US imposes visa restrictions on Chinese officials over Tibet abuses

The Biden administration Tuesday imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials it said are responsible for the forced assimilation of more than one million Tibetan children in government-run schools.

The move is likely to draw pushback from Beijing ahead of a high-profile visit by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo next week, which both the U.S. and China see as an important trip to address a tense but necessary economic relationship between the two countries. 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that the U.S. issued the visa restrictions in response to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) employing “coercive policies” on the Tibetan population that seek to eliminate “Tibet’s distinct linguistic, cultural, and religious traditions among younger generations of Tibetans.”

“We urge PRC authorities to end the coercion of Tibetan children into government-run boarding schools and to cease repressive assimilation policies, both in Tibet and throughout other parts of the PRC,” the secretary said in the statement. “We will continue to work with our allies and partners to highlight these actions and promote accountability.”

The State Department typically does not identify individuals who are under visa restrictions over what they describe as privacy concerns. 

The U.S. views the territory of Tibet as a country occupied by the PRC and wrote that there are significant human rights issues taking place in its 2022 Country Report on Human Rights. It listed credible reports of extrajudicial and arbitrary killings by the government, torture, transnational repression and severe restrictions on religion and freedom of belief, among other abuses.

Beijing views Tibet as part of China and often pushes back against Washington imposing sanctions over human rights concerns, criticizing the U.S. as interfering in its sovereign affairs. 

Still, the visa restrictions were welcomed by the International Campaign for Tibet, a Tibetan human rights organization based in the U.S. 

“China’s unconscionable separation of Tibetan children from their families cannot be left unchecked. It shows the depths of Beijing’s plan to eliminate the Tibetan way of life and turn Tibetans into loyal followers of the [Chinese Communist Party],” Tencho Gyatso, the organization’s president, said in a statement. 

“As the Dalai Lama often says, Tibetan culture, based on peace and compassion, has value to offer to the entire world,” the statement continues. “This boarding school program targets the most vulnerable and impressionable minds and is aimed at converting Tibetans into Chinese, cementing the Chinese government’s control over Tibet and annihilating the Tibetan culture and way of life.”