Ngabo Ngawang Jigme Passes Away
Ngabo Ngawang Jigme Passes Away
[Thursday, 24 December 2009, 11:04 a.m.]
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| In this file photo Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, (2nd R) with three other Tsepons (Finance Ministers) of the Tibetan government in late 1940s – Tsepon Namseling, (1st R), Tsepon Shakabpa (3rd R) and Tsepon Lhukhangwa Tsewang Rabten (4th R) |
Dharamshala: Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, a senior Tibetan official who assumed various military and political responsibilities in Tibet both before and after 1959, died in Beijing on Wednesday, 23 December 2009. He was 99.
Ngabo Ngawang Jigme was born in 1910 in Lhasa.
Ngabo began his political career in the Tibetan government in 1936.
He was later promoted to the post of Kalon, member of the Kashag and subsequently made the provincial governor of Chamdo, Eastern Tibet’s provincial capital, during which he led the Tibetan army to counter aggression by China’s People’s Liberation Army in 1950.
On 23 May 1951, a five-member Tibetan delegation headed by Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, was coerced by the government of the People’s Republic of China to sign the 17-Point Agreement.
When the Tibetan delegates signed the 17-Point Agreement on 23 May 1951 without being able to inform their government, they stressed that they were signing only in their personal capacity. Even the seals affixed to the document were not those of the Tibetan government. They were made in Beijing and merely bore the personal names of the delegates.
Ngabo Ngawang Jigme is survived by his wife and children.
The Kashag Mourns and Remembers Ngabo Ngawang Jigme
[Thursday, 24 December 2009, 4:38 p.m.]
The Kashag of the Central Tibetan Administration is sad to hear the news about the passing away of Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, the former Kalon of the Tibetan government. The Kashag remembers his life-long contributions and mourns his demise.Ngabo was a senior Tibetan government official, appointed to the post of Kalon by none other than Regent Takdrag Rinpoche. Honest and patriotic, he always spoke out the truth even under the most trying and difficult circumstances.
In 1980s, during his meetings with different Tibetan representatives and fact-finding delegations, Ngabo explained that there was never a history of Tibetan Government paying taxes to China. He stated that while signing the 17-Point Agreement, then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, at the request of the Tibetan representatives, had promised that, though time was not ripe, all Tibetan areas would be eventually united under one administration. In 1989, he clarified with historical backgrounds and facts that the Chinese propaganda about the Tibetans enthroning the present Dalai Lama with the acceptance and the permission of the Chinese Government is not true.
He urged that Tibet’s special status should be acknowledged as it has signed an agreement with the Central Government, unlike other minorities. In 1991, he again called on the Central Government to implement articles of the 17-point Agreement in general and specifically those articles which state that Tibet’s political status will not be changed. Further more, he, along with the 10th Panchen Lama, made great efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan language. In short, he was someone who upheld the spirit of the Tibetan people.
We offer condolences to his wife and family.
The Kashag
December 24, 2009
Obituary: Kasur Ngapo Ngawang Jigme
23 December, 2009
International Campaign for Tibet
Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, a former minister in the Tibetan government, passed away in Beijing on December 23, 2009. He was 99.
Born in 1910, Ngapo began serving the Tibetan Government in 1936. His role in Tibetan politics became prominent after he was appointed the Dhochi (roughly translated as Governor General of Eastern Tibet) based in Chamdo in 1950 from where he led a military campaign against the invading Chinese forces.
That led to his direct and close interaction with the officials of the Chinese government. Subsequently, he was promoted to the position of a Kalon or Shape (Minister) in the Tibetan Government.
Kasur Ngapo is most well known for being the leader of the Tibetan delegation that was sent to China in 1951 to negotiate with the Chinese government. This meeting resulted in the controversial 17-Point Agreement that set the parameters for relationship between the Tibetan and Chinese governments and also defined the status of Tibet.
After the March 10, 1959 Tibetan National Uprising and the flight of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to India, Kasur Ngapo opted to stay back and to work with the Chinese government. He subsequently served in various capacities in the Tibet Autonomous Region as well as at the national level in Beijing. He had been living in Beijing since 1991.
Along with the 10th Panchen Lama, Kasur Ngapo was involved in the establishment of the Tibet Development Fund to implement developmental projects in Tibetan areas.
In the 1980s the Tibetan fact-finding delegations as well as the high level exploratory delegations sent by the Dalai Lama met with Kasur Ngapo in Beijing and received frank suggestions on the future of Tibetan-Chinese relationship. The envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama that visited Beijing in 2002 also met with Kasur Ngapo.
Many Tibetans have found fault with Kasur Ngapo for not speaking more forthrightly and openly on behalf of the Tibetan people, as the previous Panchen Lama did. Nevertheless, in an internal speech made in 1988 Kasur Ngapo said:
“It is because of the special situation in Tibet that in 1951 the Seventeen Point Agreement on the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet, between the central people’s government and the local Tibetan government, came about. Such an agreement has never existed between the central government and any other minority regions. We have to consider the special situation in Tibetan history while drafting policies for Tibet in order to realize its long-term stability. We must give Tibet more autonomous power than other minority regions. In my view, at present, Tibetan Autonomous Region has relatively less power of autonomy compared with other autonomous regions, let alone compared with provinces. Therefore Tibet must have some special treatment and have more autonomy like those special economic zones. We must employ special policies to resolve the special characteristics which have pertained throughout history.”
Furthermore, in 1991, Kasur Ngapo asked the Chinese government to abide by the 17-Point Agreement, specifically the commitment “not to change the existing political system in Tibet.”
In recent times, there were reports that Kasur Ngapo was writing his autobiography but that it was being scrutinized by the Chinese government.
Kasur Ngapo is survived by his wife and around 10 children. One of Kasur Ngapo’s sons, Jigme Ngapo, left China in the mid 1980s. He worked with the International Campaign for Tibet in Wasghington, DC before moving to Radio Free Asia to head its Tibetan-language section.
前西藏噶伦阿沛·阿旺晋美病逝 西藏流亡政府内阁表哀悼
请看博讯热点：西藏问题
(博讯北京时间2009年12月24日 转载) 来源：挪威西藏之声
一位西藏真实历史见证人、前西藏政府噶伦（部长）阿沛·阿旺晋美于昨天（12月23日）下午4点50分在北京病逝，享年99岁。西藏流亡政府和国 际声援西藏运动等在各自网站上就阿沛·阿旺晋美病逝发布讣告，西藏流亡政府噶厦（内阁）对于这位多年致力于西藏政教事业的前任内阁部长不幸过世，发表声明 表达沉痛哀悼，并缅怀他的毕生业绩。
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阿沛·阿旺晋美于1910年2月1日出生在西藏首都拉萨。1936年起为西藏政府工作，他在政坛崭露头角后，被任命为西藏东部昌都总管。1950 年，他领导昌都军事行动反抗中共对西藏的武装入侵。这使他有机会与中共官员进行直接、密切的互动。随后，他被晋升为西藏政府的噶伦（部长）。
1951年，阿沛·阿旺晋美是以西藏代表团首席代表被派往中国参与谈判而著名。当时中方以强迫性手段，让西藏代表们签下了有国际争议的所谓《十七条协议》，其结果是确定了不为广大藏人认可的西藏地位。
1959年3月10日，西藏爆发抗暴起义运动和西藏政教领袖达赖喇嘛被迫流亡印度后，阿沛·阿旺晋美选择留在西藏继续与中国政府工作，先后在所谓西藏自治区和北京担任职务。自1991年以来，他一直住在北京。
为了在藏区落实发展项目，阿沛·阿旺晋美同十世班禅喇嘛一起参与了西藏发展基金会的项目。
在80年代，西藏政教领袖达赖喇嘛派遣的高层考察团成员访问西藏和北京时，同阿沛·阿旺晋美在北京举行了会晤，并从他那里接受了就未来藏中关系方面的坦诚建议。2002年，藏中恢复对话后，达赖喇嘛特使团在北京也同阿沛·阿旺晋美举行了会晤。
境内外很多藏人对阿沛·阿旺晋美有所误解，声称他没有像已故班禅喇嘛一样代表藏人为民族利益敢于公开发言，然而在1988年，他在一个内部会议上 强调藏人有争取特殊地位的合法权利。他当时表示：“因为西藏特殊的地位，1951年中央人民政府和西藏地方政府之间达成了《西藏和平解放十七条协定》。中 央政府和其他任何一个少数民族地区从未有过这样的协定。为了实现西藏的长期性稳定而制定政策的同时，我们必须要考虑西藏特殊的历史地位。我们应该要给西藏 比其他民族地区更多的自治权。依我看，与其他自治区相比，目前西藏自治区相对来说享有更小的自治权，跟一个普通省份相差无几。因此，西藏一定要享受特殊的 待遇和更多的自治，就象那些经济特区一样。我们一定要实行特殊的政策来处理贯穿于历史的特殊情况。”
此外，在1991年，阿沛·阿旺晋美要求中国政府遵守《十七条协议》，明确承诺协议中有关“不改变西藏现行的政治制度。”
最近有报导称，阿沛·阿旺晋美正撰写他的自传，但这本书正由中国政府审议。
中共入侵西藏至1987年，阿沛·阿旺晋美连任西藏军区副司令，并被授予陆军中将军衔。此外，他还长期担任中国全国政协副主席、全国人大副委员长、西藏自治区人大常委会主任，以及西藏自治区人民政府主席等要职。他在病逝前，担任中国西藏文化保护与发展协会会长。
中共官方新华社播发的中共中央讣告称阿沛·阿旺晋美「享年100岁」。讣告同时把他称为「伟大的爱国主义者，著名的社会活动家，藏族人民的优秀儿子，我国民族工作的杰出领导人，中国共产党的亲密朋友」。
前西藏政府噶伦阿沛·阿旺晋美不幸病逝，遗下妻子和12个子女，其中他的儿子阿沛·晋美在80年代中期离开中国，在负责美国自由亚洲电台藏语部之前一直在位于华盛顿的国际声援西藏运动工作。
