News and Views on Tibet

Tibet – Nepal border to reopen on 1 July 2003

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Sources emanating from the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu state that the Nepal-Tibet border will be reopened on 1 July 2003.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) stopped flights between Lhasa and Kathmandu on 27 April 2003 as part of a catalogue of measures to Prevent Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) from entering Tibet. According to official reports, no cases of the illness have been recorded in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). There have been sporadic reports of cases in Tibetan regions outside the TAR, most notably in Qinghai, but these reports have not been confirmed. The epidemic has claimed 340 lives in mainland China and 286 in Hong Kong to date.

For one to two weeks traffic into and out of the TAR was virtually stopped. Traffic within the TAR has been subject to stringent controls since the beginning of the crisis. The authorities in Beijing are known to have been particularly concerned to prevent an outbreak of the virus in the TAR. High-level delegations were sent to Lhasa and other regions within the TAR to oversee the thorough implementation of measures against the disease. Official statements mentioned that an outbreak of SARS in the TAR would be “disastrous”, acknowledging the weakness of the health care infrastructure in Tibet.

Tourist agencies in Kathmandu had been notified by the TAR authorities that the region would continue to be closed to tourism until the epidemic could be considered as having been brought under control. The agencies were unofficially told that restrictions on tourism would remain at least until July.

China intends to make tourism the ‘staple industry’ of the TAR and Other Tibetan areas of the PRC.

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