Beijing opposes US visa sanctions on Chinese officials over Tibetans’ ‘assimilation’

Beijing, Aug 23 (EFE).- China on Wednesday “strongly opposed” the United states’ plans to enforce visa restrictions on senior Chinese officials over their involvement in the “forcible assimilation” of Tibetan children in government-run boarding schools.

“China strongly opposes and condemns the illegal sanctions imposed on officials on the Xizang (Tibet) issue, which seriously interfere in China’s internal affairs,” foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press conference on Wednesday.

Wang underlined that the US decision harms China’s interests, and seriously violates the basic norms of international relations.

“The US should immediately revoke its wrong decision, otherwise China will make a resolute and strong response,” Wang warned, as quoted by the state-run Global Times

The spokesperson explained that the high altitude, the mountainous terrain and the scattered population were the main reasons for operating boarding schools in the Tibetan region.

The official claimed that attending a boarding school was entirely based on the willingness and needs of the students and parents, and they were free to go home every weekend and holiday.

“Boarding schools are tailored to the preferences and needs of students and parents,” Wang said.

However, the spokesperson said that the US side should reflect on itself instead of acting as “a self-proclaimed judge” and wielding the big stick of human rights to “interfere recklessly” in the internal affairs of other countries.

He claimed that over 4.7 million Native Americans have been brutally massacred throughout the US history, and minority ethnic groups such as African Americans and Asians have suffered greatly from racial discrimination.

In recent years, the US armed aggression has caused “the deaths of millions of people” in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria, Wang claimed.

“The United States has no right to talk about human rights,” he insisted.

China’s reaction came a day after the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday said Washington was taking steps to impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials for their involvement in “the forcible assimilation” of more than one million Tibetan children in government-run boarding schools.

“These coercive policies seek to eliminate Tibet’s distinct linguistic, cultural, and religious traditions among younger generations of Tibetans,” Blinken said.

He urged Beijing to end “the coercion of Tibetan children” into boarding schools and “cease repressive assimilation policies” both in Tibet and in other parts of China.

Tibet, which has a population of 3.65 million people, has been controlled by Beijing since 1951, after Chinese forces settled in the region following a short uprising, which Beijing called a “peaceful liberation”.

China insists that its presence and investment in Tibet have brought economic development, social harmony and improved the living conditions of citizens.

The UN has warned that some programs by China, presented as voluntary, are used to “control and politically indoctrinate Tibetans.” It said in the training centers Tibetans are not allowed to use their language or to express their religious identity.

Around 150,000 Tibetans have been forced to live in exile, most of them in Dharamshala, India, where their highest spiritual leader Dalai Lama has been living in exile since 1959. EFE

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