MB Civic

Foreigners are barred from wandering alone in Tibet (Times)
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Jane Macartney in Beijing, The Times, May 15, 2007

China has tightened restrictions on travel
by foreigners in the Himalayan region of
Tibet after five Americans unfurled a
banner at the foot of Mount Everest to
protest against the staging of the 2008
Olympics in Beijing.

The new rules came into effect after the
week-long May Day holiday, an official with
the state-run China Travel Service said in
Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

We cant let foreign tourists just go
anywhere by themselves, she said. In the
past they could be left alone to travel
independently as they wanted for a few
days. Now this is not allowed any more.

Foreigners are also no longer allowed to
apply for a permit to enter the region from
the office of the Tibetan travel bureau in
the southwestern city of Chengdu, from
where there are direct flights to Lhasa. All
travel must be approved by the head office
in Lhasa, which operates under police
supervision.

The official said: Management is tighter
because of the Americans on Everest.

The implementation of the restrictions
marks a significant step back towards the
early 1990s, when the entire region was
effectively closed off to foreigners, except
for a tiny number of officially organized
tour groups.

That action was prompted by a series of
violent demonstrations, led mostly by
Tibetan monks, against Chinese rule and by
the imposition of martial law after riots
swept Lhasa in 1989. There has been a
gradual easing of the travel limits over the
past few years, although Tibet remains the
only region of China for which all foreign
tourists must obtain a permit to gain entry.

It had become much simpler and easier to
pick up a permit in cities such as Chengdu
and Zhongdian near the Tibetan border
before boarding a flight or hiring a vehicle,
or in Beijing and Golmud, which is on the
railway line to Lhasa that opened less than
a year ago.

The five Americans were detained last
month at the Chinese base camp for
Everest after they staged a protest against
plans to carry the Olympic torch to the
summit of the worlds highest mountain en
route to the opening of the Games in
Beijing on August 8.

They unfurled a banner reading One
World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008 a play
on the official slogan of the Games, One
World, One Dream. The five were detained
by police and expelled.

Robert Barnett, a Tibet expert at Columbia
University, said: It may seem strange if five
students with a camera can have such an
impact on Chinese policy. But, in fact,
restrictions have been increasing in Tibet
over the last year, with intensified
campaigns against the Dalai [Lama],
renewed bans on religion for all officials
 and, recently, public warnings about
Western hostile forces.

I think that the issue with these US
students was not so much that they
staged a protest in Tibet, but that they
staged it in the middle of a rehearsal for
the Olympic ceremonies. The fear of
embarrassment during the Olympics seems
to be increasingly a paramount concern for
PRC [Chinese] officials.