Dawa Kyab
China is accountable for 70 years of violent repression in Tibet since the forcible signing (May 23, 1951) of the 17 point agreement which brought misery to the Tibetans and the destruction of Tibetan religion, culture and identity. Chinese celebrating the 17 point agreement is a reminder of their illegal victory over Tibetans and their land but it also a reminder to the Chinese government that Tibet was never part of China before 1950 and they should stop claiming Tibet as a part of China.
On May 23, 1951, some of the delegates of the 14th Dalai Lama made an agreement with the Central People’s Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The agreement was known as the ‘17 Point Agreement’ or the ‘Agreement of the Central People’s Government and the Local Government of Tibet on ‘Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet’ and also called the ‘Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet’. Tibetan folks considered the agreement trusting China as a neighbor but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had already planned to lure Tibetans in the name of friendship and then conquered their land. The way the Chinese authorities forced Tibetan delegates to sign the agreement throws enough light on how the Chinese planned document needed to be signed to play the real game.
It is ironical how did the CCP, whose main motive always was to violate human rights, thought about peaceful liberation of Tibet? Was it because Tibet was China’s neighbor? If it is so, then why being the helpful neighbor, did China destroyed the land of Tibet and still doing so? The motive of the so called liberation of Tibet was a disguised initiative to invade Tibet, exploit its people and destroy the land of Tibet internally.
The real face of the CCP surfaced after the document was signed. The 17 Point agreement highlighted, “The people of all ethnic groups in Tibet and the big family of the motherland work together to create a beautiful new life, and the sense of happiness is constantly enhanced.” But after the signing of documents the Chinese government acted contrarily. In March 1959, eight years after the Agreement was signed, PRC violated the point 4 that says, “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” But within years, CCP intended to acquire the total political power in Tibet and conspired to assassinate His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Even today, His Holiness is considered a demon by communist China. Likewise, one after another the CCP violated all the points of that agreement and finally occupied Tibet by brutal force. With that agreement, Tibet lost its independence and Tibetan folks got the lives of prisoners, whose human rights and freedom is being violated for decades.
Recently, the CCP after tormenting and torturing Tibetan folks for six consecutive decades shamelessly celebrated the 70th years of ‘peaceful liberation of Tibet’ in Lhasa. The celebration was attended by several Chinese authorities. Wang Yang, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and fourth ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the CCP, addressed a celebratory gathering on August 19, 2021 in Lhasa, to formally launch events marking the 70th anniversary of the ‘peaceful liberation’ of Tibet. He addressed the attendees and said, “Since 1959, Tibet has embarked on a path from darkness to brightness, from backwardness to progress, from poverty to prosperity, from autocracy to democracy, and from closeness to openness,” He further added, “A thriving socialist new Tibet is standing tall and firm at the rooftop of the world.”
During his speech on the occasion, Wang labeled the peaceful liberation’ of Tibet a major victory in the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people and China’s reunification. Going through most of the standard CCP talking points on the Tibet issue, he mentioned the socio-economic achievements of the TAR in the past 70 years. Wang claimed that the separatist and sabotage activities’ of the Dalai clique and hostile external forced had been crushed, and ethnic unity had made substantial progress. The ceremony designed to be grand and impressive, was primarily to proclaim to the Tibetans and the rest of the world that China and the Chinese Communist Party are in complete control of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and the Tibet issue.
All the things what Wang Yang told that day, doesn’t exist in reality. Have Tibetans really progressed under the Chinese rule? The land of Tibet is just deteriorating because of the Chinese policies. The CCP has destroyed several regions in Tibet by mining and deforestation. If they think that by making railways and bullet trains in Tibet, they are making progress then they are wrong. Whatever the constructions Chinese government have done in the name of progress are only for the Chinese profit. They brought those railways, so that they could transport the mining goods and other material resources from Tibet to China faster and in the largest quantity. The CCP planted huge dams in Tibet, but for what? Only to stop the courses of water bodies and accumulated them in enormous dams to finally divert them into the Chinese territory. Is that what the progress means?
The Chinese celebration of 70 years of the peaceful liberation of Tibet also reminds how, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans died defending their country and in future more will take the place. A million Tibetans perished in the last seventy years and that is not a thing to celebrate. It is pity that the power has blinded Chinese government so much that their human instinct can’t differ when to mourn and when to celebrate.
The fact is, if the CCP has not captured the land of Tibet illegally then today, why the policies of the CCP in Tibetans region especially in TAR restrict the basic human rights and the democracy. So, Wang Yang must not humiliate its party by talking about democracy. Instead of celebrating, the CCP ought to thank Tibetan people and must know that whatever they are doing in the name of progress or socialism, they will have to pay for that one day which is not so far.
Overall, the Chinese act of ‘peaceful liberation of Tibet’ was only meant to invade Tibet. With the help of so-called 17 Point Agreement, the CCP destroyed Tibetan lives and their country. If the CCP really meant the peaceful liberation of Tibet then why isn’t the CCP ready to talk with Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan government in exile)? The Tibetan government several times has demanded the CCP to communicate and discuss on the 17 point agreement but every time the Chinese authorities have been ignoring it. It is a fact that if the CCP accepts the proposal then whole of the world would come to know about all the nefarious designs of Chinese government to invade Tibet illegally.
China ‘celebrating’ 70 years of its colonialism in Tibet, is a challenge to the wisdom and conscience of the civilized world, but is also an attempt to whitewash all its colonial crimes like genocide, cultural annihilation, loot of natural resources, and blatant denial of human rights to the Tibetan people. 70 years of occupation of Tibet has turned out to be a futile exercise for China as it has failed to win the hearts and minds of the Tibetan people. And even after a century, the Chinese rule in Tibet will always remain unacceptable by the Tibetans.