Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China

Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China

PLA marching into Kangding, Tibet
Date6 October 1950 – 23 May 1951
(7 months, 2 weeks and 3 days)
Location
Result Seventeen Point Agreement
Territorial
changes
Tibet is annexed by the People's Republic of China.
Belligerents
 Tibet  People's Republic of China
Commanders and leaders
Ngawang Sungrab Thutob
Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (POW)
Lhalu Tsewang Dorje
Mao Zedong
Liu Bocheng
Zhang Guohua
Fan Ming
Units involved
 Tibetan Army  People's Liberation Army Ground Force

Tibet came under the control of People's Republic of China (PRC) after the Government of Tibet signed the Seventeen Point Agreement which the 14th Dalai Lama ratified on 24 October 1951, but later repudiated on the grounds that he had rendered his approval for the agreement under duress. This occurred after attempts by the Tibetan Government to gain international recognition, efforts to modernize its military, negotiations between the Government of Tibet and the PRC, and a military conflict in the Chamdo area of western Kham in October 1950. The series of events came to be called the "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet" agreed by the Chinese government, the plenipotentiary of the Tibetan Local Government and the Dalai Lama despite several thousand casualties being reported by Chinese generals throughout the invasion, and the "Chinese invasion of Tibet" by the Central Tibetan Administration alongside the Tibetan diaspora.

The Government of Tibet and the Tibetan social structure remained in place in the Tibetan polity under the authority of China until the 1959 Tibetan uprising, when the Dalai Lama fled into exile and after which the Government of Tibet and Tibetan social structures were dissolved.