The United States will impose visa restrictions on Chinese officials to address "forcible assimilation" of Tibetan children in government-run boarding schools, the State Department announced on Tuesday, without providing details or naming any officials. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (Reuters)

"We urge PRC authorities to end the coercion of Tibetan children into government-run boarding schools and to cease repressive assimilation policies," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

Tibet has been ruled by China since 1951, when troops took control in what it says was a peaceful liberation.

China maintains that it protects the rights of all ethnic minority cultures and its constitution grants groups the freedom to use and develop their own written and spoken languages.