At the daily press conference held in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Vinbin stated that they “categorically reject” the decision, pointing out that the visa measure of the USA is a clear intervention in China’s internal affairs.
Defending that the United States “ignored the facts” and “based on lies produced about Tibet”, spokesman Wang said that China imposed illegal sanctions on Chinese officials, “based on reciprocity”, “spreading rumors to defame China on this issue” and ” It said it would impose visa restrictions on certain U.S. citizens who “have long been involved in Tibet-related matters.”
While Wang did not reveal who the visa-restricted persons are, he called for the Washington administration to stop spreading disinformation about Tibet and using Tibet-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs.
The US State Department announced on August 22 that it would impose a visa restriction on Chinese officials, which resulted in the forced assimilation of nearly 1 million children belonging to the indigenous ethnic minority in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region in boarding public schools. The ministry did not disclose the names of the officials who will apply the visa restriction.
UN drew attention to cultural assimilation
United Nations (UN) experts drew attention to the fact that approximately 1 million children belonging to the indigenous ethnic minority in China’s Tibet Autonomous Region are separated from their families and exposed to cultural assimilation in state-run boarding schools.
UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Rights Fernand de Varennes, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education Farida Shaheed and UN Rapporteur on Cultural Rights Alexandra Xanthaki said in a statement released on 6 February that children from the Tibetan minority are subject to compulsory education in Mandarin Chinese, the lingua franca, and their relationship with their traditional language and culture. He emphasized that they could not.
Noting that public schools do not include enough Tibetan language, history and culture in education, experts said, “Tibetan children lose the ability to use their own ethnic language, cannot communicate with their parents and grandparents. This leads to assimilation and identity erosion.” had used the words.
Emphasizing that these policies harm the education, language and cultural rights of the Tibetan people, their freedom of religion and belief, and are against the principle of prohibition of discrimination, experts said, “We are concerned about this policy, which seems to be aimed at the forced assimilation of Tibetan identity into the culture of the dominant Han Chinese majority.” had evaluated.