Topic summary
Seventeen Point Agreement
The Seventeen-Point Agreement (officially the Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet) was an agreement between the Local Government of Tibet and the Central People's Government of China. It was signed by plenipotentiaries of the CPG and the Tibetan Government (Ganden Phodrang) on 23 May 1951, in Zhongnanhai, Beijing. The 14th Dalai Lama ratified the agreement in the form of a telegraph on 24 October 1951 even though the United States informed him that in order to receive assistance and support from the United States, he must depart from Tibet and publicly disavow "agreements concluded under duress". However, from the U.S. perspective, charges of Chinese Communist aggression would have little resonance if the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa and ratified the agreement, so a major effort was made to persuade him to denounce the Seventeen-Point Agreement and flee into exile. The Dalai Lama stated that the Tibetan local government, ecclesiastic and secular folk, unanimously support the agreement, and will actively support the People's Liberation Army in Tibet in consolidating national defense, drive out imperialist influences from Tibet, and safeguard the unification of the territory and the sovereignty of the Motherland.
More than 7 years after the ratification of the agreement, after his arrival in India on 19 March 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama issued statement that the agreement was made under pressure of the Chinese Government, and the Dalai Lama and his Government tried their best to adhere to the 17 Point Agreement. On 20 June 1959, he stated that the agreement was between two independent and sovereign States, and the consent of the government was secured under duress. Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, who led the Tibetan delegation during the agreement's negotiations, claimed that there was no duress involved. The Central Tibetan Administration, which was formed after 1960, stated in 2021 that the agreement was not signed with the mutual consent of both parties, the agreement had no legal validity even though it was ratified by the 14th Dalai Lama.