Tibet Closed to Foreigners in March and Maybe April

March 12, 2011

Tibet is closed to foreigners this month and maybe April as well. While the PRC routinely controls travel by foreigners in this area they have shut off the possibility that any news of unrest in the capital of Lhasa on the anniversary of riots that occurred March 14, 2008. Parts of the city were burned, people jailed and people were killed. Human Rights Watch has urged the Chinese government to open up the territory to help defuse the unrest, but so far the central government seems content to use force to coerce the unhappy population.

There is ongoing tension between the ethnic Tibetans and the Han Chinese. Until 1951 Tibet was an independent country. The PRC invaded or liberated the country depending on your politics at that time, using historical records of occupation as rationalization. The religious leader, the Dalai Lama, fled the country and set up a government in exile in India. Many ethnic Tibetans died during the central government's attempt to collectivize the territory. Many Han Chinese have been moved into Tibet and occupy a disproportionate share of the better jobs adding to the tension.

The central Beijing government maintains that the unrest is caused by "splitists". Tibetans have claimed that their culture is under attack with the language of schools, commerce and politics now Mandarin. During the Cultural Revolution many of the temples and shrines were wrecked. The central government also reserves the right to decide on who will serve as high ranking lamas according to the Canada Tibet Committee

"The Chinese government says it has to approve all reincarnations of living

Buddhas, or senior religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism. It also says

China has

to sign off on the choosing of the next Dalai Lama."Canada Tibet Committee

While many Tibetan exiles wish for a return of Tibet to its former independence, that is unlikely to happen. The east of Tibet is rich in timber, and gold, zinc and lithium is present. What may be the world's largest deposit of uranium has been identified on the Tibetan Plateau. Nuclear research installations have been built close to the uranium deposits.