Telegram to Tibet
(April 20, 1956)


The Dalai Lama, Panchen Gnoertehni,1 and members of the Preparatory Committee of the Autonomous Region of Tibet:

I am happy to greet the establishment of the Preparatory Committee of the
Autonomous Region of Tibet,2 and express warm wishes that, under your leadership, people of all strata in Tibet will be further united and move forward to score
still greater achievements in the political, economic, and cultural enterprises of
Tibet.
(Signed and dated)

Notes

1. See text May 24, 1951, note 2, and text Nov. 23, 1949 (both in volume I) source note
respectively for references to the Dalai Lama and Panchen Gnoertehni.
2. In January 1956 the State Council moved to formalize the autonomous region system.
The nationalities democratic coalition governments, which had previously been set up to
ensure minorities' participation in local government and to protect their rights, were to be
abolished with the proviso that these regions either be transformed into autonomous regions
or into regular administrative units of the Central People's Government. Committees were
set up in various localities to prepare for the transition.