China Retaliates With Visa Restrictions Over US State Department’s Tibet Policy

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that while Chinese diplomats ‘enjoy broad access’ in America, U.S. diplomats cannot travel to Tibetan areas in China.

The Yarlung Zangbo river in Linzhi, Tibet, on June 4, 2021. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The Chinese regime announced a new round of visa restrictions on U.S. officials on April 14, in retaliation for the U.S. State Department’s efforts to address challenges faced by American diplomats in accessing Tibetan areas in China.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on March 31 that the State Department would be imposing U.S. visa restrictions on Chinese Communist Party officials who are “substantially involved” in formulating or implementing polices restricting foreign access to Tibetan areas, in accordance with the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018.

“For far too long, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has refused to afford U.S. diplomats, journalists, and other international observers access to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and other Tibetan areas of China, while China’s diplomats and journalists enjoy broad access in the United States,” Rubio said in a statement at the time.

U.S. diplomats cannot provide services to U.S. citizens traveling in Tibet, Rubio pointed out.

“This lack of reciprocity is unacceptable and will not be tolerated,” he said. “I urge the CCP to immediately address the lack of reciprocity and allow diplomats, among others, unrestricted access to the TAR and other Tibetan areas of China.”

On April 14, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian accused Washington of interfering in China’s internal affairs concerning Tibet, and announced that Beijing would impose “reciprocal visa restrictions” against U.S. personnel who “behave egregiously” on Tibet-related issues.

London-based Free Tibet group took to the social media platform X on the same day to criticize Beijing’s threats of visa restrictions, saying that those calling out the Chinese regime’s brutal occupation of Tibet are not “egregious” but “essential.”

“No visa ban can silence the truth or those who defend Tibetan rights,” the group said.

Washington-based rights group International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) has welcomed Rubio’s announcement.

“We commend the Trump administration for asserting that China’s failure to adhere to the principle of reciprocity is ‘unacceptable’ and will not be tolerated,” ICT President Tencho Gyatso said in a statement on April 1.

“This law [Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act] was designed to challenge China’s restrictions on access to Tibet, and we hope that the United States will continue to make effective use of it until China stops trying to isolate the Land of Snows.”

In a report to Congress about U.S. access to Tibetan areas in 2023, the State Department noted that American diplomats could not buy air or train tickets to enter Tibet without first obtaining formal approval from Chinese authorities. U.S. diplomatic officials made three requests for official travel to the Tibetan region, but none were approved, according to the report.

In the years before 2023, U.S. diplomats visited Tibetan areas in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai, and Yunnan, according to the report. However, Chinese officials prevented them from entering certain monasteries, blocked off specific roads, and monitored their conversations.

On April 14, Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, took to X to applaud Rubio’s decision.

“For decades, Beijing has claimed that Tibet has always been part of China. That’s totally false,” Young wrote.

“My bill, the Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet–China Dispute Act, was signed into law and rejected those inaccurate claims and affirmed the State Department’s responsibility to work with allies and partners to negotiate a just resolution on Tibet.”

The Act, a bipartisan effort to enhance U.S. support for Tibet, was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden in July last year. At the time, Tibet’s government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration in India, said the law would bring “hope and inspiration” to Tibetans worldwide.

The CCP invaded Tibet in 1949 and forced upon Tibetans a 17-point agreement to legitimize the CCP’s rule. Despite rosy promises of Tibetan autonomy on paper, China’s communist regime turned the region into a surveillance state and set up labor camps.

In its 2025 annual report released in March, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal commission, stated that the CCP has been committing “cultural genocide” against Tibetan Buddhists.

Furthermore, the Chinese regime has intimidated Tibetan diaspora communities through surveillance, coercion, and threats against their families in China to silence them, according to the report.