After the People’s Liberation Army invaded Tibet and the 17-Point Agreement was signed, the flag continued to be used in the 1950s under the Chinese government, although the flag's status was unclear. Many in the Communist Party of China felt that the usage of the flag indicated separatism, but the Tibetan local government at the time stressed that the flag was an army flag (the Tibetan army continued to exist parallel to People's Liberation Army infantries) and not a national flag. Phuntso Wangye claims that Mao Zedong discussed the flag in 1955 conversation with the 14th Dalai Lama. According to the story, Mao told the Dalai Lama that Zhang Jingwu, Zhang Guohua, and Fan Ming told him that Tibet had a "national flag". The Dalai Lama replied that Tibet had an army flag. Reportedly, Mao replied that "you may keep your national flag". There is no official recognition of this conversation by the Chinese government however.