23rd May 2023 marks the 72nd anniversary of the controversial 17-point agreement between Tibet and China.

72 years ago today, the ‘Seventeen Point Agreement’ was forced onto Tibetans by the newly formed People’s Republic of China. It is one of the most significant moments in modern Tibetan history.

The 17 Point Agreement was a treaty signed between China and Tibet in 1951, under which China claimed to have peacefully liberated Tibet from foreign influence and promised to respect its autonomy, culture, and religion. However, the agreement was forced upon Tibet by China’s military invasion and occupation of its eastern provinces. The agreement also violated Tibet’s historical independence and sovereignty and paved the way for China’s repression and assimilation of Tibetan people.

The three traditional provinces of Tibet ruled thier own affairs since the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. Central Tibet (Ü-Tsang) was administered by the Ganden Phodrang government and headed by the Dalai Lama in the city of Lhasa. It was based on Tibetan Buddhism and the principles of “cho-si sungdrel,” or religion and politics combined. The other two Tibetan provinces, Kham in the east and Amdo in the northeast, had their own local rulers, who nonetheless were faithful to the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism. Several Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas (the second highest Buddhist hierarch), including the current Fourteenth Dalai Lama and Tenth Panchen Lama, hailed from Amdo.

The Seventeen Point Agreement was signed under duress. Beforehand, the PLA had occupied Amdo and Kham, and the Dalai Lama and his supporters had sought refuge in Dromo, south Tibet. According to the Dalai Lama’s autobiography, the negotiator Ngabo Ngawang Jigme was not authorized to sign anything on his behalf and counterfeit seals of the Tibetan state were used.

The terms of the agreement claimed that Tibet sought Chinese protection from imperial powers. Section one of the agreement stated that “The Tibetan people shall unite and drive out imperialist aggressive forces from Tibet; the Tibetan people shall return to the family of the Motherland – the PRC.” Even though China was and remains the only imperialist power in Tibet.

People’s Republic of China (PRC), on 23 May 1951, forced Tibet to sign the 17-point “Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet”.

As the Dalai Lama remarks in his autobiography, however, the only foreign army to have ever been stationed on Tibetan soil was the Manchu army in 1912. At the time of the Seventeen Point Agreement, there were only a handful of Europeans in Tibet.

Rather than liberating Tibetans,  the agreement was a tool to consolidate China’s hold of Tibet. Though the agreement gestured toward Tibetan autonomy, six clauses from the Seventeen Point Agreement pertained to efforts to ensure Chinese national security on its frontiers.

By 1959, the uprising spread to central Tibet. The CIA provided covert support for the Chushi Gangdruk and protesters in Lhasa declared Tibetan independence. Rumors spread that the Chinese were preparing to arrest the Dalai Lama, who escaped to India before the PLA retook Lhasa after heavy shelling. The uprising and the Dalai Lama’s flight marked the failure of the Seventeen Point Agreement. From exile, the Dalai Lama has continued to rejects the agreement, claiming it was thrust upon the Tibetan government and people by the threat of arms.Mao Zedong (middle), Ngabo Ngawang Jigme (left) and the Tenth Panchen Lama (right) at a banquet after signing the treaty in 1951.

The 17-point Agreement is a very important valid historical document that reveals the real nature of Sino-Tibetan relations at that crucial turning point in the Tibetan history of independence. Although forced upon the Tibetan government by communist China, it remains an important testimony to the fact that Tibet was never a part of China before the agreement.

As the Dalai Lama remarks in his autobiography, however, the only foreign army to have ever been stationed on Tibetan soil was the Manchu army in 1912. At the time of the Seventeen Point Agreement, there were only a handful of Europeans in Tibet.

23rd May should be a day for the Chinese leadership to look back and see what it promised to the Tibetans and what it really delivered, and how it still could help find a common ground to resolve the Tibet issue.