China publishes white paper to mark 50th anniversary of reform in Tibet

Source: Xinhua | 03-02-2009 15:20

BEIJING, March 2 (Xinhua) -- China's government Monday published a white paper on the situation in Tibet before and since1959 to mark the 50th anniversary of the region's Democratic Reform.

>>Full Text of White Paper on Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet

The paper, released by the State Council Information Office, reviewed the profound changes that have taken place in the past 50years.

It also shed light on the laws governing the social development of Tibet, and attempts to rebut lies and rumors it alleges were spread by the 14th Dalai Lama and his hard-core supporters.

"It is conducive to telling right from wrong in history and helps the world better understand the real Tibet," the paper said.

Tibet had been a society of feudal serfdom under theocratic rule before 1959, with the 14th Dalai Lama as the chief representative of the upper ruling strata of serf owners, the paper said.

The long centuries of theocratic rule and feudal serfdom stifled the vitality of Tibetan society, and led to its decline and decay, the paper said.

In 1951, the Central People's Government and the Local Government of Tibet signed an agreement on the Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, or the 17-Article Agreement.

The agreement acknowledged the necessity of reforming the social system of Tibet, and stressed that "the local government of Tibet should carry out reform voluntarily".

In an attempt to perpetuate the old social system, the upper ruling strata in Tibet publicly abandoned the agreement and staged an armed rebellion on March 10, 1959, the paper said.