Why did China invade and occupy Tibet in 1950?

Because they were too busy in 1949.

There are three core reasons:

1. To assert de facto sovereignty over de jure sovereign territories.
2. To secure its frontiers for defensive posturing and area denial.
3. To safeguard dam good fresh water for the country.

Historical and political reasons

It's well known and internationally recognized that Tibet was in China's sphere of influence for a long time, and when the Qing Dynasty was "forced" to draw borders for Imperial China for the first time ever—they had frontiers prior to this, not fixed borders—this was what they did:

FYI: grey areas were lost territories of the Qing Dynasty up to 1911.

The Republic of China was the legal successor of the Qing Dynasty and inherited the sovereignty of Tibet in 1912, along with the rest of China. But the ROC really only controlled Guangdong Province at this point, so Tibet and the rest of China (and Mongolia) were de facto independent states.

During this time, Tibetans were considered one of the five pillars of Chinese nation, represented by black on the Five Races Under One Union flag of the Republic of China (one of its three flags).

The People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, but there were still ROC holdouts in Xinjiang, Tibet, Yunnan, Hainan, and Taiwan—Mongolia is absent from this list because it had been de facto occupied by the USSR since 1912. By negotiation or invasion, the PRC eventually brought these territories under its control by 1950, with the notable exception of Taiwan and some Fukien islands.

Strategic military reasons

The Himalaya Range is a natural fortification for China. It makes sense for China to control and militarize the space right up to this natural great wall. The Tibetan plateau also doubles as a buffer zone, in case the primary defensive line had been breached. This is why the Taklamakan Desert is fully under Chinese control.

Tibetan plateau rises above the Chinese heartlands stretching from Sichuan to the sea. All military strategists know the value of high ground. In this case, a foreign-occupied Tibet would mean ballistic missiles and artillery that could easily threaten the rest of China. For this one reason alone, no Chinese government is going to let Tibet be occupied by foreign powers (an independent Tibet would not stay de facto independent for long).

Strategic economic reasons

The Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau is the source of many major rivers in Asia. Securing them has direct economic benefits, and hard soft power bargaining chips with its neighbours.

But most important of all: the two rivers that are responsible for the possibility of Chinese civilization in the first place originate from Tibet. These are the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. Without Tibet, there would be no China.

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About Chinese not from China

Chinese not from China is an overseas Chinese educated on Chinese history, fluent in two Chinese languages, and raised in Chinese culture. Learn more about me.