The Great Lie of The Sino-Tibetan 17 Point Agreement of May 23, 1951
November 19, 2008
The bottom line is amazingly simple and clear in this story; lose your freedoms to a ruthless authoritarian communist regime and there will always be hell to pay with blood, tears and suffering.
Give the PRC state an inch with their "one-China fantasy" of many "minority peoples living together in harmony" under the rule of China in your own land and you stand to either die or get a cultural-lobotomy and become absorbed into the void of the greater motherland as a result.
This is the sad story of post 1950-Tibet.
Quoted from the text of The 17 Point Agreement dictated by the PRC in May 23, 1951:
"Within this big family of nationalities of the People's Republic of China, national regional autonomy is to be exercised in areas where national minorities are concentrated, and all national minorities are to have freedom to develop their spoken and written languages and to preserve or reform their customs, habits, and religious beliefs, and the Central People's Government will assist all national minorities to develop their political, economic, cultural, and educational construction work. Since then, all nationalities within the country, with the exception of those in the areas of Tibet and Taiwan, have gained liberation."
If the Peoples Republic of China is a big family of nationalities; it is a dysfunctional family at best with a dangerous big brother killing, torturing and beating up everyone else in the house. The PRC never even tried to comply with its own side of this 17 Point Agreement. Its high-time belief in this fiction stops and the rest of the members in this "family" break free so that they can simply survive and live their human lives in liberty, safety and dignity.
It is striking in how within the actual language of this 17 Point Agreement drafted by the PRC government, that the Chinese make no effort at all to hide their complete arrogance, disdain and contempt for the existence of anything outside of their own narrow interpretation of historical materialism and Han / Chinese domination of neighboring nationalities.
By virtue of the fact that the Chinese even had to draft such a fictitious agreement was a statement in and of itself that they were dealing with an independent nation-state separate and distinct from their control and influence. It is interesting to see how the Chinese government consistently attacks the Tibetan government and identity throughout this document by using the terms "local government" etc.
See the following quotes from their 17 Point text:
"The Tibetan nationality is one of the nationalities with a long history within the boundaries of China and, like many other nationalities, it has done its glorious duty in the course of the creation and development of the great motherland."
"The Local Government of Tibet did not oppose imperialist deception and provocations, but adopted an unpatriotic attitude towards the great motherland. Under such conditions, the Tibetan nationality and people were plunged into the depths of enslavement and suffering."
"In order that the influences of aggressive imperialist forces in Tibet may be successfully eliminated, the unification of the territory and sovereignty of the People's Republic of China accomplished, and national defense safeguarded; in order that the Tibetan nationality and people may be freed and return to the big family of the People's Republic of China to enjoy the same rights of national equality as all other nationalities in the country and develop their political, economic, cultural, and educational work, the Central People's Government, when it ordered the People's Liberation Army to march into Tibet, notified the local government of Tibet to send delegates to the Central Authorities to hold talks for the conclusion of an agreement on measures for the peaceful liberation of Tibet."
These points were signed on the Tibetan side by Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme the local governor and military commander in the Chamdo area. He was captured in Chamdo in the strategic eastern province of Kham in October 1950. Ngapoi was a questionable leader, at best, who chose to first destroy his supplies and ammunition before the arrival of any Chinese troops rather than fight to defend his country.
His stated thinking here was that by defending and holding his ground he might provoke the Chinese to commit atrocities against the civilian Tibetan population. Evidence for such atrocities already existed by this time which he clearly knew about. These excesses were already happening in the eastern-most outposts of Kham and Amdo and the monasteries were taking the biggest hit.
His action as the local leader was, at best, one of cowardice and, at worst, an accomplice to the crime of helping hand over the Tibetan nation to Mao’s totalitarian state and everything that followed as a result. If he thought deep in his heart that by being passive and compliant, the Tibetan people would get a better deal he was to be proven seriously wrong. His mistake and those that shared it; aided and abetted an occupation that was to kill well over a million people and virtually erase Tibetan Buddhist culture and free religious practice in Tibet.
What remains today in Tibet of this once deep and splendid culture and religion is simply just a Disney-land display on-sale for the tourist trade and material for the PRC propaganda machine. There is no freedom and ability to be anything other than just a compliant appendage for the communist states' religious affairs bureau. Try having a photo of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and see what happens to you. Display it openly, and now you are a major threat and a "splittist" and one of the "Dalai clique" or "running dogs".
The text below are the actual 17 Points themselves from this "agreement" which were signed at gun-point in Beijing by Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme who did not even represent the existing Tibetan government still in place in Lhasa. He was just a local governor and military commander. In fact he was directly ordered by the Tibetan Government in Lhasa to demand that the Chinese withdraw their troops and leave Tibet! These points were never even signed with the proper Tibetan governmental seals. The seals used for the agreement were actually hand-made wooden copies by the Chinese themselves and provided to the former governor of Chamdo to sign with.
Interesting reading:
- 1. The Tibetan people shall be united and drive out the imperialist aggressive forces from Tibet; that the Tibetan people shall return to the big family of the motherland - the People's Republic of China.
- 2. The Local Government of Tibet shall actively assist the People's Liberation Army to enter Tibet and consolidate the national defenses.
- 3. In accordance with the policy towards nationalities laid down in the Common Programme of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the Tibetan people have the right of exercising national regional autonomy under the unified leadership of the Central People's Government.
- 4. The Central Authorities will not alter the existing political system in Tibet. The Central Authorities also will not alter the established status, functions and powers of the Dalai Lama. Officials of various ranks shall hold office as usual.
- 5. The established status, functions, and powers of the Panchen Lama shall be maintained.
- 6. By the established status, functions and powers of the Dalai Lama and of the Panchen Lama is meant the status, functions and powers of the 13th Dalai Lama and of the 9th Panchen Lama when they were in friendly and amicable relations with each other.
- 7. The policy of freedom of religious belief laid down in the Common Programme of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will be protected. The Central Authorities will not effect any change in the income of the monasteries.
- 8. The Tibetan troops will be reorganized step by step into the People's Liberation Army, and become a part of the national defense forces of the Central People's Government.
- 9. The spoken and written language and school education of the Tibetan nationality will be developed step by step in accordance with the actual conditions in Tibet.
- 10. Tibetan agriculture, livestock raising, industry and commerce will be developed step by step, and the people's livelihood shall be improved step by step in accordance with the actual conditions in Tibet.
- 11. In matters related to various reforms in Tibet, there will be no compulsion on the part of the Central Authorities. The Local Government of Tibet should carry out reforms of its own accord, and when the people raise demands for reform, they must be settled through consultation with the leading personnel of Tibet.
- 12. In so far as former pro-imperialist and pro-Kuomintang officials resolutely sever relations with imperialism and the Kuomintang and do not engage in sabotage or resistance, they may continue to hold office irrespective of their past.
- 13. The People's Liberation Army entering Tibet will abide by the above-mentioned policies and will also be fair in all buying and selling and will not arbitrarily take even a needle or a thread from the people.
- 14. The Central People's Government will handle all external affairs of the area of Tibet; and there will be peaceful co-existence with neighboring countries and the establishment and development of fair commercial and trading relations with them on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and mutual respect for territory and sovereignty.
- 15. In order to ensure the implementation of this agreement, the Central People's Government will set up a military and administrative committee and a military area headquarters in Tibet, and apart from the personnel sent there by the Central People's Government it will absorb as many local Tibetan personnel as possible to take part in the work. Local Tibetan personnel taking part in the military and administrative committee may include patriotic elements from the Local Government of Tibet, various district and various principal monasteries; the name list is to be prepared after consultation between the representatives designated by the Central People's Government and various quarters concerned, and is to be submitted to the Central People's Government for approval.
- 16. Funds needed by the military and administrative committee, the military area headquarters and the People's Liberation Army entering Tibet will be provided by the Central People's Government. The Local Government of Tibet should assist the People's Liberation Army in the purchases and transportation of food, fodder, and other daily necessities.
- 17. This agreement shall come into force immediately after signatures and seals are affixed to it.
It should become very apparent to anyone with a heart and mind that this agreement was never meant to be anything more than an open agreement for Tibet to sell itself into the bondage of slavery.
When it became forced and compelled to accept the Peoples Liberation Army within its own borders Tibetan's ability to make their own free decisions evaporated. This lesson here should be a clarion call to Taiwan to be awake and have nothing to do with anything that even remotely approaches any kind of understanding of a "one-China" policy.
This 17 Point Agreement and its implementation by the PRC state was the origin and beginning of this "one China" mantra from the communist's side that has quite remarkable taken hold just about everywhere on the planet where money and greed have more merit than human rights and freedom.
What does this mean? It means that Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet have got to take a stand and demand nothing short of complete and total independence from the PRC state. The Chinese have got to go. Their uninvited stay is over.
The Chinese themselves never even tried to comply with their own side of these 17 Points themselves. Why should the Tibetans also parrot this ridiculous and shameful document as well? His Holiness the Dalai Lama tried his best with compassion and understanding to work with the PRC state, but what has this yielded us all these decades later? Nothing. This is, of course, not due to any fault or mistake on the side of His Holiness but the Chinese state and their greed and inhumanity.
If His Holiness can not negotiate with the Chinese based on their own 17 Point Agreement here with the "middle way" approach, what else can be done? He gave them every opportunity and more to come to the negotiating table with a legitimate Tibetan government that has the recognition of the Tibetan people.
China has consistently shown that it wishes only to negotiate by the use of invading armies and deal only with indoctrinated collaborators without signatory authority. Why? Because they themselves know that what they are doing is a lie and will not stand the test of time and serious debate. They need guns and brutal force to keep their control and as stable as possible.
The Chinese are trying to play for time and hold out long enough so that their ever increasing Han Chinese population transfer really takes hold and Tibetans finally become a real minority within the motherland; their own.
The time for middle ways and half ways are over. The Chinese created these 17 Points as a fiction. The Chinese themselves treated these 17 Points as a fiction with their genocide and cultural destruction. They disregarded the Tibetan Government in exile’s conciliatory response to the 17 Points as a fiction. So now it is time for the next solution for the Tibetan situation to do the same as view any Chinese rule in Tibet as a fiction!
Demand nothing short of complete freedom and independence for Tibet without any Chinese control whatsoever. Tibetans deserve at least this much after all the suffering they have had to endure.
Tibet will be free, and this day is coming.
The Chinese are terrified of this, but in reality they should not be. If human rights and freedoms blossom, the Chinese stand to benefit as well by having a freer more humane China to live in for themselve. This is something they do not have today and have never had during their occupation of Tibet.
Let's only hope and pray that the process for the independence of Tibet will be peaceful and have compassion on all sides; but we can not live in fear and surrender human rights and freedom if it does not.
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