Agreement
Seventeen Point Agreement, 1951
Tibet and China signed a disputed agreement establishing Chinese sovereignty while nominally preserving Tibetan domestic governance.
What happened
Following a 1950-51 Chinese military campaign, Tibetan representatives signed the Seventeen Point Agreement on 23 May 1951, establishing Chinese sovereignty while nominally preserving Tibetan domestic governance; Tibetan sources have characterized it as signed under duress, a contested characterization not adjudicated here.[1]
Sources for this page
Each number marks a specific claim. Notes give the source, its locator and how it relates to the claim.
-
1.
Claim: Following a Chinese military campaign that began in 1950 and broke Tibetan resistance in the east by May 1951, representatives of the Tibetan government signed the Seventeen Point Agreement on 23 May 1951, subsequently ratified on 24 October 1951; the Agreement established Chinese sovereignty over Tibet and Chinese control of its external affairs, while nominally leaving the Lhasa government's domestic authority over religion, language and political institutions in place. Tibetan sources, including the 14th Dalai Lama, have characterized the Agreement as signed under duress; this bundle presents this as a contested characterization, not adjudicated fact.
- Seventeen Point Agreement (Wikipedia) link, Background and Terms sections. Source record
- The Seventeen Point Agreement: China's Occupation of Tibet (Origins (Ohio State University)) link, Pre-1950 Status and 1951 Agreement sections. Source record