完全領土為一大中華民國&pg=PA190 |page=190 |publisher=City University of HK Press |isbn=9789629373214}}</ref><ref name="Edict3">{{cite book |last1=Gao |first1=Quanxi |title=政治憲法與未來憲制 |year=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P46rDAAAQBAJ&q=仍合滿、漢、蒙、回、藏五族完全領土為一大中華民國&pg=PA273 |page=273 |publisher=City University of HK Press |isbn=9789629372910}}</ref> This is also reflected in the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China adopted in 1912.<ref name="Integral">{{cite book |last1=Zhao |first1=Suisheng |title=A Nation-state by Construction: Dynamics of Modern Chinese Nationalism |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nhkweJozrS0C&q=complete+territories+of+manchu,+han,+mongol,+hui,+tibetan&pg=PA68 |page=68 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=9780804750011}}</ref>

By 1917 the area comprising the present-day TAR eventually became a ''de facto'' independent polity.<ref>Shakya 1999 p. 4</ref><ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, Vol. 1|1989|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=k3BijVR0dVcC&pg=PA815 815]}}: "Tibet unquestionably controlled its own internal and external affairs during the period from 1913 to 1951 and repeatedly attempted to secure recognition and validation of its de facto autonomy/independence."</ref><ref>Feigon 1996 p.119</ref> Some border areas with high ethnic Tibetan populations (Amdo and Eastern Kham) remained under the Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) or local warlord control.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.6,27. Feigon 1996 p.28</ref>

The TAR region is also known as "Political Tibet", while all areas with a high ethnic Tibetan population are collectively known as "Ethnic Tibet". Political Tibet refers to the polity ruled continuously by Tibetan governments since earliest times until 1951, whereas ethnic Tibet refers to regions north and east where Tibetans historically predominated but where, down to modern times, Tibetan jurisdiction was irregular and limited to just certain areas.<ref>The classic distinction drawn by Sir Charles Bell and Hugh Richardson. See Melvin C. Goldstein, 'Change, Conflict and Continuity among a community of Nomadic Pastoralists: A Case Study from Western Tibet, 1950–1990,' in Robert Barnett and Shirin Akiner, (eds.,) ''Resistance and Reform in Tibet,'' Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1994, pp. 76–90, pp.77–8.</ref>

At the time Political Tibet obtained ''de facto'' independence, its socio-economic and political systems resembled Medieval Europe.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.11</ref> Attempts by the 13th Dalai Lama between 1913 and 1933 to enlarge and modernize the Tibetan military had eventually failed, largely due to opposition from powerful aristocrats and monks.<ref>Feigon 1996 p.119-122. {{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|pp=34–35}}</ref><ref name="Shakya99511">Shakya 1999 p.5,11</ref> On 12 August 1927, the Republic of China mandated that before the publication of new laws, all laws in history regarding Tibetan Buddhism should continue unless there were conflicts with new doctrine or new laws of the Central Government.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sohu.com/a/461098896_523177 |date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001024741/https://www.sohu.com/a/461098896_523177 |archive-date=1 October 2022 |url-status=live |title=【边疆时空】喜饶尼玛李双{{!}}国民政府管理藏传佛教活佛措施评析|website=Sohu }} 南京国民政府成立之初，在处理藏传佛教问题上采取援引相关法规的原则。1927年8月12日，南京国民政府"援用以前法律之决议案"，规定一切法律在未颁布以前，继续援引不与国民党党纲或主义，或与国民政府法令相抵触的法律。</ref> The Tibetan government had little contact with other governments of the world during its period of ''de facto'' independence,<ref name="Shakya99511" /> with some exceptions; notably India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.7,15,16</ref><ref name="Goldstein9737">{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=37}}</ref> This left Tibet diplomatically isolated and cut off to the point where it could not make its positions on issues well known to the international community.<ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=36}}</ref>

The ROC's 1931 provisional constitution stated, "The territory of the Republic of China includes all the provinces, Mongolia, and Tibet."<ref name=":Wang22">{{Cite book |last=Wang|first=Frances Yaping|title=The Art of State Persuasion: China's Strategic Use of Media in Interstate Disputes|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2024|isbn=9780197757512|doi=10.1093/oso/9780197757505.001.0001}}</ref>{{Reference page|page=119}}

=== People's Republic of China === In July 1949, in order to prevent Chinese Communist Party-sponsored agitation from spreading to Central Tibet, the Tibetan government expelled the Nationalist delegation in Lhasa.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.5,7,8</ref> The (Nationalist) Chinese approved a request to exempt Lhamo Dhondup from lot-drawing process using Golden Urn to become the 14th Dalai Lama on 31 January 1940.{{sfnp|Goldstein|1991|pp=328–}}<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.livingbuddha.us.com/view-d59c6c9eba6e4beb842b893f40fdec75.html |publisher=Museum of Tibetan Culture of China Tibetology Research Center |title=Report to Wu Zhongxin from the Regent Reting Rinpoche Regarding the Process of Searching and Recognizing the Thirteenth Dalai lama's Reincarnated Soul Boy as well as the Request for an Exemption to Drawing Lots |website=The Reincarnation of Living Buddhas |date=1940 |access-date=28 September 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331204451/http://www.livingbuddha.us.com/view-d59c6c9eba6e4beb842b893f40fdec75.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="yuan">{{cite web |date=1940 |title=Executive Yuan's Report to the National Government Regarding the Request to Approve Lhamo Thondup to Succeed the Fourteenth Dalai lama and to Appropriate Expenditure for His Enthronement |url=http://www.livingbuddha.us.com/view-a4a452dadc42426184aa073f08dd26fb.html |website=The Reincarnation of Living Buddhas |publisher=Museum of Tibetan Culture of China Tibetology Research Center |access-date=28 September 2022 |archive-date=30 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930211113/http://www.livingbuddha.us.com/view-a4a452dadc42426184aa073f08dd26fb.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In November 1949, Tibetan government sent a letter to the U.S. State Department and a copy to Mao Zedong, and a separate letter to the British government, declaring its intent to defend itself "by all possible means" against PRC troop incursions into Tibet.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.20; {{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=42}}</ref>

In the preceding three decades, the conservative Tibetan government had consciously de-emphasized its military and refrained from modernizing.<ref>Melvin C. Goldstein,''A History of Modern Tibet:The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955,'' University of California Press, 2009, Vol.2, p.51.</ref> Hasty attempts at modernization and enlarging the military began in 1949,<ref>Shakya 1999 p.12</ref> but proved mostly unsuccessful on both counts.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.20,21; {{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|pp=37, 41–43}}</ref> By then, it was too late to raise and train an effective army.<ref>Goldstein, 209 pp.51–2.</ref> India provided some small arms aid and military training.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.26</ref> However, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was much larger, better led, trained, equipped and more experienced than the Tibetan Army.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.12 (Tibetan army poorly trained and equipped).</ref><ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|pp=41, 45}}</ref><ref name="Feigon96142">Feigon 1996 p.142 (trained).</ref>

In 1950, the 14th Dalai Lama was 15 years old and had not attained his majority, so Regent Taktra was the acting head of the Tibetan Government.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.5</ref> The period of the Dalai Lama's minority is traditionally one of instability and division, exacerbated by the recent Reting conspiracy<ref>Shakya 1999 p.4,5</ref> and a 1947 regency dispute.<ref name="Goldstein9737">{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=37}}</ref>thumb|Approximate Line of Communist Advance (CIA, February 1950) thumb|Map of the Far East from the Time magazine showing the situation of the Chinese Civil War in late 1948. Tibet is listed as part of China, while Outer Mongolia is listed outside of China since it was recognized as an independent country by that time, unlike Tibet.

Both the PRC and their rival predecessors the Kuomintang (ROC) had always maintained that Tibet was a part of China.<ref name="Feigon96142" /> The PRC also proclaimed an ideological motivation to "liberate" the Tibetans from a theocratic feudal system.<ref>Dawa Norbu, ''China's Tibet policy,''Routledge, 2001, p.195</ref> In September 1949, shortly before the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made it a top priority to incorporate Tibet, Taiwan Island, Hainan Island, and the Penghu Islands into the PRC,<ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=41}}</ref><ref>Shakya 1999 p.3.</ref> peacefully or by force.<ref name="Goldstein9744">Goldstein 1997 p.44</ref> China viewed incorporating Tibet as important to consolidate its frontiers and address national defense concerns in the southwest.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Swaran |title=The new great game : China and South and Central Asia in the era of reform |date=2016 |publisher=Stanford University Press |others=Thomas Fingar |isbn=978-0-8047-9764-1 |location=Stanford, California |pages=149 |chapter=China Engaged its Southwest Frontiers |oclc=939553543 |author-link=}}</ref> Because Tibet was unlikely to voluntarily give up its de facto independence, Mao in December 1949 ordered that preparations be made to march into Tibet at Qamdo (Chamdo), in order to induce the Tibetan Government to negotiate.<ref name="Goldstein9744" /> The PRC had over a million men under arms<ref name="Goldstein9744" /> and had extensive combat experience from the recently concluded Chinese Civil War.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

== Negotiations between Tibet and the PRC == Talks between Tibet and China were mediated by the governments of Britain and India. On 7 March 1950, a Tibetan delegation arrived in Kalimpong, India, to open a dialogue with the newly declared People's Republic of China and to secure assurances that the Chinese would respect Tibetan territorial integrity, among other things. The onset of talks was delayed by debate between the Tibetan, Indian, British, and Chinese delegations about the location of the talks. Tibet favored Singapore or Hong Kong (not Beijing; at the time romanized as Peking); Britain favored India (not Hong Kong or Singapore); and India and the Chinese favored Beijing.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} The Tibetan delegation did eventually meet with the PRC's ambassador General Yuan Zhongxian in Delhi on 16 September 1950. Yuan communicated a 3-point proposal that Tibet be regarded as part of China, that China be responsible for Tibet's defense, and that China be responsible for Tibet's trade and foreign relations. Acceptance would lead to peaceful Chinese sovereignty, or otherwise war. The Tibetans undertook to maintain the relationship between China and Tibet as one of priest-patron:

{{quote|"Tibet will remain independent as it is at present, and we will continue to have very close 'priest-patron' relations with China. Also, there is no need to liberate Tibet from imperialism, since there are no British, American or Guomindang imperialists in Tibet, and Tibet is ruled and protected by the Dalai Lama (not any foreign power)."|Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa<ref>{{Cite book |title=A History of Modern Tibet. Volume 2: The Calm Before the Storm, 1951–1955 |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn C |date=2009 |publisher=University of California Press |others=Goldstein, Melvyn C. |isbn=9780520249417 |location=Berkeley, California |oclc=76167591 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofmodernt00melv}}</ref>{{Rp|46}} }}

They and their head delegate Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, on 19 September, recommended cooperation, with some stipulations about implementation. Chinese troops need not be stationed in Tibet. It was argued that Tibet was under no threat, and if attacked by India or Nepal, could appeal to China for military assistance. While Lhasa deliberated, on 7 October 1950, Chinese troops advanced into eastern Tibet, crossing the border at five places.<ref>Melvin C. Goldstein, ''A History of Modern Tibet: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955,'' University of California Press, 2009, Vol.2, p.48.</ref> The purpose was not to invade Tibet ''per se'' but to capture the Tibetan army in Chamdo, demoralize the Lhasa government, and thus exert powerful pressure to send negotiators to Beijing to sign terms for a handover of Tibet.<ref>Melvin C. Goldstein, ''A History of Modern Tibet,'' vol.2, p.48-9.</ref> On 21 October, Lhasa instructed its delegation to leave immediately for Beijing for consultations with the Communist government, and to accept the first provision, if the status of the Dalai Lama could be guaranteed, while rejecting the other two conditions. It later rescinded even acceptance of the first demand, after a divination before the Six-Armed Mahākāla deities indicated that the three points could not be accepted, since Tibet would fall under foreign domination.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.27-32 (entire paragraph).</ref><ref>W. D. Shakabpa,''One hundred thousand moons'', BRILL, 2010 trans. Derek F. Maher, Vol.1, pp.916–917, and ch.20 pp.928–942, esp.pp.928–33.</ref><ref>Melvin C. Goldstein, ''A History of Modern Tibet: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955,'' Vol.2, ibid.pp.41–57.</ref>

== PLA capture of Chamdo == {{Main|Battle of Chamdo}}

After months of failed negotiations,<ref name="Shakya992832">Shakya 1999 p.28-32</ref> attempts by Tibet to secure foreign support and assistance,<ref>Shakya 1999 p.12,20,21</ref> PRC and Tibetan troop buildups, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the Jinsha River on 6 or 7 October 1950.<ref>Feigon 1996 p.142. Shakya 1999 p.37.</ref><ref>Shakya 1999 p.32 (6 Oct); {{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=45}} (7 Oct).</ref> Two PLA units quickly surrounded the outnumbered Tibetan forces and captured the border town of Chamdo by 19 October, by which time 114 PLA<ref name="wg"/> soldiers and 180 Tibetan<ref name="wg">Jiawei Wang et Nima Gyaincain, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ak3SQTVS7acC&pg=PA143 ''The historical Status of China's Tibet''], China Intercontinental Press, 1997, p. 209 (see also [http://www.china.com.cn/ch-xizang/tibet/historical_status/english/e0703.html The Local Government of Tibet Refused Peace Talks and the PLA Was Forced to Fight the Qamdo Battle] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120318085306/http://www.china.com.cn/ch-xizang/tibet/historical_status/english/e0703.html |date=18 March 2012 }}, ''china.com.cn''): "The Quamdo battle thus came to a victorious end on October 24, with 114 PLA soldiers and 180 Tibetan troops killed or wounded."</ref><ref name="Shakya9945">Shakya 1999, pg. 45.</ref><ref name="Feigon96144">Feigon 1996, p.144.</ref> soldiers had been killed or wounded. Writing in 1962, Zhang Guohua claimed "over 5,700 enemy men were destroyed" and "more than 3,000" peacefully surrendered.<ref name=":0">Survey of China Mainland Press, no. 2854 p.5,6</ref> The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) estimated that 2,000 PLA and 2,000 Tibetans were killed including noncombatants.<ref name="PRIO">{{Cite web |last=Lacina |first=Bethany |date=2009 |title=PRIO battle deaths dataset, 1946-2008, version 3.0: Documentation of coding decisions |url=https://www.prio.org/data/1 |website=Peace Research Institute Oslo |page=129}}</ref> Active hostilities were limited to a border area northeast of the Gyamo Ngul Chu River and east of the 96th meridian.<ref>Shakya 1999 map p.xiv</ref> After capturing Chamdo, the PLA broke off hostilities,<ref name="Shakya9945"/><ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=45}}</ref> sent a captured commander, Ngabo, to Lhasa to reiterate terms of negotiation, and waited for Tibetan representatives to respond through delegates to Beijing.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.49</ref>

== Further negotiations and annexation == thumb|right|PLA soldiers marching toward Tibet in 1950 thumb|right|PLA marching into Lhasa in October 1951

The PLA sent released prisoners (among them the governor-general of Kham, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme), to Lhasa to negotiate with the Dalai Lama on the PLA's behalf. Chinese broadcasts promised that if Tibet was "peacefully liberated", the Tibetan elites could keep their positions and power.<ref>Laird, 2006 p. 306.</ref>

One month after China invaded Tibet, El Salvador sponsored a complaint by the Tibetan government at the UN, but India and the United Kingdom prevented it from being debated.<ref>''Tibet: The Lost Frontier'', Claude Arpi, Lancer Publishers, October 2008, {{ISBN|0-9815378-4-7}}; {{Cite web |title=UN General Assembly Resolutions |url=https://savetibet.org/advocacy/united-nations/un-general-assembly-resolutions/ |access-date=2021-06-21 |website=International Campaign for Tibet |language=en-US}}; United States State Department, "Foreign Relations of the United States," see https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1950v06/pg_577.</ref>

Tibetan negotiators were sent to Beijing and presented with an already-finished document commonly referred to as the Seventeen Point Agreement. There was no negotiation offered by the Chinese delegation; although the PRC stated it would allow Tibet to reform at its own pace and in its own way, keep internal affairs self-governing and allow religious freedom; it would also have to agree to be part of China.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}} The Tibetan negotiators were not allowed to communicate with their government on this key point, and pressured into signing the agreement on 23 May 1951, despite never having been given permission to sign anything in the name of the government. This was the first time in Tibetan history its government had accepted{{Snd}}albeit unwillingly{{Snd}}China's position on the two nations' shared history.<ref>'The political and religious institutions of Tibet would remain unchanged, and any social and economic reforms would be undertaken only by the Tibetans themselves at their own pace.' Thomas Laird, ''The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama,''Grove Press, 2007, p.307.</ref>

Tibetan representatives in Beijing and the PRC Government signed the Seventeen Point Agreement on 23 May 1951, authorizing the PLA presence and Central People's Government rule in Political Tibet.<ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=47}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Shakya |first1=Tsering |title=The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947 |date=1999 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-11814-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dosnYnxzTD4C |language=en}}</ref> The terms of the agreement had not been cleared with the Tibetan Government before signing and the Tibetan Government was divided about whether it was better to accept the document as written or to flee into exile. The Dalai Lama, who by this time had ascended to the throne, chose not to flee into exile, and formally accepted the 17 Point Agreement in October 1951.<ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=48}} (had not been cleared) p.48,49 (government was divided), p.49 (chose not to flee), p.52 (accepted agreement).</ref> According to Tibetan sources, on 24 October, on behalf of the Dalai Lama, general Zhang Jingwu sent a telegram to Mao Zedong with confirmation of the support of the Agreement, and there is evidence that Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme simply came to Zhang and said that the Tibetan Government agreed to send a telegram on 24 October, instead of the formal Dalai Lama's approval.<ref>[http://www.ltwa.net/library/index.php?option=com_multicategories&view=article&id=170&catid=30:news&Itemid=12 Kuzmin, S.L. Hidden Tibet: History of Independence and Occupation. Dharamsala, LTWA, 2011, p. 190 -] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121030061528/http://www.ltwa.net/library/index.php?option=com_multicategories&view=article&id=170&catid=30%3Anews&Itemid=12 |date=30 October 2012 }} {{ISBN |978-93-80359-47-2}}</ref> Shortly afterwards, the PLA entered Lhasa.<ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=51}}</ref> The subsequent annexation of Tibet is officially known in the People's Republic of China as the "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" ({{zh|c=和平解放西藏地方}} ''Hépíng jiěfàng xīzàng dìfāng''), as promoted by the state media.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.81.cn/2018zt/2018-04/10/content_7999028.htm |title=西藏和平解放65周年：细数那些翻天覆地的变化 |trans-title=The 65th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet: Counting those earth-shaking changes |author1=Yang Fan |work=中国军网 |date=10 April 2018 |access-date=2 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190209125832/http://www.81.cn/2018zt/2018-04/10/content_7999028.htm |archive-date=9 February 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Aftermath == {{See also|Sinicization of Tibet}} thumb|Chinese and Tibetan government officials at a banquet celebrating the 'peaceful liberation' of Tibet<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ep5l6JprtYcC&pg=PA227 |title=A History of Modern Tibet, volume 2: The Calm before the Storm: 1951–1955 |date=2007-08-01 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-93332-3 |pages=227 |language=en |quote=Chinese and Tibetan government officials at a banquet celebrating the 'peaceful liberation' of Tibet.}}</ref> |alt=

For several years, the Tibetan Government remained in place in the areas of Tibet where it had ruled prior to the outbreak of hostilities, except for the area surrounding Qamdo that was occupied by the PLA in 1950, which was placed under the authority of the ''Qamdo Liberation Committee'' and outside the Tibetan Government's control.<ref>Shakya 1999 p.96,97,128.</ref> During this time, areas under the Tibetan Government maintained a large degree of autonomy from the Central Government and were generally allowed to maintain their traditional social structure.<ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|pp=52–54}}; Feigon 1996 p.148,149,151</ref>

In 1956, Tibetan militias in the ethnically Tibetan region of eastern Kham just outside the Tibet Autonomous Region, spurred by PRC government experiments in land reform, started fighting against the government.<ref>{{harvp|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997|p=53}}</ref> The militias united to form Chushi Gangdruk Volunteer Force. When the fighting spread to Lhasa in March 1959, the Dalai Lama left Lhasa on March 17 with an entourage of twenty, including six Cabinet ministers, and fled Tibet.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Dalai Lama Escapes from the Chinese |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,864579-1,00.html |access-date=21 February 2021 |publisher=Time |date=April 20, 1959}}</ref>

Both the Dalai Lama and the PRC government in Tibet subsequently repudiated the 17 Point Agreement, and the PRC government in Tibet dissolved the Tibetan Local Government.<ref name="autogenerated54"/> The legacy of this action continues to the present day.<ref>{{cite news |last1=van Walt van Praag |first1=Michael |last2=Boltjes |first2=Miek |title=Time To Break The Silence On Tibet |url=https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/time-break-silence-tibet |access-date=21 February 2021 |publisher=The Sunday Guardian |date=February 13, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Avedon |first1=John F. |title=China's Tibet Problem |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/23/opinion/chinas-tibet-problem.html |access-date=21 February 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=June 23, 1984}}</ref>

== Notes == {{Notelist}}

== References == === Citations === {{reflist}}

=== Sources === * {{cite book |last1=Feigon |first1=Lee |title=Demystifying Tibet : unlocking the secrets of the Land of the Snows |date=1996 |publisher=I.R. Dee |location=Chicago |isbn=1-56663-089-4}} * Ford, Robert. ''Wind Between the Worlds: The extraordinary first-person account of a Westerner's life in Tibet as an official of the Dalai Lama'' (1957) David Mckay Co., Inc. * Robert W. Ford. ''Captured in Tibet'', Oxford University Press, 1990, {{ISBN|978-0-19-581570-2}} * {{citation |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn C. |title=A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Upwq0I-wm7YC |year=1989 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-91176-5 |id={{isbn|978-0-520-06140-8}} |ref={{sfnref|Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, Vol. 1|1989}}}} * {{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn C. |title=The Snow Lion and the Dragon: China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LI-tIwxk4RAC |year=1997 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21951-9 |id={{isbn|0-520-21254-1}} |ref={{sfnref|Goldstein, The Snow Lion and the Dragon|1997}}}} * {{cite book |last=Grunfeld |first=A. Tom |title=The Making of Modern Tibet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=odyxWQGD2eoC |year=1996 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=978-0-7656-3455-9 |id={{isbn|978-1-56324-713-2}} |ref={{sfnref|Grunfeld, The Making of Modern Tibet|1996}}}} * Knaus, Robert Kenneth. ''Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival'' (1999) PublicAffairs . {{ISBN|978-1-891620-18-8}} * Laird, Thomas. ''The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama'' (2006) Grove Press. {{ISBN|0-8021-1827-5}} * {{cite book |author1-link=Lin Hsiao-ting |last1=Lin |first1=Hsiao-ting |title=Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier: Intrigues and Ethnopolitics, 1928–49 |year=2011 |publisher=UBC Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=osn1WrRCelcC&q=tibet+qing+dynasty+1720&pg=PA8 |isbn=9780774859882 |ref={{sfnref|Lin, Tibet and Nationalist China's Frontier|2011}}}} * {{cite book |last=Shakya |first=Tsering |title=The Dragon in the Land of Snows: A History of Modern Tibet Since 1947 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-dxAAAAMAAJ |year=1999 |publisher=Pimlico |isbn=978-0-7126-6533-9 |id={{ISBN|0-231-11814-7}} |ref={{sfnref|Shakya, Dragon in the Land of Snows|1999}}}}

== Further reading == {{Library resources box}} * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-16759913 The Tibet issue: Tibetan view]—BBC News * [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16747814 The Tibet issue: China's view]—BBC News

== External links == * {{Wikiquote-inline}}

Category:Annexation of Tibet by China Category:1950 in China Category:1950s in Tibet Tibet Category:Anti-Tibetan sentiment