Read RFA coverage of this story in Tibetan.
Tashi, an ethnic Tibetan and Belgian citizen, was elated when he heard last November that China had expanded its visa-free stay to 30 days for 38 countries, including Belgium, from the previous 15 days.
He immediately began making plans to visit relatives he hadn’t seen in 26 years, as the previous 15-day limit was too short a duration for such a long trip.
As the departure day approached, Tashi — whose name has been changed for safety reasons per his request — was filled with “a mixed sense of excitement and apprehension,” he told Radio Free Asia.
Tashi is one of several ethnic Tibetans who have been denied entry to China from European countries under this visa-free policy.
When in late January Tashi boarded his flight from Brussels to Beijing, he envisioned taking a connecting flight to Chengdu, from where he expected to make the 20-hour drive to his hometown in the historic Amdo region in Qinghai province.
“After 26 years, I thought my dream of returning had finally come true,” he said. “I imagined celebrating Losar [the Tibetan New Year] with my family, attending the Monlam Festival, and revisiting the place where I grew up.”
“But mine was a journey interrupted,” he said.
Instead, after Tashi landed, officials at Beijing Capital International Airport interrogated him for eight hours, detained him for 20 hours and put him on a plane back to Belgium.
Authorities said it was because he was a follower of the Dalai Lama and had done volunteer work to preserve Tibetan language and culture.
Denied entry
Tashi is one of several dozens of ethnic Tibetans who have been detained and questioned at Chinese airports, the travelers have told Radio Free Asia.
The Tibetans said officials interrogated them for hours and searched their belongings before they were deported.
At least four other Tibetans have been denied entry to China from European countries under the visa-free policy.
RFA reported in 2018 that Chinese authorities at Chengdu airport in Sichuan province prohibited three Tibetans with foreign passports — two with South Korean passports and one with A U.S. passport — from entering the country, questioning them harshly and detaining them for hours before expelling them.
In January, a Tibetan woman with Belgian citizenship was also deported from China, this time from Shenzhen Baoan International Airport.
This is not a new pattern.
In April 2024, authorities at Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport detained another Belgian citizen, Thubten Gyatso, along with his 6-year-old son, on their way to visit family in Qinghai province.
At least six Chinese officials took turns grilling him in a small room for 18 hours, Gyatso said.
They questioned him on a range of subjects, including his escape from Tibet to India in 1994, his move to Belgium and his citizenship status there, and details about his relatives’ professions.
Afterwards, the officials told him that he would not be allowed to return to his hometown because they found a photo of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan national flag — both banned in China — when searching his belongings and mobile phone.
Queried about Dalai Lama links
Similarly, in the case of Tashi, officials repeatedly accused him of being a follower of the Dalai Lama.
He told RFA that authorities accused him of being part of a campaign under the Dalai Lama, as seen by Beijing, to split Tibet from China, even though his work focuses solely on Tibetan language and culture.
“This made me realize just how important my work is and knowing my work is meaningful and effective strengthens my resolve to do more,” Tashi said.
During more than eight hours of questioning, Tashi was asked about items among his belongings, apps on his mobile phone and the volunteer work he’d been doing in Belgium since 2006 concerning the preservation of Tibetan cultural and linguistic identity.
“With each passing minute, they probed deeper, inquiring about every activity I had been involved in while volunteering in Belgium,” he said.
Despite the quizzing, officials already “seemed to know every detail, right down to specific dates” about his activities, he said.
When authorities informed Tashi that he needed to return to Belgium, they confiscated his passport and flight tickets and escorted him to immigration where he had to wait for another 13 hours without food or drink.
“With nowhere to get sustenance, I sat there feeling helpless,” Tashi said.
The Belgian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to an RFA request for comment.
Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, told RFA via email that the Chinese government does not engage in any discrimination with regards to its visa-free policy.
“The Chinese government administers the entry and exit affairs of foreigners in accordance with the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People’s Republic of China and other laws and regulations,” Liu said.
“Patriotic overseas Tibetans are an important part of the overseas Chinese community,” he added. “The Chinese government has always been very caring about their situation, and there is certainly no discrimination.”
Additional reporting by Tsering Namgyal, Tenzin Tenkyong and Dickey Kundol. Edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan, and by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.