It's 1/10 of modern Chinese territory, no one is going to give up that much land. Headwaters to major rivers feeding South Asia. Security, see CIA's Tibet progr

It's 1/10 of modern Chinese territory, no one is going to give up that much land. Headwaters to major rivers feeding South Asia. Security, see CIA's Tibet program. Unlimited mineral resources. >making them a profit It's mostly not, spending billions on high speed rail and other infra linkage to control restive region and the entire western theater command security network is expensive. But wealth + new military capabilities makes taming this frontier feasible. Military forces in Tibet can reach huge strategic areas of South Asia while Tibet itself is buffer from core PRC territories. The richer PRC is is, the easier exploiting Tibet becomes, and the more there is to be gained. Serious mining started just 10 years ago.