Want to visit the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet? Don't count on it this month.

by Brook Wilkinson

In case you haven't heard (and chances are good you haven't), the Chinese government has closed the doors to Tibet. The announcement garnered little notice in the U.S. media--it was reported by the AP on February 12, and merited a small item in the New York Times last week. I heard about it myself during a phone call with Sanjay Saxena of Destination Himalaya, a tour operator that frequently runs trips to Tibet and a top travel specialist on Wendy Perrin's list for six years running.

Those who are familiar with the area speculate that this is a move to avoid a repeat of last year's bloody protests on the March 10 anniversary of the 1959 uprising against Chinese rule--or at least to prevent any Western eyes from seeing such protests, as well as the Chinese response. Meanwhile, the government in Beijing has released a white paper positing that China has had a positive influence on Tibet. Tell that to the monk who set himself on fire last week to protest Chinese rule. China's human-rights record in Tibet has been abysmal, but sadly the U.S. government has so far seemed more concerned about damaging its relationship with this economic superpower. During her recent tour of Asia, secretary of state Hillary Clinton said in reference to the human rights abuses, "Our pressing on those issues can't interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis, and the security crisis." All those topics are no doubt important. But we also can't let China continue to hide the struggle for independence going on in Tibet.

Further reading:
* BBC News reports Chinese assertion that the West "uses Tibet to attack China"
* Responsible Traveler: Making a difference