In 1949, realizing that the Nationalist Government was bound to collapse, and incited by the British staying in Lhasa since the period of the British-Indian Government, the Tibet's local government (Gaxag) caused the so-called incident of driving the Han people out of Tibet.

On July 8, Gaxag told Chen Xizhang, chief of the Tibet Office of the Mogolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, that the civil war between the Nationalist Party (NP) and the Communist Party of China (CPC) was so fierce that the CPC would pursue the NP officials wherever they were. Therefore, "Gaxag decided to break off political relations with the Nationalist Government." 

Photo shows officials of Gaxag (Tibet's local government).

On the pretext of finding CPC members among the Han people in Lhasa, Gaxag instructed the Tibetan troops to surround the Lhasa Office of the Nationalist Government. The office's staff and their relatives and hundreds of Han people doing business in Lhasa were all escorted to the Chinese-Indian border and later sent back to the mainland by ship via Calcutta.

Even so, the Nationalist Government's attitude toward the issue of sovereignty was still clear-cut. The government that had moved to Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, held the 80th Session of the Conference of the Executive Yuan (the highest administrative department of the Nationalist Government) on July 19.

Yan Xishan, president of the Executive Yuan, telegraphed the Tibet's local government: "It is against reasons and laws for Gaxag to repatriate the staff of the Tibet Office of the Nationalist Government back to the mainland without substantive basis or submitting a report to the Nationalist Government."

It was the second time that foreign forces interfered in China's internal affairs on the Tibet issue. Before this, they had instigated the local government of Tibet to drive out the staff and troops of the Qing Dynasty Government in Tibet, resulting in Tibet's centrifugal tendency toward the Central Government for several decades.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), Chairman Mao Zedong declared to foreign governments by the Chinese Foreign Ministry's cable: "Tibet is part of China. The Tibet issue is China's internal affair. The People's Liberation Army (PLA) must march into Tibet."

In 1949, American Lowell Thomas entered Tibet via India in the guise of a radio commentator and kept in frequent touch with Tibet's pro-imperialist upper class. After returning to the United States, he released an article on New York Times, asking the U.S. to help Tibetans with guerrilla warfare.

In January 1950, British Fox, a radio expert employed by Gaxag, wrote to the commander of the Tibetan Army, advising how to collect information concerning PLA and destroy the hubs to prevent the PLA troops from marching into Tibet.

Nevertheless, the U.S. and other Western countries just showed sympathy to the appeal for "Tibet independence."

Although urged by the Central Government, the local government of Tibet didn't send a delegation to Beijing for negotiations, but send pro-imperialist representatives to beg western forces to interfere in China's unification. Gaxag's regent Tatra cabled to United Press International of America, asking for its support to Tibet independence.

However, the Tibetan people chose to return to the embrace of the motherland in a peaceful way.

From the very beginning, the move of the Central Government of New China to peacefully liberate Tibet won support from the overwhelming majority of the Tibetans and upper religious people.

At New China's founding ceremony held on Oct. 1, 1949, the 10th Panchen Lama sent his greetings to Chairman Mao Zedong and the PLA Commander-in-Chief Zhu De: "All Chinese with courage and uprightness are encouraged by the founding of the People's Republic of China. From now on, we are sure that Chinese people will enjoy stability and happiness, that China will definitely achieve reinvigoration and that Tibet will win liberation in the near future."

Photo shows Sherab Gyamco (L), former vice chairman of the Qinghai Provincial People's Government, and Chairman Mao Zedong (R). 

Sherab Gyamco, former vice chairman of the Qinghai Provincial People's Government, made speeches over Xining Radio and China Central Radio to urge Tibetans to support Tibet's peaceful liberation.

On Oct. 10, Cedai Bongje and Tashi, representatives of Governor of Ngari Prefecture, cabled to Chairman Mao: "We have made friends with the PLA troops in Ngari and obeyed the orders of the Central Government. There has been no fighting at all. So, we have made peace successfully."

At that time, the Central Government had only two requirements on Gaxag: one was that Tibet should return to the big family of the motherland and get united to drive out imperialists; the other was that the PLA troops should march into Tibet in a bid to consolidate national defense and guard the border areas.

But those pro-imperialist Tibetans chose to resist peaceful liberation of Tibet with force instead. The local government of Tibet deployed troops in eastern Tibet's Qamdo prefecture, in an attempt to prevent the PLA troops from marching into Tibet.

PLA troops cross the Jinsha River on Oct. 6, 1950, in preparatioin for the the Qamdo Battle. 

On Oct. 6, 1950, the Battle of Qamdo broke out. On Oct. 12, the 9th regiment of the Tibetan army declared its uprising. Nine days later, commander Ngapoi ordered his remaining troops of 2,700 men to surrender to the PLA.

Only a few days after Qamdo was liberated, the Indian government sent a memorandum to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, expressing its opposition to PLA's march into Tibet. At a news conference held in Washington in November, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson slandered the PLA's march into Tibet as "invasion." In the same month, instigated by British and American representatives, representative of Salvador in the United Nations submitted a bill on the so-called Tibet issue to the U.N. Secretary General Trygve Lie (1945-1952). Opposed by some other countries that quoted international treaties, this bill failed to be submitted to the U.N. General Assembly.

Disappointed with foreign interference, Gaxag called all senior officials and representatives of the Sera, Drepung and Gandain monasteries to a three-day meeting, at which it decided to accept the Central Government's proposal on Tibet's peaceful liberation and to send representatives to Beijing for peace negotiations.

In January 1951, the 14th Dalai Lama, who stayed in the Tibetan-Indian border town of Yadong, waiting for a chance to flee abroad, approved Gaxag's decision. In a letter to China's Central Government, he expressed his willingness to send his representatives to Beijing for peace negotiations.

Picture shows the cable sent by the 14th Dalai Lama to Chairman Mao Zedong, in which Dalai expressed his support to the Agreement on the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet.

In late April 1951, the delegation of the Tibet's local government composed of Ngapoi Ngawang Jigmei (chief representative), Kemei Soinam Wangdui, Tubdain Dainda, Tubdain Lemoin and Sangpo Tainzin Toinzhub arrived in Beijing for the peaceful settlement of the Tibet issue. The Central Government delegation, headed by Li Weihan, was composed of another three fully empowered representatives: Zhang Jingwu, Zhang Guohua and Sun Zhiyuan.

Following 25 days of tough negotiations, the Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local government of Tibet on Measures for Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, also known as the 17-Article Agreement, was signed on May 23, 1951. The signing marks the fact that Tibet has been freed from the shackles of imperialists and that Tibet has returned to the big family of the motherland.