# why did China occupy Tibet?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-china-occupy-tibet/441635>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [March 17, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-china-occupy-tibet/441635 "2008-03-17T08:07:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wildfire\_MM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f08c70/32.png) [@Wildfire\_MM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildfire_MM)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-china-occupy-tibet/441635/1 "2008-03-17T08:07:31Z")

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because of strategic reasons?

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-china-occupy-tibet/441635/2 "2008-03-17T14:45:41Z")

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China, under its various iterations, had claimed Tibet for about 300 years. So, from the Chinese persepctive, the invasion was the reassumption of control over a rebellious province.

In addition, Tibet was a feudal theocracy, so the Chinese communist government wanted to change that, because they were ideologically opposed to both feudalism and theocracy.