The Tibet situation is something similar. The current occupation is the latest phase in a cycle of invasions and counter-invasions of the same core territory, sometimes under Chinese governance and sometimes under Tibetan. Historical Tibet and modern China are essentially much the same empire under different rulers. Recognising Tibet as ever having been independent is a threat to the national One China philosophy, which forms the basis of the Chinese government's claim to all of its territory (Taiwan included), not merely to Tibet. Again, it's much more than a conflict over a rather undesirable tract of land. This is the case even though the Tibetan former governing class no longer makes any claims to Chinese territory, and indeed the Dalai Lama's official policy is reconciliation as an autonomous region of China, in exchange for China enforcing respect for Tibetan rights and Tibetan self-determination.
Obscurity is very subjective.
