Tibet is Closed

China has once again shut down foreigners's access to Tibet, at least until after the 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China on July 1.

Reuters reports that travel agents confirm foreigners are not allowed to enter Tibet until sometime after July 1 of this summer. Access to Tibet is always somewhat limited to foreigners, who must get special permits and register with travel companies to go to the region. Foreign journalists are rarely allowed in on independent reporting trips and the Chinese government does not appear to have scheduled a group trip for journalists to Tibet this spring, as has been the case in the recent past.

Riots rocked the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 2008, and incidents of ethnic unrest seemed to have sprung up regularly in years since. In 2009, Muslim Uighurs rioted in protests that killed hundreds in western China, while more recently this spring, ethnic Mongolians have taken to the streets in Inner Mongolia to protest Chinese development on their grazing lands.