abstract
| - The Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, or the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet for short, is the document by which the delegates of the 14th Dalai Lama reached an agreement with the government of the newly-established People's Republic of China on affirming Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. It was signed by Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme and sealed in Beijing on 23 May 1951 and confirmed by the government in Tibet a few months later. In addition, the following letter written by the Dalai Lama indicating his acceptance was also sent to Beijing in the form of a telegram on the 24th of October: "The Tibet Local Government as well as the ecclesiastic 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 in Tibet to consolidate national defence, drive out imperialist influences from Tibet and safeguard the unification of the territory and the sovereignty of the Motherland." According to the Tibetan government-in-exile, some members of the Tibetan Cabinet (Kashag) never accepted this agreement. In 1952, the Tibetan Prime Minister Lukhangwa told Chinese Representative Zhang Jingwu that the Tibetan "people did not accept the agreement". But the National Assembly of Tibet, "while recognizing the extenuating circumstances under which the delegates had to sign the 'agreement', asked the government to accept the 'agreement'...the Kashag told Zhang Jingwu that it would radio its acceptance of the 'agreement'." Chinese sources regard the document as a legal contract that was mutually welcomed by both governments and by the Tibetan people. Tibetan sources generally consider it invalid, as having been reluctantly or unwillingly signed, under duress.[5] In 1959, the Dalai Lama on his arrival in India after he fled Tibet repudiated the "17-point Agreement" as having been "thrust upon Tibetan Government and people by the threat of arms Some or all of this article is forked from Wikipedia. The original article was at Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet. The list of authors can be seen in the page history.
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