www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-what-is-the-tibetan-liberation-from-asks-claude-arpi/20110523.htm Claude Arpi As China marks 60 years of Tibet's 'liberation', Claude Arpi lifts the veil off the propaganda surrounding the event Though sad, certain historical ironies tend to make me smile. Today, May 23, the People's Republic of China celebrates the 60th anniversary of the 'Liberation' of Tibet. According to Beijing, on that day in 1951, Tibet was 'liberated peacefully'. In October 1950, the Second Field Army of Marshal Lui Bosheng and Deng Xiaoping, his political commissar, entered Eastern Tibet and captured the city of Chamdo. That was a forced 'liberation'. On May 23, 1951, in Beijing, a Tibetan delegation had no choice but to sign an 'Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet'; the Tibetans later said that they had to affix 'under duress' fake seals prepared for the occasion by the Communists. Even the then China-enamoured Indian prime minister wondered in the Lok Sabha: 'Liberation from what, from whom, it is not clear?' Visit site to read further