US imposes sanctions over Tibet and urges Beijing to release outspoken professor Xu Zhangrun

The US State Department blasted China on two human rights fronts on Tuesday in the latest sign of deteriorating relations, unveiling visa sanctions on Chinese officials tied to Tibet and demanding the release of a law professor who publicly criticised Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The double salvo comes less than a week after Beijing imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong that has angered many US and European lawmakers. The law, which critics say violates the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, has sparked fears that China will squelch free speech and peaceful assembly in the city.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US would impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials who block outsiders from visiting the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) and other Tibetan areas.

“Access to Tibetan areas is increasingly vital to regional stability, given the PRC’s human rights abuses there, as well as Beijing’s failure to prevent environmental degradation near the headwaters of Asia’s major rivers,” Pompeo said in a statement. “PRC officials and other citizens enjoy far greater access to the United States.”

Under a tit-for-tat provision of the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act of 2018, Chinese officials can be denied US visas if they are complicit in denying American government officials, journalists, independent observers and tourists access to Tibet.