China Tells Foreigners Not To Travel To Tibet

By AFP | via nasdaq.com
March 17, 2008

China on Monday urged foreigners not to travel to Tibet, with reports authorities were trying to seal off the Himalayan region amid a crackdown on anti-Chinese protests.

"Because of the arson and murders which have taken place in Tibet, we do not advise foreign news organizations or foreign nationals to go to Tibet for safety reasons," the chairman of Tibet's government, Qiangba Puncog, told reporters at a hastily called news conference in Beijing.

Qiangba, who is in the capital for the annual session of the national legislature, had been asked to respond to reports that foreigners were being ordered from the region.

He said "foreign companies" hadn't been asked to leave so far but provided no other details.

Tour operators have told AFP that foreigners seeking entry to Tibet were being denied necessary permits in the aftermath of a week of violence there.

Foreign tourists also said they had flown into Lhasa on Friday and Saturday, the apparent peak of the unrest, but weren't allowed into the city and ordered back on a flight out of Tibet.

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