diff --git a/.changelog/6657.txt b/.changelog/6657.txt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..f3961cd95a6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changelog/6657.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+```release-note:bug
+container: fixed unable to update `datapath_provider` on `google_container_cluster` so that modifying the `datapath_provider` field will recreating the resource now
+```
diff --git a/google/resource_container_cluster.go b/google/resource_container_cluster.go
index f563f3c660a..03cd6785e8a 100644
--- a/google/resource_container_cluster.go
+++ b/google/resource_container_cluster.go
@@ -1206,6 +1206,7 @@ func resourceContainerCluster() *schema.Resource {
 			"datapath_provider": {
 				Type:             schema.TypeString,
 				Optional:         true,
+				ForceNew:         true,
 				Computed:         true,
 				Description:      `The desired datapath provider for this cluster. By default, uses the IPTables-based kube-proxy implementation.`,
 				ValidateFunc:     validation.StringInSlice([]string{"DATAPATH_PROVIDER_UNSPECIFIED", "LEGACY_DATAPATH", "ADVANCED_DATAPATH"}, false),