-largest country in the world (Ferroa,5).
             The conflict between China and Tibet has some interesting historical background The Chinese government invaded Tibet in the aftermath of the Communist revolution. The Communists, under the command of Mao Tse Tung defeated the Nationalists, led by Chiang kai-shek. The Chinese communists, like any empire, had designs on acquiring as much land mass as possible. Once they took control over China, they claimed Tibet, Southern Mongolia, East Turkistan and Manchuria (Yana, 57). According to the Friends of Tibet Organization, there are five reasons why China invaded Tibet:
             1. To exploit Tibet's rich natural resource deposits
             2. To ease China's over-population through population transfer into Tibet
             3. For strategic military location in central Asia, especially in order to station missiles directed towards India
             5. For racially motivated imperialist policy
             International legal scholars agree that from 1911 until the Chinese invasion in 1949, Tibet was a fully independent state by modern standards. Since then, Tibetans have struggled to regain their freedom and keep their culture intact (Yana, 189). At what point in history, then, did Tibet cease to exist as a state to become an integral part of China? Tibet's history is not unlike that of other states. At times, Tibet extended its influence over neighboring countries and peoples and, in other periods, came itself under the influence of powerful foreign rulers - the Mongol Khans, the Gorkhas of Nepal, the Manchu emperors and the British rulers of India (Goldstein, 28).
             The turning point in Tibet's history came in I949, when the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China first crossed into Tibet. The Chinese Invasion China's newly established communist government sent troops to invade Tibet. After defeating the small Tibetan army, the Chinese government imposed the so-called "I7-Point Agreement for the Peaceful Libe...