Kína szerint a külföldiek nem utazhatnak szabadon Tibetbe mert magassági betegséget kapnak

2019. március 8./Inkstonenews.com/TibetPress

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China has to restrict access to Tibet because some foreigners cannot handle the altitude, a top official in charge of the region has said.

Wu Yingjie, the Communist Party chief of the Tibet Autonomous Region, said travel restrictions to the region are necessary because some visitors suffer from altitude sickness.

“After considering the special geographical and climatic conditions, we adopted a series of regulations on foreigners entering Tibet in accordance with the law,” Wu told reporters on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress annual meeting in Beijing.

Wu said many foreign visitors were “grateful” for the arrangements.

The border region of Tibet is a popular travel destination in the Himalayas. Its capital, Lhasa, is at an elevation of nearly 12,000 feet, a height that can cause altitude sickness.

But the region has long been under tight security controls amid ongoing tensions between the Chinese government and those advocating for greater autonomy for the largely-Buddhist ethnic Tibetans.

Foreigners need to apply for special permits to enter Tibet, and only as part of organized tours. Foreign journalists, diplomats and academics who research topics deemed sensitive by Beijing are often denied access.

Human rights groups have condemned the restrictions as part of the Communist Party’s efforts to clamp down on Tibetan culture, religion and identity.

The travel restrictions became one flashpoint in US-China tensions after Donald Trump in December signed the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act into law.
The law demands access to Tibet for US diplomats, journalists and tourists and threatens to bar Chinese officials responsible for the policy from entering America.

The Chinese government has denounced the legislation, which gained bipartisan support in the US.

Wu said on Wednesday that the US law “totally does not tally with the facts” and that America “had seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs.”
He said Tibet welcomes foreign tourists and media, and many Americans had visited there in recent years.

But some older American visitors were not coping well with the altitude, he said, adding that some foreigners had died because of the harsh conditions.

Despite the tight control, local authorities have vowed to support the tourism industry in Tibet, a major contributor to the region’s economy.

Qizhala, chairman of the autonomous region, told the official Tibetan Daily in January that the government would increase tourist numbers to over 40 million this year and cut waiting times for foreign travel permits by half.