The Tibetan view

In March 1959 the Dalai Lama fled from Tibet. On 20 June, he made a statement to a press conference in Mussoorie, India. On this first opportunity that he had had to address the free world, he made it clear that he and his government were denouncing the Seventeen-Point Agreement because it had been signed under duress and the terms had been broken by the Chinese authorities. The extract below gives the details.

"It is recognised by every independent observer that Tibet has virtually been independent by enjoying and exercising all rights of sovereignty whether internal or external. This has also been implicitly admitted by the Communist Government of China, for the structure, terms and conditions of the so-called agreement of 1951 conclusively show that it was an agreement between two independent and sovereign states. It follows, therefore, that when the Chinese armies violated the territorial integrity of Tibet they were committing a flagrant act of aggression. The agreement which followed the invasion of Tibet was also thrust upon its people and government by force of arms. It was never accepted by them of their own free will. The consent of the Government was secured under duress and at the point of a bayonet.

"My representatives were compelled to sign the agreement under threat of further military operations against Tibet by the invading armies of China leading to utter ravage and ruin in the country. Even the Tibetan seal which was affixed to the agreement was not the seal of my representative but the seal copied and fabricated by the Chinese authorities in Peking and kept in their possession ever since.

"While I and my government did not voluntarily accept the agreement we were obliged to acquiesce in it and decided to abide by the terms and conditions in order to save my people and country from the danger of total destruction. It was, however, clear from the very beginning that the Chinese had no intention of carrying out the agreement.
"Although they had solemnly undertaken to maintain my status and power as the Dalai Lama, they did not lose any opportunity to undermine my authority and sow dissensions among my people. In fact, they compelled me, situated as I was, to dismiss my Prime Ministers under the threat of their execution, without trial, because they had in all honesty and sincerity resisted the unjustified usurpations of power by representatives of the Chinese Government in Tibet.

"Far from carrying out the agreement they began deliberately to pursue a course of policy which was diametrically opposed to the terms and conditions which they have themselves laid down. Thus commenced a reign of terror which finds few parallels in the history of Tibet. Forced labour and compulsory exactions, a systematic persecution of the people, plunder and confiscation of property belonging to individuals and monasteries and execution of certain leading men in Tibet, these are the glorious achievements of the Chinese rule in Tibet."

In 1960 the International Commission of Jurists' report held that by signing the Seventeen-Point Agreement Tibet had "surrendered her independence" but that the terms had been "violated by the Chinese People's Republic." They concluded that the Government of Tibet "was entitled to repudiate the Agreement.