China has banned foreigners from some restive, heavily Tibetan parts of southwestern Sichuan province, travel agents said on Friday, in an apparent attempt to close off a region shaken by recent clashes with the police.
The notice, issued by provincial public security authorities, said foreigners were prohibited from entering the Tibetan populated prefecture of Ganzi and several counties in neighbouring Aba prefecture. “Foreigners already in the aforementioned areas are to be urged to leave,” the notice dated April 21 said, copies of which were placed on the websites of some Chinese travel agencies.
“When the ban is lifted there will be another notice,” it added, without providing an explanation on the move. Foreigners already need permission to travel to what China calls the Tibet Autonomous Region, but the government is generally more relaxed about Tibetan areas in other provinces such as Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu.
China does, however, periodically place these Tibetan areas out of bounds to foreigners during times of tension. Last week, hundreds of ethnic Tibetans had gathered at the Kirti monastery in Aba, trying to stop authorities moving out monks for government-mandated “re-education”, according to exiled Tibetans and activists.
