Central Tibet was annexed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) after the government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951. The Chinese government calls the signing of the agreement the "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet". The events are called the "Chinese invasion of Tibet" by the exiled Central Tibetan Administration and much of the Tibetan diaspora.

Tibet has a complicated relationship with China. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Ü-Tsang and surrounding areas began operating autonomously. The Republic of China (ROC) had inherited claims to the region but was not able to exert full control on the ground. Meanwhile, the Tibetan government failed to quickly modernize its military. Its negotiations with the PRC stalled, and the Tibetan Army was eventually defeated by the People's Liberation Army.

The Tibetan government and local social structure remained in place under the authority of China until they were dissolved after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when the 14th Dalai Lama fled into exile; ; Shakya 1999 p.208,240,241. (all sources: fled Tibet, repudiated agreement, dissolved local government). and repudiated the Seventeen Point Agreement, saying that he had approved it under duress. Since 2005 he has advocated for greater autonomy for Tibet as part of China.

Background

Qing dynasty

Tibet came under the rule of the Qing dynasty of China in 1720 after the Qing expelled the forces of the Dzungar Khanate from Tibet. Emperor Kangxi then wrote an edict for the Imperial Stele Inscriptions of the Pacification of Tibet. His successor Emperor Yongzheng went on to establish new boundaries between what are now the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan.

Republic of China and de facto independence Central Tibet remained under Qing suzerainty until the 1911 revolution. The succeeding Republic of China claimed inheritance of all Qing territories, including Tibet, described in the Imperial Edict of the Abdication of the Qing Emperor as an integral republic comprising different ethnic groups. This is also reflected in the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China adopted in 1912.

By 1917 the area comprising the present-day TAR eventually became a de facto independent polity.Shakya 1999 p. 4: "Tibet unquestionably controlled its own internal and external affairs during the period from 1913 to 1951 and repeatedly attempted to secure recognition and validation of its de facto autonomy/independence."Feigon 1996 p.119 Some border areas with high ethnic Tibetan populations (Amdo and Eastern Kham) remained under the Nationalist government or local warlord control.Shakya 1999 p.6,27. Feigon 1996 p.28

The TAR region is also known as "Political Tibet", while all areas with a high ethnic Tibetan population are collectively known as "Ethnic Tibet". Political Tibet refers to the polity ruled continuously by Tibetan governments since earliest times until 1951, whereas ethnic Tibet refers to regions north and east where Tibetans historically predominated but where, down to modern times, Tibetan jurisdiction was irregular and limited to just certain areas.The classic distinction drawn by Sir Charles Bell and Hugh Richardson. See Melvin C. Goldstein, 'Change, Conflict and Continuity among a community of Nomadic Pastoralists: A Case Study from Western Tibet, 1950–1990,' in Robert Barnett and Shirin Akiner, (eds.,) Resistance and Reform in Tibet, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1994, pp. 76–90, pp.77–8.

At the time Political Tibet obtained de facto independence, its socio-economic and political systems resembled Medieval Europe.Shakya 1999 p.11 Attempts by the 13th Dalai Lama between 1913 and 1933 to enlarge and modernize the Tibetan military had eventually failed, largely due to opposition from powerful aristocrats and monks.Feigon 1996 p.119-122. Shakya 1999 p.5,11 On 12 August 1927, the Republic of China mandated that before the publication of new laws, all laws in history regarding Tibetan Buddhism should continue unless there were conflicts with new doctrine or new laws of the Central Government. The Tibetan government had little contact with other governments of the world during its period of de facto independence, with some exceptions; notably India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.Shakya 1999 p.7,15,16 This left Tibet diplomatically isolated and cut off to the point where it could not make its positions on issues well known to the international community.

The ROC's 1931 provisional constitution stated, "The territory of the Republic of China includes all the provinces, Mongolia, and Tibet."

People's Republic of China In July 1949, in order to prevent Chinese Communist Party-sponsored agitation from spreading to Central Tibet, the Tibetan government expelled the Nationalist delegation in Lhasa.Shakya 1999 p.5,7,8 The (Nationalist) Chinese approved a request to exempt Lhamo Dhondup from lot-drawing process using Golden Urn to become the 14th Dalai Lama on 31 January 1940. In November 1949, Tibetan government sent a letter to the US State Department and a copy to Mao Zedong, and a separate letter to the British government, declaring its intent to defend itself "by all possible means" against PRC troop incursions into Tibet.Shakya 1999 p.20;

In the preceding three decades, the conservative Tibetan government had consciously de-emphasized its military and refrained from modernizing.Melvin C. Goldstein,A History of Modern Tibet:The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955, University of California Press, 2009, Vol.2, p.51. Hasty attempts at modernization and enlarging the military began in 1949,Shakya 1999 p.12 but proved mostly unsuccessful on both counts.Shakya 1999 p.20,21; By then, it was too late to raise and train an effective army.Goldstein, 209 pp.51–2. India provided some small arms aid and military training.Shakya 1999 p.26 However, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) was much larger, better led, trained, equipped and more experienced than the Tibetan Army.Shakya 1999 p.12 (Tibetan army poorly trained and equipped).Feigon 1996 p.142 (trained).

In 1950, the 14th Dalai Lama was 15 years old and had not attained his majority, so Regent Taktra was the acting head of the Tibetan Government.Shakya 1999 p.5 The period of the Dalai Lama's minority is traditionally one of instability and division, exacerbated by the recent Reting conspiracyShakya 1999 p.4,5 and a 1947 regency dispute.

Both the PRC and their rival predecessors the Kuomintang (ROC) had always maintained that Tibet was a part of China. The PRC also proclaimed an ideological motivation to "liberate" the Tibetans from a theocratic feudal system.Dawa Norbu, China's Tibet policy,Routledge, 2001, p.195 In September 1949, shortly before the proclamation of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) made it a top priority to incorporate Tibet, Taiwan Island, Hainan Island, and the Penghu Islands into the PRC,Shakya 1999 p.3. peacefully or by force.Goldstein 1997 p.44 China viewed incorporating Tibet as important to consolidate its frontiers and address national defense concerns in the southwest. Because Tibet was unlikely to voluntarily give up its de facto independence, Mao in December 1949 ordered that preparations be made to march into Tibet at Qamdo (Chamdo), in order to induce the Tibetan Government to negotiate. The PRC had over a million men under arms and had extensive combat experience from the recently concluded Chinese Civil War.

Negotiations between Tibet and the PRC Talks between Tibet and China were mediated by the governments of Britain and India. On 7 March 1950, a Tibetan delegation arrived in Kalimpong, India, to open a dialogue with the newly declared People's Republic of China and to secure assurances that the Chinese would respect Tibetan territorial integrity, among other things. The onset of talks was delayed by debate between the Tibetan, Indian, British, and Chinese delegations about the location of the talks. Tibet favored Singapore or Hong Kong (not Beijing; at the time romanized as Peking); Britain favored India (not Hong Kong or Singapore); and India and the Chinese favored Beijing. The Tibetan delegation did eventually meet with the PRC's ambassador General Yuan Zhongxian in Delhi on 16 September 1950. Yuan communicated a 3-point proposal that Tibet be regarded as part of China, that China be responsible for Tibet's defense, and that China be responsible for Tibet's trade and foreign relations. Acceptance would lead to peaceful Chinese sovereignty, or otherwise war. The Tibetans undertook to maintain the relationship between China and Tibet as one of priest-patron:

They and their head delegate Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, on 19 September, recommended cooperation, with some stipulations about implementation. Chinese troops need not be stationed in Tibet. It was argued that Tibet was under no threat, and if attacked by India or Nepal, could appeal to China for military assistance. While Lhasa deliberated, on 7 October 1950, Chinese troops advanced into eastern Tibet, crossing the border at five places.Melvin C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955, University of California Press, 2009, Vol.2, p.48. The purpose was not to invade Tibet per se but to capture the Tibetan army in Chamdo, demoralize the Lhasa government, and thus exert powerful pressure to send negotiators to Beijing to sign terms for a handover of Tibet.Melvin C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet, vol.2, p.48-9. On 21 October, Lhasa instructed its delegation to leave immediately for Beijing for consultations with the Communist government, and to accept the first provision, if the status of the Dalai Lama could be guaranteed, while rejecting the other two conditions. It later rescinded even acceptance of the first demand, after a divination before the Six-Armed Mahākāla deities indicated that the three points could not be accepted, since Tibet would fall under foreign domination.Shakya 1999 p.27-32 (entire paragraph).W. D. Shakabpa,One hundred thousand moons, BRILL, 2010 trans. Derek F. Maher, Vol.1, pp.916–917, and ch.20 pp.928–942, esp.pp.928–33.Melvin C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet: The Calm Before the Storm: 1951–1955, Vol.2, ibid.pp.41–57.

Battle of Chamdo

After months of failed negotiations,Shakya 1999 p.28-32 attempts by Tibet to secure foreign support and assistance,Shakya 1999 p.12,20,21 PRC and Tibetan troop buildups, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) crossed the Jinsha River on 6 or 7 October 1950.Feigon 1996 p.142. Shakya 1999 p.37.Shakya 1999 p.32 (6 Oct); (7 Oct). Two PLA units quickly surrounded the outnumbered Tibetan forces and captured the border town of Chamdo by 19 October, by which time 114 PLA soldiers and 180 TibetanJiawei Wang et Nima Gyaincain, The historical Status of China's Tibet, China Intercontinental Press, 1997, p. 209 (see also The Local Government of Tibet Refused Peace Talks and the PLA Was Forced to Fight the Qamdo Battle , china.com.cn): "The Quamdo battle thus came to a victorious end on October 24, with 114 PLA soldiers and 180 Tibetan troops killed or wounded."Shakya 1999, pg. 45.Feigon 1996, p.144. soldiers had been killed or wounded. Writing in 1962, Zhang Guohua claimed "over 5,700 enemy men were destroyed" and "more than 3,000" peacefully surrendered.Survey of China Mainland Press, no. 2854 p.5,6 The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) estimated that 2,000 PLA and 2,000 Tibetans were killed including noncombatants. Active hostilities were limited to a border area northeast of the Gyamo Ngul Chu River and east of the 96th meridian.Shakya 1999 map p.xiv After capturing Chamdo, the PLA broke off hostilities, sent a captured commander, Ngabo, to Lhasa to reiterate terms of negotiation, and waited for Tibetan representatives to respond through delegates to Beijing.Shakya 1999 p.49

Further negotiations and annexation