Military occupation

From Wikinfo

Military occupation is the use of military forces to control a population or territory during or after hostilities. It may or may not constitute Belligerent occupation which is a legal status under international law. That status depends on particulars of the treaties and traditional practices which constitute the laws of war.

Whether a particular situation is belligerent occupation under international law depends on both the situation and on whether those involved adopted the relevant treaties which address the situation. Thus the Chinese occupation of Tibet, for example, fails on a number of counts. Both the fact situation and the adoption of the law forks fail due to lack of international recognition of the sovereignty of Tibet and its failure when it was de facto independent to adopt, even unilaterally, the relevant treaties, or even participate in international relations which might have led to such treaties. Yet, there is an occupation, with all the usual incidents of military occupation. It is just not recognized as such under the usual interpretation of international law.