The Peaceful Liberation of Tibet: A Splendid Chapter in the Unification of the Chinese Nation

—— An Interview with Mr. Zhu Weiqun, Vice Minister of the United Front Work  Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

　　On the eve of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the 17-Article Agreement and the peaceful liberation of Tibet, Mr. Zhu Weiqun, Vice Minister of the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, gave this interview to a reporter from the journal China’s Tibet.

　　Peaceful Liberation Made It Forever Impossible for

　　Tibet to Be Separated from China

　　Reporter: May 23rd of this year is 60th anniversary of the signing The Agreement on Measures for Peaceful Liberation of Tibet between the Central Government and the Local Tibetan Government (abbr. the 17-Article Agreement). How do you assess this historical event?

　　Zhu Weiqun: The peaceful liberation of Tibet is a significant event in the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Community Party of China, and a major event in the Chinese nation’s more than 100-year struggle for national unification.

　　Shortly after the three big campaigns of the war of liberation, Chairman Mao raised the issue of liberating Tibet. At a meeting with Mikoyan, an envoy of Stalin’s, in Xibaipo in early 1949, he said, “The Tibet problem is not hard to solve, but we can’t be in a rush and do it recklessly.” When Chairman Mao visited the Soviet Union at the end of that year, he stated, “The army should march into Tibet earlier rather than later.” In October 1950, the People’s Liberation Army launched the Battle of Chamdo and smashed the dream of the handful of upper class Tibetan counter-revolutionaries who attempted to depend on the steep banks of Jinsha River in conjunction with the protection of foreign forces to resist the dream of liberating Tibet. This successful battle forced the local Tibetan government, headed by the 14th Dalai Lama, to send a delegation to Beijing to negotiate peace with the central government. After nearly one month of negotiations, both sides signed the 17-Article Agreement, and Tibet was peacefully liberated. This shows that the liberation of Tibet was one of the major events set forth in the grand blueprint for establishing New China by the supreme leadership of our Party. Tibet had to eventually be liberated by peaceful or other means, otherwise we Communists could not claim to have completed the mission bestowed on us by history. In addition, history has verified that the resolute decision of the Party, the Central Committee and Chairman Mao was correct. If the army had waited much longer to enter Tibet, we might have faced far more difficulties.

　　As for peaceful liberation, I believe its primary significance lies in having crushed the plot of the imperialists and a small number of upper class Tibetan reactionaries who conspired to separate Tibet from China, and in having achieved the complete liberation and unification of the mainland of the motherland. As is well known, Tibet has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times, and the central government has administered Tibet directly and effectively since the Yuan Dynasty. Western imperialist forces constantly coveted Tibet throughout China’s modern history. British military forces twice invaded Tibet, in 1888 and 1904, and occupied Lhasa after the second invasion. At that time, they discovered that the local Tibetan government and the Tibetan people accepted the authority of the central government of China. The imperialists could not take Tibet away from China by force so they changed their approach and cultivated close ties with a small number of upper class Tibetans and got them to demand independence. Before the British imperialists invaded Tibet, the concept of independence was absent from the Tibetan language. It was forcibly imported by Western colonialists. When victory in the people’s liberation war was at hand, the American and British imperialists and the few upper class Tibetan separatists sensed they would lose this last opportunity, they carried out a series of separatist activities, including an effort to force Han Chinese out of Tibet. Their intention was to make Tibetan independence into some kind of reality and present it the Chinese Communists. However, after the victory of Battle of Chamdo and the signing of the 17-Article Agreement, the People’s Liberation Army peacefully entered and garrisoned in Tibet, thereby completely destroying their illusion. The peaceful liberation of Tibet is the result of the sacrifice of the Chinese people over their 100-plus years of struggle for the unification of the whole nation and for national self-respect and dignity, a struggle that made the separation of Tibet from China an impossibility.

　　A further significance the peaceful liberation of Tibet has is that it provided the preconditions for the democratic reform in Tibet eight years later, which successfully transformed the feudal serf system of Old Tibet into modern socialism. The 17-Article Agreement took into consideration the reality of Tibet at that time and in particular specified, “The central government will not change the current political system of Tibet including the position of the Dalai Lama and his authority,” and “The central government will not force any reforms on Tibet; rather the local Tibetan government should voluntarily carry out reform. If the local people request a reform, a solution should be found by negotiation with local leaders.” The central government kept these two promises. However, that handful upper class Tibetans did not want to postpone reform but prevent it from ever happening. They therefore launched an armed rebellion. This is the reason the democratic reform was implemented earlier than intended. If the peaceful liberation had not first occurred, democratic reform that unfolded on a magnificent scale could never have occurred; if it was not for the peaceful liberation, we Communists and the People’s Liberation Army could not have entered into Tibet, and the local civilians, who had been under slavery and oppression for so long, could not have really understand the Party’s policy and would not have had the strong desire to voluntarily request democratic reform. It was during those eight years from the peaceful libration to the democratic reform that the objective preconditions for democratic reform were created, such as the ideological basis, the support of civilians and cadres, and the foundation of the military struggle. The victory of democratic reform made it perfectly clear that it was forever impossible to turn back history and restore feudal serf system that ran the theocracy.

　　At present, the Dalai clique and his Western supporters are very unhappy to observe the unification of China and see the Chinese nation, including the Tibetan people, develop and become prosperous. If they disagree with my judgment in this regard, they may have another try. In any case, they have tried before. I believe the result would be no better for them now than when they tried to resist the peaceful liberation by force and later to launch the armed rebellion.

　　The Dalai Lama Smears His Reputation

　　Reporter: How do you assess the behavior of the Dalai Lama, who first endorsed and supported the 17-Article Agreement but later tore it up and fled to another country to engage in separatist activities?

　　Zhu Weiqun: When the 17-Article Agreement was signed, it was not so long after the Dalai Lama’s enthronement, and he was just 16 years old. In that social and political situation, he sent his plenipotentiary to Beijing to negotiate with the central government at the urging of upper class Tibetan patriots (including Ngabo Ngawang Jigme and the Tenth Panchen Lama). After the signing of the agreement, he made a public announcement on behalf of the local Tibetan government that it completely agreed to the 17-Article Agreement. He also sent a telegram to Chairman Mao stating, “The Tibetan local government and all the people both clerical and secular unanimously support this agreement and would like to assist the People’s Liberation Army, under the leadership of Chairman Mao and the central people’s government, to enter Tibet in order to consolidate national defense, expel the imperialist force from Tibet, and safeguard the sovereignty and unity of the motherland.” This was one of the few historically correct decisions he made in his lifetime. It was in fact his finest hour.

　　With regard to the arrangements for the Dalai Lama, the central government treated him in the most liberal manner. In 1954, the central government arranged for him to participate in the First National People’s Congress during which Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou and other leaders from the central government received him on several occasions and had heart-to-heart conversations with him. He was elected a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Despite his defection overseas in 1959, the central government tried to save face for him by declaring that he had been kidnapped and kept open his position as vice chairman until 1964.

　　Regretfully, it is the Lama himself who smeared his own reputation. In 1959, a handful of upper class Tibetan separatists launched an armed rebellion. The Dalai Lama followed them when they fled abroad. During his flight out of the country, he announced he was tearing up the 17-Article Agreement and then he embarked on the pursuit of Tibetan independence, which he has continued to carry on for almost a half-century.

　　The Dalai Lama completely understood deep in his heart the goodwill of the central government, but he chose a wrong path and continued down it constantly compounding his error. Finally, in 1964, a plenary session of the State Council passed The Resolution to Annul the Post of the Dalai Lama and declared, “In 1959 the Dalai Lama conspired in armed rebellion to oppose the revolution. After he fled to India he organized a puppet government and promulgated a puppet constitution. All this demonstrates he had already separated himself from the motherland and its people.” This political situation persists today. In 1995, the central government, considering the separatist activities of the Dalai Lama over the years, conferred four sobriquets on him: “the head of the separatist political clique plotting Tibetan independence, the loyal tool of international anti-China forces, the main source of social instability in Tibet, and the biggest impediment to Tibetan Buddhism maintaining normal order.” Since then, the Dalai Lama has successively proven by his words and behavior that these four sobriquets describe him perfectly. Personally speaking, I am sorry that the Dalai Lama has forsaken his good conduct of the past, and I regret his final decision to accept these judgments of him until the end of his life.

　　The Essence of the Middle Way Approach Is Still Tibetan Independence

　　Reporter: How do you assess the Dalai Lama’s middle way approach and his stance when talking to representatives of the central government?

　　Zhu Weiqun: In the 1980s the Dalai Lama advanced the ideas of non-violence and the middle way approach. His so-called non-violence does not mean he doesn’t want violence; he just doesn’t want his name associated with it (not to mention his constant armed interventions in the border area during the 1960s, which caused bloody incidents and disrupted the stability of Tibet). Even after he declared the middle way approach, he again instigated a series of violent terrorist incidents including the Lhasa Incident in 1989 and the March 14th riot in Lhasa in 2008. Meanwhile he keeps breeding separatist entities like Tibetan Youth that overtly pursue Tibetan independence through terrorism and acts of violence.

　　Even in this situation, the central government hopes he will realize his errors and turn back, and it offers him a way out; after all he is still the Dalai Lama as confirmed by the National Government many years ago. The policy of the central government is well-known by all sides: if the Dalai Lama truly gives up his stance on Tibetan independence, stops all separatist activities against the motherland, publicly recognizes that Tibet is one indivisible part of China, admits Taiwan is also one indivisible part of China, and recognizes the government of the People’s Republic of China as the one and only legal government of China, we can talk with him about his personal future. Talks have taken place from the early days of the opening up of China to the early 1990s and then from 2002 until today. Of the ten talks since 2002, I have participated in most of them.

　　As for the talks themselves, we maintain two basic points. First, the people we talk with must be the Dalai Lama’s personal representatives. His government in exile no matter who heads it, is only a separatist political group campaigning against the motherland, and it has no legal standing and no qualifications to talk with representatives of the central government. The only meaningful thing this government in exile can do is disband itself. The representatives of the Dalai Lama dare not claim they are the representatives of the government in exile when they talk with us, but they immediately present themselves as its representatives as soon as they leave China. They try to deceive everyone in the world. Such behavior is disgraceful and it is their way to deliberately damage the talks. Second, the content of the talks is limited to the Dalai Lama and at most it may include the future of only a very small number of people working close to him. That is to say, all of these issues are about how the Dalai Lama must completely give up his separatist stance and behavior in order to gain forgiveness from the central government to solve the problem of how he will spend the rest of his life. We will never discuss or recognize the so-called Tibet question or the larger autonomous region of Tibet. In order to make it possible for the Dalai Lama to perfectly understand the attitude of the central government and acknowledge his mistakes, we can listen to his explanation, but the real purpose is just to assess whether or not he has discarded separatism and is moving closer to the central government. In the ninth talk in 2009, the private representatives of the Dalai Lama handed us the Memorandum to All Tibetans Regarding a High Degree of Autonomy. We rejected this on the spot. Until today, the Dalai clique makes a pretense of “waiting for the response from the central government.” I advise them not to deceive themselves as well as others.

　　However, since resuming talks after 2002, the Dalai Lama again disappointed the hopes of the central government by instigating the riot on March 14th 2008 in Lhasa, sabotaging the torch rally of the Beijing Olympics, urging Western countries to boycott the Beijing Olympics and so on in order to attempt to exploit the opportunity of the Beijing Olympics to force us to make concessions. Of course, he suffered another crushing defeat, and in reality it was impossible for him to achieve any success. After the ninth talks in 2008, the representatives of the Dalai Lama sensed they could not achieve their goals and declared they would not have any more talks with the central government. This is actually their second time since 1993 they have done so. Of course, as we expected, they came back to ask the central government to resume talks several months later when they found the situation was not favorable to them. Recently, the Middle East has been unstable. The Dalai Lama and his Tibetan Youth are happy about this, as they seem to feel it gives them an opportunity. Their judgment about the situation has never been correct and consequently they never adopt correct measures, and thus of course they are doomed to continually suffer bad luck and embarrassment.

　　As for the talks, it is worth saying more about our stance. We absolutely do not allow any foreigners to meddle. All matters regarding Tibet are the internal affairs of China. There is no room for the involvement of foreigners. The Dalai clique has tried hard for a long time to involve foreigners in the talks, and a few Western countries want to be involved and play the role of a third party. I advise them to have more self-esteem and be more respectful.

　　At present, there are certain concerns about the attitude of the central government regarding the talks after the puppet government of the Dalai Lama held a new round of elections. I have stated very clearly that our fundamental stance will not change. Of course, if the Dalai Lama publicly advocates Tibetan independence and armed struggle, that would be another matter.

　　The Whole Nation Supports Tibet and Vice Versa

　　Reporter: The central government has held five work conferences on Tibet. What does this imply?

　　Zhu Weiqun: Since adoption of the reform and opening-up policy, the central government has held five work conferences on the development of Tibet, which is a provincial-level region. To the best of my knowledge, only Tibet has been given such special treatment. Why is this?

　　First, Tibet is situated in a harsh environment at a high altitude, and this poses particular constraints on its economic and social development. Second, Tibet suffered under a theocratic feudal serf system for a long time, and its level of social development lagged far behind that of the rest of China. Third, the Dalai, clique with the support of Western anti-China forces, has constantly carried on separatist activities abroad and conspired with them to sabotage the stability of Tibet and block development in Tibet for decades in order to endanger our national unity and territorial integrity. Fourth, Tibet has a long border with the South Asian subcontinent. The stability and development of Tibet is beneficial for our country to build good relations of friendship, cooperation and mutual benefit with the countries in this region and creating a good international environment in our neighborhood. All of these determine that Tibet is in a special position in the overall work of our Party and country. Not only does the central government give it special attention, but so also do all the people in our country. That is why the central government has a special policy of caring about Tibet and the whole nation supports Tibet.

　　We believe that at the same time the three million people in Tibet receive care and help from the people of the whole country, they support the country in return. It goes without saying that since ancient times, all ethnic groups in Tibet have produced a unique material and spiritual culture on an ecologically fragile snowy plateau where oxygen is desperately thin, and have safeguarded their 1.2 million sq. km. of land for the country. Since the peaceful liberation 60 years ago, they have maintained the development and stability of this extensive land. They have gradually made it an important security screen and ecological screen, a storehouse for strategic resources, a base for the unique agricultural products of the highland, a sanctuary for a distinctive Chinese ethnic culture and a destination for world tourism. All ethnic cadres and people in Tibet have demonstrated admirable patriotic sentiments and a spirit of struggle against hardship while living in such harsh natural conditions. Their rich and deeply spiritual culture has fascinated the Chinese people for decades and greatly enhanced our spiritual wealth. Tibet and the Tibetan people are an inspiration to the whole nation.

　　Tibetan Culture and the Culture of the Interior of China

　　Are in Complete Harmony

　　Reporter: As the general secretary of China Association for the Preservation and Development of the Tibetan Culture, how do you assess Tibetan traditional culture?

　　Zhu Weiqun: Tibetan traditional culture is a major part of the Chinese national traditional culture. For thousands of years, Tibetan culture and the culture of the interior of China have been in complete harmony. It is not possible to separate them. For instance, it is easy when you are in Lhasa to see the Potala Palace and other famous monasteries. What do the gold roofs and arches of the buildings look like? Of course, they look like the architecture of the interior of China. Again, when you observe the painting, dance, sculpture and even the medicine and religion of Tibet you can clearly see the influence of the culture that has existed in the interior of China for thousands of years. Similarly, the Yonghegong Lamasery in Beijing, the eight outer temples in Chengde and the Bodhisattvas on Mount Wutai all obviously reflect a strong influence from Tibetan traditional culture. From these examples you can see Tibetan culture has constantly infused the culture of the interior with new blood, including new content and new styles.

　　Tibetan traditional culture is also an especially unique part of the traditional culture of Chinese ethnic minorities. In the special environment of the snowy highland, ethnic Tibetans have given unique expression to their spirit. In addition, the Tibetan traditional culture assimilated content from the cultures of the South-Asian subcontinent, contributing greatly to its regional flavor. In this circumstance when Tibetan culture and the culture of the interior of China came in contact, they could draw upon each other to the benefit of both.

　　The China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture has the bounden duty to go with the tide of history and do whatever it can for the sake of the development of the Tibetan culture and further its influence in the country as well as the whole world. At the same time, it must strive to introduce the fine culture from other parts of China to Tibet so that the Tibetan people can understand and enjoy them.