Tibetan official Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme dies at 99

Source: AP

Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, a former Tibetan aristocrat who declared allegiance to Beijing after the communist takeover of his Himalayan homeland, has died. He was 99. Ngapoi _ who became one of the most prominent Tibetan figures in the Chinese government _ died Wednesday from an unspecified illness in Beijing, state broadcaster CCTV said. He was two months short of his 100th birthday.
Ngapoi was the Tibetan military commander authorized by the spiritual leader Dalai Lama to go to Beijing in 1950 and sign an agreement in 1951, effectively recognizing the communist government's takeover of the remote mountain region. China refers to the event as the "peaceful liberation" of Tibet.
The Dalai Lama fled in 1959 after a failed uprising against the Chinese army, but Ngapoi remained to become the chief Tibetan spokesman for China's policies in Tibet.
Ngapoi held a series of Chinese government posts, including chairman of Tibet's legislature, and deputy chairman of China's national legislature. He was a deputy chairman of the government's top advisory body at the time of his death. He had no strong following among Tibetans.
China says Tibet has been part of its territory for hundreds of years, and the Communist Party has governed the Himalayan region since troops arrived in 1950.
Many Tibetans, however, say they were effectively independent for most of their history and that Chinese rule _ and the migration of ethnic Han Chinese to the region _ are eroding their traditional Buddhist culture.