, His Holiness the Dalai Lama issued a statement on 18 April 1959, explaining that the 17-Point Agreement was signed under duress and that the Chinese government had deliberately violated the terms of the Agreement. Thus from that day onwards, he declared that the agreement would be considered null and void, and he would strive for the restoration of Tibets independence. Since then until 1979, the Central Tibetan Administration and the Tibetan people adopted a policy of seeking independence
for Tibet
