U.S. hits Chinese officials with entry bans over forced assimilation of Tibetan children

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- The Biden administration is imposing punitive measures against Chinese officials, banning them from entering the United States on accusations of being involved in the forced assimilation of more than 1 million Tibetan children.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the imposition of the visa resections against an undisclosed number of Chinese officials in a brief statement Tuesday.

"These coercive policies seek to eliminate Tibet's distinct linguistic, cultural and religious traditions among younger generations of Tibetans," he said.

"We urge [the People's Republic of China] authorities to end the coercion of Tibetan children into government-run boarding schools and to cease repressive assimilation policies, both in Tibet and throughout other parts of the PRC."

In February, a panel of United Nations experts in minority issues, education and cultural rights produced a report stating some 1 million Tibetan minority children were forcibly separated from their parents and put into a residential school system to assimilate them culturally, religiously and linguistically into Chinese society.

The report said the children are forced to complete compulsory education curriculum in Mandarin Chinese without access to traditional or culturally relevant learning.

"As a result, Tibetan children are losing their facility with their native language and the ability to communicate easily with their parents and grandparents in the Tibetan language, which contributes to their assimilation and erosion of their identity," the experts said.

The imposition of the visa bans follows the Biden administration in December designating Wy Yingjie, party secretary of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and Zhang Hongbo, director of the Tibetan Public Security Bureau, over their involvement in serious human rights abuses committed by the government in Tibet.

The move comes amid already sour relations between China and the United States as they compete for global influence.

For years, Washington has condemned and punished Beijing over its treatment of its minority citizens, in particular Uyghurs in northwestern Xinjiang Province. Since 2021, the United States has accused China of committing genocide against the Muslim minority population.