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China Bans Foreign Travelers From Tibet
Following a series of high profile protests over the past few months China has quietly taken steps to close the borders of Tibet. The closure means that foreign travelers are once again banned from entering the Buddhist country just as the busiest travel period of the year is about to begin.Last Wednesday, a number of tour operators in Beijing announced that the government had instructed them to stop booking foreign travelers into Tibet for the foreseeable future. The move comes just as the popular Saga Dawa festival, which typically brings an influx of visitors, got under way yesterday. That festival is an annual celebration of the birth of Buddha, which is of particular importance within Tibetan culture.
China's decision to close the borders is in direct response to recent protests within Tibet, which included three monks committing suicide by setting themselves on fire in the month of May alone. Two of those self-immolations took place in the nation's capital of Lhasa, a city which previously hadn't been subjected to those types of protests. Over the course of the past year 36 people have committed suicide in a similar fashion throughout the country.
In addition to closing the borders, the Chinese government has also moved an additional 3000 troops into Lhasa and arrested an estimated 600 Tibetans. The crackdown is expected to continue indefinitely and could shut down travel into the country for weeks or even months.
If you have plans to visit Tibet in the near future you'll definitely want to check the status of your tour or whether or not entry visas are being granted. It seems that for at least the next few weeks there will be no one getting into the country.
[Photo credit: Philipp Roelli via WikiMedia]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JJ Jun 13th 2012 9:35AM
If the Chinese ban travel to Tibet for "political" reasons albeit that they say because of civil unrest then maybe we here in America should ban Chinese from entering the USA for "political" reasons.
Jack H Jun 13th 2012 8:04PM
The US already did that, though not under any particular "civil unrest" guise. It was called the Chinese Exclusion Act, and to this day, it is the only explicitly race-based immigration ban in US history.
Applause all around, right?
brentsherwood Jun 13th 2012 9:49AM
China is a world tyrant and world murderer of basic human rights we stupid Americans buy and buy and buy " Made In China" We took a stand in my house. For us it started in our kitchen after reading a report of lead being found in the glazes of dishes made in China. We bought Fiesta by Homer Laughlin made in USA and better quality too not to mention Corell and Corning is made here as well. Then we threw out all plastic crap we bought at the dollar stores and Wal Mart. We bought Rubbermaid made in USA and better quality again. So with our help we Americans buy and buy all this crap made in China so their economy thrives and they torture people in Tibet?? Screw China and if Americans were really proud of America together we could hit them where they live. Their conomy depends on the manufacturing sector without it they'd be back rice pathes and dirt roads. Come on America WAKE UP we CAN do this.. Hit em where it hurts..
Ted Jun 13th 2012 10:50AM
Agreed.....But first you'd need to shut down WalMart.
Mickey Jun 13th 2012 8:10PM
Accusations of "world tyranny" by an American are just a tad hypocritical. A citizen of the nation that has invaded countries halfway around the world (surely I don't need to cite examples) and carried out decades of "wetwork" assassinations aimed at installing puppet regimes (look up how many times the CIA tried to assassinate Castro if you want a bit of relevant dark humor) is accusing the country it promptly turned on after World War 2 a "tyrant"? Curious.
I'm sorry, but most of the stuff you don't consider "cheap crap" was made in China (e.g. virtually every consumer-grade computer in the last decade), or other, poorer countries with far laxer labor laws (Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, etc.). Walmart is hardly a one-stop shop for all things outsourced.
Billy Bob Jun 13th 2012 10:41AM
What a disturbingly pathetic country China is that it bans foreign travel to a country that technically it has no jurisdiction over. The government just bans anything they feel like and if you don't like it, you don't have to say anything, someone will show up in the middle of the night and you will vanish. I hope someday the billion or so sheep that live there realize they've had enough and mount such a gigantic protest that the politicians have no choice but to change.
Mickey Jun 13th 2012 8:25PM
"Officially," Tibet is part of China, no matter how loudly the Tibetan independence folks screech to the contrary (interesting fact: the Dalai Lama hasn't supported Tibetan independence for several years now).
Further, your quip about the Chinese simply being "a billion or so sheep" goes to show just how ignorant you are about what China is really like. Care to look up a few simple statistics about the daily rate of political protest in China? It would make the Vietnam War protests over here look like little more than a weekend picket session.
As for a massive grassroots political protest that overthrows the central gov't, you do know that that very succinctly describes how the Communist Party came to power, right? For someone so confident in his political commentary, I sure hope you did.
john s mournian Jun 13th 2012 10:51AM
I am proud to see my thoughts shared by other Americans re behavior of Chinese government towards world travelers. The treatment of Tibet's people is not acceptable
under any circumstances! Remember when China was trying to gain entry into World
Trade Organization? They did all sorts of antics to change views on their behavior re human rights, religious freedoms, and military force in other parts of the world which finally weakened the opposition of the USA to support their entry. Once in, back to the same old crap; push others weaker than China and because of special interests in USA industry/manufacturing, we saw tremendous swings in balance of trade. This has hurt USA and other smaller countries that really need our purchases to provide an acceptable standard of living. I refuse to buy Chinese materials (titanium tubes & plate), even cheap tools....why help the decrease in American jobs, why add to unemplyment and poverty in USA, why do we only think of "bottom line"? The term "Fortress American" is thought of as crude and stupid, but think about it; we can do everything right here and we do not deliberately try to hurt other human beings. The Chinese government could easily be
a part of the World community and all they have to do is model their society on other
countries such as Japan and South Korea.
Buy American and stand up to the Chinese leaders!
John S. Mournian
AquaMarine Engineering Company
Mickey Jun 13th 2012 8:24PM
China hardly needed to change any views about human rights to make the US its ideological brethren. After all, "enemy combatant" was the American way of dancing around the Geneva Convention, and I doubt that everyone has honestly forgotten Gitmo so quickly.
As for those "small countries that really need our purchases," they're actually beating China at its own game. China's labor practices have been (slowly) improving over the last twenty years, to the point where those "small countries" with no enforced laws against child labor and forced labor (most of the Southeast Asian countries, Sri Lanka, etc.) can provide cheaper labor than China. US companies have moved their outsourcing accordingly.
As for thinking of the bottom line, the "bottom line" is the sole goal of "capitalism," which we Americans seem to be in love with when talking abstractly, but conspicuously brush under the rug when talking about its less moral effects. Case in point, your "we do not deliberately try to hurt other human beings" line is definitely not part of the American way. Not since before the US was the US.
The Chinese gov't is already a huge part of the world community, though it's amusing that "they've gotta be just like an Axis power or a Cold-War-era US proxy nation" is apparently your requirement for officially endorsing their status as such.
mark Jul 24th 2012 3:37PM
You can see how brainwashed American citizens have become these days. Check out the support rate Chinese government enjoyed - surveys done by WESTERN research companies!! The reason believe the craps pit out by CNN and NYT and the likes is that people THINK they are free media and objective. NIOT when it comes to international policics and affairs! They serve ONLY the American interest and particularly US government interest. whoever controls the government. No body forced US companies to go to China to manufacture goods. They went themselves. Why blame China. Don't buy their products and they will not buy yours! Back to middle ages?
By the way, Tibet is not a country and it has been a part of China. Still believe your News Media crap, look up the Constitution of Republic of China in Taiwan and the Laws of Great Qing Dynasty. China had Tibet long before there was a term called 'communism' or 'communists' which by the way were the WESTERNERS' creation and spread to other parts of the world.
Geoff Jun 13th 2012 11:15AM
The Chinese govenment is extremely repressive. They have even gone so far as to issue an order prohibiting Tibetan Llamas from reincarnating. They appear to believe that they are in control of this world and the next.
I also do my best to avoid purchasing Chinese made products. Sometimes it is difficult. I absolutey avoid ChinaMart (You may know it as WalMart).
You can thank Bill Clinton for the increase in Chinese products. His administration granted most favored nation trading status to China. (Of course no one since has moved to revoke this status)
Mickey Jun 13th 2012 8:30PM
Agreed on the Lama reincarnation thing. That was not only a pathetically childish move, but a perfectly useless one, though I wouldn't say that the US gov't has been any less hubristic (but far, far smarter) in its more theologically oriented laws.
It is rather difficult to avoid Chinese-made products nowadays, especially in the computing sector. Even Asian companies (Samsung, Sharp, etc.) have manufacturing bases in China, not to every single US computer company. Having only shopped at Walmart a couple of times in my life, I can't say that I really feel that Walmart has a special connection to China. Target, Kmart, Sears, etc. are all well-stocked with "Made in China" products.
BarbaraAnn Jun 13th 2012 11:54AM
China is a big fat bully of a country and is taking over the world. Their inferior, cheap crap merchandise has completely infiltrated Americn markets. I am sick of them!!
Raymond Jun 13th 2012 1:24PM
China is nothing but a big bully. If the UN does not do anything then the USA sould do something about China bullying smal countries in Asia. China is bullying and terrorising fishemen in South East Asia Sea.
We should stop buiying merchandises made in China then Wal Mart and Sears and other companies will stop importing merchandises made in China.
Mickey Jun 13th 2012 8:38PM
When you get a chance, you should ask a Vietnamese local about his/her feelings regarding the US and its gov't. More often than not, you'll get a reluctant idea of just what "bullying and terrorising" really means. The South East Asia Sea kerfuffle is really a demonstration of how bad China is at PR (hint: incredibly bad, but there's a somewhat sensible reason for that), especially in contrast to the superbly well-oiled machine that the US runs.
diane Jun 13th 2012 2:47PM
having been to Tibet it is a strangly pretty country but China has had their troops in place so long they stand in shopping areas like the blue army in Disney or in glass cages but don't take pictures we were warned
20 yrs in prison if you do
Mark Jul 24th 2012 3:38PM
Diane, from what you wrote I know that you have never been to Tibet, China. Please don't lie.