Throughout Chinese history, there were so many empires and kingdoms conquering each other and countries borders moving miles to the North and miles to the East. So it’s quite disingenuous to apply the modern day perspective on war to historical events. China gives the impression that she has never invaded, and yet every powerful nation finds the need to flex its muscles now and then. It’s hard to create an empire as big as China’s without conquering and invading your neighbors. For the most of the Chinese civilization’s history, the Western-style nationhood never existed. This style was imposed on China during the Qing Dynasty which occasionally invaded and absorbed many territories which were not yet countries at that time but tribes and smaller states.
Since the formation of the People’s Republic of China, the following are some of the countries that China have invaded. Although disputed, it is believed that China has never occupied any of the countries it invaded.
Invasion Of Manchukuo in 1945
Technically, Manchukuo wasn’t a legitimate country but still, China has made claims of all of its territory. China invaded Manchukuo during the ruling of ROC and before the formation of the People’s Republic of China. Russia was instrumental in facilitating the airlifting of the Chinese Communist units into Manchukuo which was in preparation for the second round of Chinese Civil War.
Invasion Of China in 1949
Has China ever Invaded Another Country? It has and no it’s not Japan or Mongolia it is in fact China! It happened, China invaded China. Technically that’s not another country, but those who lost might disagree. Initially, when the People’s Republic of China was founded, it did not control most of the western and southern Mainland China and ever since the Republic of China has been back and forth over Taiwan. Its real intention is to take over this sovereign territory since it is not possible that there can be more than one legitimate government of China. Considering the agreement and reaffirmation of the Republic of China in 1992. On those grounds, it can be argued that any invasion of Taiwan cannot be considered an occupation per se.
Invasion Of Tibet in 1950
Tibet is not a country either; it is a recognized nation’s state. However, Tibet has always been considered to be part of the Qing Dynasty. China took control of this sovereign territory in their POV although again, it wasn’t considered to be a real occupation by both the UN and China.
Invasion Of South and North Korea in 1950
Perhaps it would be better to describe the events, not as an invasion, but an intervention. It occurred when the UN armies got too close for comfort up to the Chinese border (something the US has always denied) when there were various talks with the US forces to keep occupying Manchuria, so as to help the Republic of China’s government regain control of the mainland of China. The efforts were proved futile and costly regarding lives lost, but nothing much changed.
Invasion Of India In 1962
China has always claimed the Aksai Chin and Arunachal Pradesh and the invasion of China into India was to take control of their sovereign territory. They couldn’t and still can’t recognize the MacMahon Line. The conflict ensued after Chairman Mao grew impatient of Nehru’s promises of solving the issues diplomatically through negotiations. That was the most surprising invasion because India and China enjoyed a good relationship before that point. Later on, China and India would agree to respect the demarcated line of control found in Aksai Chin and gave it to China since it was more strategically important to China. But Arunachal Pradesh also known as Southern Tibet in China, it remains unresolved.
Invasion Of The Soviet Union In 1969
On the second of March 1969, there was a group of Chinese troops that ambushed the Russian border guards on the Zhenbao Island. This land, war and invasion of China into the Soviet Union’s territory was because Russia failed to keep their end of the bargain when they agreed that they would hand over the Zhenbao Island if they wanted to keep all the 1858-1860 stolen land. One could class this as a warmongering act, but there is a strong argument that the land China attacked was their own and was wrongfully being held by Russian forces.
Invasion Of Vietnam In 1979.
On the 6th of March, 1979, Chinese troops entered into the northern part of Vietnam and occupied some of its bordering cities. This was China’s demonstration that Russia could not protect its down south ally. Also, Deng Xiaopeng wanted to show that he was the master of geopolitical brinkmanship and the undisputed new emperor of China. China then declared that its punitive mission had been achieved, since the gate to Hunoi had been opened, and the Chinese forces were retreating into China across Vietnamese borders. Both Vietnam and China claimed victory.
China has a history of pushing its borders into other countries’ and the territories mentioned are the main countries China has invaded. China’s invasions have mostly been as a result of some provocation or to prove that it is a great power that deserves respect.
China’s currently invasion of the South China Sea demonstrates a clear analogy of history repeating itself. So, what do you think? Has China ever Invaded Another Country?
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China never invaded any country.
Tibet invaded China and conquered whole of China. But couldn’t control the revolt of its own people so killed thousands of monks and held China responsible for it.
And India, ah. It was getting too friendly with China. It never anticipated any attack from China. Being a good friend China wanted India to have this precious lesson that you shouldn’t trust anyone. So it didn’t attack but just got little rough and killed few thousands unprepared soldiers. And it return it took just some portion of Aksai chin. Its a price well worth of the lesson.
China is such peace loving country, but its neighbors are all crooks.
Sanjeev Kumar Singh
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Yes, Tibet ruled China.
1) Tibet invaded China and took the Chinese capital in the year 763.
Tibetan Empire – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2) Both Mongols and Manchus conquered Tibet and China.
Manchuria ruled China for 300 years till 1911.
The first time China defeated Tibet was 1950.
Incorporation of Tibet into the People’s Republic of China, Wiki
dude, whatever you are saying are not legitimate stuff. a lot of those so called invasion weren’t really invasions.
These chinese invaded tibet during 1959 and killed thousands of tibetans by doing so, the chinese are lying tibet was a independent country before its Invasion hundreds of self immolations should be enough to open the blind eyes of the countries and people that support china. Please support the tibetan cause u will not regret it, we will finally prevail under the guidance of his holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
How was the region of Tibet a country? Was it recognized by the UN at least?
China did nothing wrong!
[…] How many has China invaded? […]
Thank you all for the information shared. I love and respect China
From the above list, I would agree with only the Vietnam invasion of 1979 that lasted only one month, then China returned.
There is also the Yuan Dynasty invading Japan in the 13th century, but that’s quite far back in history. (So, technically, if you count this and Vietnam, there were only two invasions in 800 years).
All the others were border conflicts that many nations with borders will experience. Also, with only a religious serfdom and extreme poverty, Tibet was never a legitimate country in 1950. So, there was no recognition by the UN, or others. Same with Manchuguo, Taiwan, etc.