WASHINGTON The Trump administration fired a new shot in its diplomatic war with China on Tuesday by imposing travel bans on Chinese officials it says are restricting foreigners access to Tibet.
While waging concurrent battles over Beijings policies in Hong Kong, human rights in western Xinjiang province, global trade practices and aggressiveness in the South China Sea, the administration hit an unspecified number of Chinese officials with visa restrictions, limiting or entirely eliminating their ability to travel to the United States.
Successive U.S. administrations have sought to press China to ease restrictions on foreigners' travel to Tibet, where human rights activists say Beijing has engaged in a decades-long campaign to suppress local culture, the Buddhist religion and minorities.
Permission to travel to the region is rarely granted, and visitors are subject to strict regulations when it is.
China crushed a Tibetan uprising in 1959, forcing the spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and over 80,000 Tibetans into exile in India and other countries.