Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme (February 1, 1910 – December 23, 2009 ) was a Tibetan senior official who assumed various military and political responsibilities both before and after 1951 in Tibet.

He is often known simply as Ngapo in English sources.

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was born in Lhasa as the son of a leading Tibetan aristocratic family descended from former kings of Tibet, the Horkhang.

His father was governor of Chamdo in Eastern Tibet and commander of the Tibetan armed forces.

After studying traditional Tibetan literature, he went to Britain for further education.

He was married to Ngapoi Cedain Zhoigar, Vice President of the Tibetan Women's Federation, hence his name Ngapoi.

They were in a sense a continuation of the movement for reform that emerged in the 1920s with Tsarong Dzasa as its main proponent but was stopped short by the 13th Dalai Lama under the pressure of conservative clerics and aristocrats.

Upon returning in 1932 from his studies in Britain, he served in the Tibetan army.

Ngapoi began his career as a local official in Chamdo in 1936.

As a cabinet member of the former government of Tibet under the Dalai Lama, he advocated reform.

In April 1950 he was appointed governor-general (commissioner) of Chamdo, but took office only in September, after the previous governor, Lhalu, had left for Lhasa.

While serving as governor-general of Chamdo, he also became commander-in-chief of the Tibetan Army.

While his predecessor, Lhalu, had made elaborate military plans and fortifications and asked the Kashag for more soldiers and weapons to stop the People's Liberation Army from entering Tibet, Ngapoi had the fortifications removed, refused to hire Khampa warriors and to install two portable wireless sets as he thought it was better to negotiate.

In October 1950 his forces confronted the People's Liberation Army.

The battle was quickly over.

As he had warned before his departure for Chamdo, "the Tibetan forces were no match for the PLA who [...] had liberated the whole of China by defeating several million Kuomintang soldiers".

Ngapoi surrendered Chamdo to the Chinese.

The PLA surprised him by treating him well and giving him long lectures on the New China's policies toward minor nationalities.

Within a year, he was the deputy commander-in-chief for the PLA forces in Tibet.

He became a leader not only of Tibet but also the Chinese Communist Party in Tibet.

As a delegate of the government of Tibet sent to negotiate with the Chinese Government, he headed the Tibetan delegation to the Beijing peace negotiations in 1951, where he signed the Seventeen Point Agreement with the Chinese Communist government in 1951, accepting Chinese sovereignty in exchange for guarantees of autonomy and religious freedom.

The validity of his acceptance on behalf of the Tibetan government has been questioned.

The Tibetan exiled community claims that his signature of the Agreement was obtained under duress, and that, as only the governor of Chamdo, signature of the agreement exceeded his powers of representation and is therefore invalid.

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme was instrumental in solving the food problems of the People's Liberation Army in 1951–1952 by creating a Kashag subcommittee tasked with inventorying grain stores with a view to selling some to the PLA in accordance with point 16 of the Seventeen Point Agreement ("The local government of Tibet will assist the People's Liberation Army in the purchase of food, fodder, and other daily necessities").

Ngapoi was appointed by the Tibetan government to head the newly formed Reform Assembly.

He was the Kashag minister (Kalön) most trusted not only by the Chinese but also by the Dalai Lama.

The latter, who was in favour of reforms and modernization, frequently discussed political issues with Ngapoi in private.

After 1951, Ngapoi's career continued within the ranks of Chinese Communist administration of Tibet.

He was also a member of the Central People's Government's State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee between 1951 and 1954.

In his biography My Land and My People, the Dalai Lama claims that in 1952, the acting Tibetan Prime Minister Lukhangwa told Chinese representative Zhang Jingwu that the Tibetan "people did not accept the agreement".

However, according to Sambo Rimshi, one of the Tibetan negotiators, the Tibetan delegation, including Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, went to Beijing with the Dalai Lama's authorization and instructions As Sambo Rimchi recalled, Dalai Lama's instruction to the negotiators clearly states:

"Here are ten points. I have faith that you will not do anything bad, so you should go and achieve whatever you can."

According to Sambo, the young Dalai Lama also told the negotiators to use their best judgment according to the situation and circumstances and report back to the Kashag in Yadong.

Sambo recalled that the negotiators brought a secret codebook so that they could establish a wireless link with Yadong and discuss issues as they arose.

According to historians Tom A. Grunfeld, Melvyn C. Goldstein and Tsering Shakya, the young Dalai Lama did ratify the Seventeen Point agreement with Tsongdu Assembly's recommendation few months after the signing.

He was Deputy Commander of the Tibet Military District between 1952 and 1977, and a member of the National Defence Council from 1954 through the Cultural Revolution.

As a result, in 1953–1954, the Reform Assembly crafted new laws reforming interest rates, old loans, and the administration of counties.

In 1959, the Dalai Lama on his arrival in India after he fled Tibet repudiated the "17-point Agreement" as having been "thrust upon Tibetan Government and people by the threat of arms".

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigmé was one of a small number of progressive elite Tibetans that were eager to modernize Tibet and saw in the return of the Chinese an opportunity to do so.

He served as the leader of the Liberation Committee of Chamdo Prefecture until 1959.