西藏和平解放与繁荣发展(一)

前言

1951年5月23日，《中央人民政府和西藏地方政府关于和平解放西藏办法的协议》（简称《十七条协议》）的签订，宣告西藏和平解放。从此，西藏人民永远摆脱了帝国主义的侵略和羁绊，与全国各族人民一道在祖国大家庭里走上了团结、进步、发展的光明大道。

以和平解放为起点，西藏各族人民在中国共产党的坚强领导下团结奋进，贯彻执行《十七条协议》，有力维护了国家主权、祖国统一和领土完整；进行民主改革，彻底废除了政教合一的封建农奴制，百万农奴翻身解放、当家作主，各族人民的根本利益得到保障；建立社会主义制度，实行民族区域自治，西藏社会制度实现了历史性跨越；扎实推进改革开放和现代化建设，极大解放和发展了社会生产力，极大改善了西藏各族人民生产生活条件。进入新时代，在以习近平同志为核心的党中央坚强领导下，在全国人民大力支持下，西藏脱贫攻坚全面胜利，社会大局更加稳定、经济文化更加繁荣、生态环境更加良好、人民生活更加幸福，一个崭新的社会主义新西藏呈现在世人面前。

值此西藏和平解放70周年之际，回顾历史进程、展示伟大成就，全面立体真实展现社会主义新西藏，有助于以事实驳斥境外一些势力散布的种种谎言，有助于国际社会正确认识西藏翻天覆地的历史巨变。

一、和平解放前的西藏

西藏自古就是中国神圣领土不可分割的一部分，是中国藏族主要聚居区之一。近代以来，以英国为首的帝国主义势力一手制造了所谓的“西藏独立”问题，严重破坏了中国的主权和领土完整。

——西藏自古是中国不可分割的一部分

中国是一个历史悠久的统一的多民族国家，中华民族是一个命运共同体。西藏是各民族共同开发的，西藏历史是各民族共同书写的，藏族和其他各民族在政治经济文化上的交流贯穿了西藏历史发展始终，藏族就是在各民族交往交流交融中形成发展起来的。大量考古和学术研究表明，早在远古时期，居住在西藏高原的藏族先民就与汉族和其他兄弟民族有着血缘、语言和文化上的密切联系。公元7世纪在西藏建立的吐蕃地方政权，为中国西南边疆开发作出了重要贡献。

元朝（1271-1368年）中央政府实现了对西藏地方的有效管辖和治理。元朝设立总制院（后称宣政院），直接管理西藏地方事务，在西藏清查户口、设置驿站、征收赋税、驻扎军队、任命官员，并将元朝刑法、历法颁行西藏。明朝（1368-1644年）中央政府在西藏实施多封众建，给西藏各地政教首领封以“法王”“王”“灌顶国师”等名号，设置乌思藏、朵甘两个“卫指挥使司”和“俄力思军民元帅府”，分别管理卫藏、昌都等地和阿里地区的军政事务。清朝（1644-1911年）中央政府对西藏地方的管理十分完善，先后册封藏传佛教格鲁派首领五世达赖和五世班禅，正式确立达赖喇嘛与班禅额尔德尼的封号和政治、宗教地位，历世达赖、班禅均须中央政府册封遂成定制。设驻藏大臣，代表中央先后监督、共管西藏军政事务，总计派遣驻藏大臣百余人。1751年，乾隆皇帝授命七世达赖喇嘛与驻藏大臣共同管理西藏地方政教事务。1793年，清朝政府在驱除廓尔喀入侵势力之后整顿西藏地方秩序，颁布《钦定藏内善后章程二十九条》，完善中央政府治理西藏地方的多项制度，明确规定达赖等大活佛转世须经金瓶掣签认定，并报中央政府批准。此后清代五位达赖喇嘛中，三位经金瓶掣签认定，其余两位经中央政府特批免于金瓶掣签。

清朝灭亡后，中华民国继续对西藏实施主权管辖。1912年，中华民国第一部宪法《中华民国临时约法》明确规定中央对西藏的主权，宣布“西藏是中华民国领土的一部分”，提出“合汉、满、蒙、回、藏诸族为一人，实行五族共和”。同年7月，民国政府设蒙藏事务局。1929年，南京国民政府设立蒙藏委员会，管理蒙藏事务。1940年，国民政府在拉萨设蒙藏委员会驻藏办事处，作为中央政府在西藏地方的常设机构。民国时期官方和民间出版机构出版的世界地图和中国地图，均将西藏列为中国领土。虽然民国期间军阀混战，内乱频仍，国家孱弱，但中央政府仍坚定地维护了国家在西藏的主权。十四世达赖、十世班禅继续接受了中央政府的册封。国际上没有一个国家和政府承认过“西藏独立”。

——所谓“西藏独立”问题是近代帝国主义侵略中国的产物

自18世纪以来，西方一些势力就通过“探险”“考察”等手段觊觎我西藏。19世纪末，帝国主义掀起瓜分中国的狂潮，英国侵略势力趁机染指西藏。鸦片战争后，英国加紧从英属印度侵略西藏，先后于1888年、1903年两次武装入侵，遭到当地军民坚决抵抗。在武装侵略未能达到目的后，又转而在西藏培植亲帝分裂势力，策划、煽动“西藏独立”。1907年，英俄秘密签订《西藏协定》，在中国政府不知情的情况下，第一次在国际文件中将中国对西藏地方的主权篡改为“宗主权”。1913年，英国策划召开西姆拉会议，唆使西藏地方代表首次提出“西藏独立”的无理要求，当即遭到中国政府代表严词拒绝。这便是“西藏独立”一词的首次出笼。1914年7月，中国政府代表拒绝在《西姆拉条约》上签字，并发表声明概不承认任何此类条约或文件，同时将该立场照会英国政府，西姆拉会议遂以失败告终。

1942年，西藏地方政府在英国代表支持下突然宣布成立“外交局”，公开进行“西藏独立”活动，因遭到全国人民和国民政府的反对而不得不改变原议。1947年，英国幕后策划邀请西藏派代表参加“泛亚洲会议”，在会场上悬挂的亚洲地图和万国旗中把西藏作为一个独立国家来对待，经中国代表团严正交涉，会议组织者不得不改正这种错误做法。中华人民共和国成立前后，帝国主义加快了与西藏亲帝分裂势力勾结的步伐，1949年7月8日，西藏地方政府以“防止共产党混迹西藏”为借口，下令将国民政府驻藏办事处人员及相关人员驱赶出西藏，制造了拉萨“七·八”事件。1949年11月，西藏地方政府决定派所谓的“亲善使团”赴美国、英国、印度、尼泊尔等国，寻求对“西藏独立”的政治支持和军事援助，加紧分裂国家的活动。1949年，美国人劳尔·汤姆斯（Lowell Thomas）以哥伦比亚广播公司“无线电评论员”名义在西藏图谋“华盛顿给西藏以可能的援助”，并在美国报刊上宣称“美国已准备承认西藏为独立自由”的国家。1950年上半年，一批美国枪支弹药经由加尔各答进入西藏，用以对抗中国人民解放军进藏。

历史事实清楚地证明，所谓“西藏独立”问题完全是帝国主义侵略中国的产物，驱逐帝国主义势力出西藏是中国人民维护祖国统一的必然要求。

——解放西藏是各族人民的热切期盼

1949年9月2日，中国共产党授权新华社发表题为《决不容许外国侵略者吞并中国的领土——西藏》的社论，指出“西藏是中国的领土，绝不容许任何外国侵略；西藏人民是中国人民的一个不可分离的组成部分，绝不容许任何外国分割。这是中国人民、中国共产党和中国人民解放军的坚定不移的方针”。社论发表后，西藏各界纷纷响应和拥护，盼望解放军早日进藏。就在新中国成立当天，十世班禅致电中央政府：“速发义师，解放西藏，驱逐帝国主义势力。”12月2日，原西藏摄政五世热振活佛的近侍益西楚臣到西宁，向人民解放军控诉帝国主义破坏西藏内部团结的罪行，请求迅速解放西藏。当时在西藏颇有声望的藏族学者喜饶嘉措也在西安发表谈话，谴责帝国主义策划拉萨当局进行所谓“独立”的阴谋。1950年初，藏族农牧民、青年、妇女和民主人士代表百余人在刚刚解放的兰州集会，要求解放西藏。

毛泽东主席和朱德总司令在复电十世班禅时指出：“西藏人民是爱祖国而反对外国侵略的，他们不满意国民党反动政府的政策，而愿意成为统一的富强的各民族平等合作的新中国大家庭的一分子。中央人民政府和中国人民解放军必能满足西藏人民的这个愿望。”在中央人民政府的英明决策和全国各族人民的共同企盼下，解放西藏的伟大事业正式开启。(待续)

Tibet Since 1951：Liberation,Developmentand Prosperity(Ⅰ)

Foreword

On May 23, 1951, the Agreement of the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet (the 17-Article Agreement) was signed. The people of Tibet broke free from the fetters of invading imperialism for good, embarking on a bright road of unity, progress and development with all the other ethnic groups in China.

Following the peaceful liberation, all the ethnic peoples of Tibet, united under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), have worked together in implementing the 17-Article Agreement, and stood firm in safeguarding national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity. Together, they have:

• carried out democratic reform to abolish Tibet's feudal theocratic serfdom, liberating millions of serfs and ensuring the fundamental interests of all ethnic groups in Tibet;

• established the socialist system and implemented regional ethnic autonomy in Tibet, bringing historic changes to Tibetan society; and

• pressed ahead with reform, opening up, and modernization, significantly unleashing the productive potential and improving the lives and working conditions of the people in Tibet.

In the new era, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core and with the vigorous support of the whole country, Tibet has eradicated extreme poverty. Enjoying a stable social environment, economic and cultural prosperity, and a sound eco-environment, the people now lead better lives and live in contentment. A brand new socialist Tibet has taken shape.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Tibet's peaceful liberation, we are publishing this white paper to review Tibet's history and achievements, and present a true and panoramic picture of the new socialist Tibet.This will help to counter the propaganda spread by a number of Western countries and their allies and provide the international community with a balanced account of the enormous transformation that has taken place in Tibet.

I. Tibet Before the Peaceful Liberation

Tibet has been an integral part of Chinese territory since ancient times, and one of the main Tibetaninhabited areas in China. In the aftermath of the Opium Wars in the middle of the 19th century, the UK-led imperialist powers began to cultivate the idea of “Tibet independence”, intentionally undermining China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

-Tibet has been an inseparable part of China since ancient times.

China is a unified multiethnic country with a long history. The Chinese nation is a community of shared future. Tibet has developed through the combined efforts of all the ethnic groups in China, and these are the peoples who have created its history. The political,economic and cultural exchanges between Tibetans and other ethnic groups throughout history have had an important bearing on the development of the Tibetan people as an ethnic group. Abundant archeological and academic research shows that in times of remote antiquity, the ancestral people inhabiting the Tibetan Plateau had close ties with the Han and other ethnic groups in terms of blood, language, and culture. The Tubo Kingdom established in Tibet in the 7th century contributed significantly to the exploration of China's southwestern borders.

In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the central government exercised jurisdiction and governance over Tibet. It established the Supreme Control Commission of Buddhism (later renamed the Commission for Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs) to directly manage local affairs in the region, conducting censuses, setting up courier stations, collecting taxes, stationing troops and appointing officials. It also issued and enacted the Yuan criminal law and calendar in Tibet.

The central government of the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644) implemented a policy of multiple enfeoffment, conferring honorific titles such as“Prince”, “Prince of Dharma”, and “National Master in Tantrism” on political and religious leaders in various parts of Tibet. It established the U-Tsang and Do-kham regional military commissions and the Ngari Commanding Tribal Office to manage military and political affairs in U-Tsang, Qamdo and Ngari respectively.

During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the central government exercised sound governance over Tibet. It granted honorific titles to the leaders of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism - the 5th Dalai Lama and the 5th Panchen Lama - officially establishing the titles of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Erdeni and their political and religious status in Tibet. From then on, it became an established convention that the central government conferred the titles of Dalai Lama and Panchen Erdeni.The Qing government began to station Grand Ministers Resident in Tibet to supervise and jointly manage local military and political affairs on behalf of the central authorities; in total it appointed more than 100 such ministers. In 1751, Qing Emperor Qianlong authorized the 7th Dalai Lama to jointly manage local political and religious affairs with the Grand Minister Resident in Tibet. In 1793, after dispelling Gurkha invaders,the Qing government restored order in Tibet and promulgated the Imperially Approved Ordinance for Better Governance of Tibet (the 29-Article Ordinance),improving several of the systems by which the central government administered Tibet. The ordinance stipulated that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and other grand Living Buddhas had to follow the procedure of “drawing lots from the golden urn”, and the selected candidate would be subject to approval by the central government of China. Observing the ordinance, three of the five Dalai Lamas in the Qing Dynasty were selected and approved in accordance with this procedure, and the other two were exempted from the procedure with special approval from the central government.

After the downfall of the Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China (ROC) continued to exercise sovereignty over Tibet. In 1912, the ROC issued its first constitution - the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China, which reaffirmed the central government's sovereignty over Tibet. It clearly stipulated that “Tibet is a part of the territory of the ROC”,and stated that “the Han, Manchu, Mongol, Hui and Tibetan peoples are of one nation, and are to run the Republic together”. In July, the government set up the Bureau of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs. The Nanjing National Government set up the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs in 1929 to act in the same capacity. In 1940, the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs opened an office in Lhasa as the permanent organ representing the central government in Tibet. Under the ROC, Tibet was clearly identified as Chinese territory in world maps and maps of China issued by government and non-government publishers.The central government of the ROC safeguarded the nation's sovereignty over Tibet in spite of frequent civil wars among warlords and a weak state, and following the tradition by conferring the official titles on the 14th Dalai Lama and the 10th Panchen Lama. No country or government in the world has ever acknowledged the“independence of Tibet”.

- “Tibetan independence” was a product of imperialist aggression against China in modern times.

Western attempts on Tibet began in the 18th century, pioneered by “adventurers” and “explorers”who made trips to the region. At the end of the 19th century, imperialist powers engaged in a fervent spree of carving up China, and the British aggressors took the opportunity to invade Tibet. British troops invaded Tibet twice in 1888 and 1903 and met with stubborn resistance from the Tibetan army and civilians. Its invasion plans thwarted, Britain began to cultivate proimperialist separatists in Tibet, devising activities to separate Tibet from China and championing “Tibet independence”. In 1907, Britain and Russia signed the Convention Between Great Britain and Russia on Tibet,without the Chinese government's knowledge, changing China's sovereignty over Tibet into “suzerainty”in an international document for the first time. In 1913, the British government engineered the Simla Conference to instigate the Tibetan representative to raise the issue of “Tibetan independence”, which was immediately rejected by the representative of the Chinese government. This was the first time the concept had been made public. In July 1914, the representative of the Chinese government refused to sign the Simla Convention, and made a statement saying that the government of China refused to recognize any such agreement or document. The Chinese government also sent a note to the British government, reiterating its position. Thereupon, the conference collapsed.

In 1942, the local government of Tibet, with the support of the British representative, suddenly announced the establishment of a “foreign affairs bureau” and began to openly engage in “independence”activities. With opposition from the Chinese people and the national government, the local government of Tibet had no choice but to withdraw its decision.In 1947, Britain conspired behind the scenes to invite Tibetan representatives to attend the Asian Relations Conference, and even identified Tibet as an independent country on the map of Asia hung in the conference hall and in the array of national flags. The organizers were forced to rectify this after the Chinese delegation made a stern protest.

Around the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, imperialists accelerated their collusion with pro-imperialist separatists in Tibet. On July 8, 1949, the local government of Tibet issued an order to expel officials of the Tibet Office of the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs on the pretext of “prohibiting Communists from staying in Tibet”. In November 1949, the local government of Tibet decided to dispatch a “goodwill mission” to the United States, Britain, India,Nepal and a number of other countries, seeking political and military support for “independence” and making it obvious that it was intensifying separatist activities.In 1949, the American Lowell Thomas crossed Tibet in the guise of a “radio commentator” of the Columbia Broadcasting System to explore the “possibility of aid that Washington could give Tibet”. He wrote in a US newspaper: “The United States is ready to recognize Tibet as an independent and free country.” In the first half of 1950, American weaponry was shipped into Tibet through Calcutta in order to help resist the People's Liberation Army's entry into Tibet.

Historical facts clearly demonstrate that “Tibetan independence” was no more than a product of imperialist aggression against China. Driving imperialist forces out of Tibet was the precondition for the Chinese people to safeguard national unification.

- Liberating Tibet was the shared aspiration of all ethnic groups in Tibet.

On September 2, 1949, Xinhua News Agency,with authorization from the CPC, published an editorial under the headline, “Foreign Aggressors Are Resolutely Not Allowed to Annex China's Territory - Tibet”.The editorial pointed out, “Tibet is part of the Chinese territory; no foreign aggression is allowed. The Tibetan people are an inseparable part of the Chinese nation, and any attempt to divide them from China will be doomed.This is a consistent policy of the Chinese people, the CPC and the People's Liberation Army (PLA).”

All sectors of society of Tibet quickly responded and expressed support for the editorial and the hope that the PLA would enter Tibet as soon as possible.On October 1, 1949, the day the PRC was founded,the 10th Panchen Lama sent a telegram to the central government: “Please send troops to liberate Tibet and expel the imperialists as soon as possible.”

On December 2, Yeshe Tsultrim, an aide of the 5th Regent Reting Rinpoche, arrived in Xining, Qinghai Province, to lodge complaints with the PLA about the imperialists destroying the internal unity of Tibet, and urged the PLA to liberate Tibet as soon as possible.

Sherab Gyatso, a prominent Tibetan scholar,delivered a talk in Xi'an, denouncing an imperialist conspiracy through which Lhasa authorities would seek “independence”. In early 1950, over 100 Tibetan people, including farmers and herdsmen, young people,women and democratic representatives, assembled in Lanzhou in Gansu Province, which had been liberated not long before, and urged the PLA to liberate Tibet.

In their reply to the 10th Panchen Lama, Mao Zedong and Zhu De stated, “The Tibetan people love the motherland and stand against foreign aggression.They are discontent with the policies of the reactionary Kuomintang government, and want to be part of the big family of a unified New China, where all ethnic groups are equal and work together for prosperity. The Central People's Government and the Chinese PLA will certainly comply with this wish of the Tibetan people.”

With determined support from the Central People's Government, Tibet saw the hope of a peaceful liberation anticipated by the whole of China. (To be continued)