Chinese Regime Closes Tibet to Foreign Travelers for 5th Year

On Thursday, various travel agencies in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa said the Chinese-Lhasa Tourist Bureau informed them that foreigners would not be allowed to visit Tibet from February 20th until March 30th.

This is the 5th consecutive year the Chinese regime closes Tibet to foreign travelers.

The Associated Press cited Lhasa Youth Tourist Agency’s employee Yu Zhi saying, "We haven't seen a written notice, but it's the same as previous bans. We were not told about the reasons."

The closure is during the Tibetan New Year and the March 14th anniversary of the 2008 protest against the Chinese regime’s rule over Tibet.

[Kate Saunders, Communications Dir., Int’l Campaign for Tibet]:
“Ever since March 2008, there’s been a very intense crackdown in Tibetan areas. And so this February-March period that’s coming up is very sensitive for the Chinese authorities.”

UK-based Free Tibet Director says the closure reflects the situation inside Tibet is "far from harmonious."

[Stephanie Brigden, UK-based Free Tibet Director]:
"What I think is critical is that the situation inside Tibet, given the self-immolations that started in 2011 and continue right up until this week underlines that we’ve a crisis situation inside Tibet."

[Stephanie Brigden, UK-based Free Tibet Director]:
"We actually want the space to be opened up not just to tourists and Chinese visitors, but also to human rights observers so that there's an independent analysis of what is going on inside Tibet."

[Stephanie Brigden, UK-based Free Tibet Director]:
"The international community must start responding to the Tibetan people and demonstrate to the Chinese regime that they have very serious concerns about the human rights situation inside Tibet and that they want to see change."

This annual closure is seen as a control strategy of the Chinese regime to discourage protests.