( CNN ) -- U.S. ambassador to China Gary Locke is nearing the end of a three-day visit to the Tibet Autonomous Region where he has been meeting with local officials to impress the importance of preserving Tibetan culture , according to the U.S. embassy . Locke , who took the trip with his family , several embassy officials and Chengdu 's consulate general , also stressed the need to open up access to Tibet to foreign diplomats , tourists and journalists , the embassy said in a statement . There has been no mention of the trip in Chinese media , which follows Locke 's visit last September to Tibetan monasteries in western China , where a number of Tibetan monks have set themselves on fire . OPINION : Obama must turn up the heat on Tibet . Since 2006 , 119 monks have self-immolated in protest against Chinese policies they say violate their basic rights , according to Human Rights Watch . More claims of repression of Tibetan rights came Thursday with a report from HRW , which condemned China 's mass relocation of millions of Tibetans to what it called `` New Socialist Villages . '' The report , entitled `` They Say We Should Be Grateful , '' accused the Chinese government of committing `` extensive rights violations '' of Tibetans by forcing residents in a number of counties to abandon their houses and move to new purpose-built housing estates . The HRW report included aerial images of Tibetan counties , which showed photos of villages before and after new homes were built . HRW has accused the Chinese government of failing to adequately compensate villagers whose homes have been demolished , and of not restoring residents ' livelihoods . `` The scale and speed at which the Tibetan rural population is being remodeled by mass rehousing and relocation policies are unprecedented in the post-Mao era , '' said HRW 's China director , Sophie Richardson . `` Tibetans have no say in the design of policies that are radically altering their way of life , and -- in an already highly repressive context -- no ways to challenge them , '' she added in a statement . When asked to comment on the report , Hua Chunying , a Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson said : `` The organization you just mentioned has been consistently making irresponsible remarks and groundless accusations against China . I 'll not spend time to read the report or comment on it . '' According to the report , since 2006 more than two million Tibetans have been `` rehoused '' -- through government-ordered renovation or construction of new houses -- in the Tibet Autonomous Region , while hundreds of thousands of nomadic herders in the eastern part of the Tibetan plateau have been relocated . The massive rehousing project is part of China 's policy to `` Build a New Socialist Countryside '' in Tibetan areas , which was announced by former premier Wen Jiabao in 2006 . At the time , the government pledged to increase spending in rural areas and committed billions of dollars to raise the living standards in the countryside . Earlier this year , as part of its Report on China 's Economic and Social Development , the government vowed to `` give high priority to developing the western region on a large scale . '' `` We will more quickly open up the region to the outside world , and create a number of leading areas to open up and develop border regions and the hinterland . We will implement the policies and measures to develop Xinjiang , Tibet , and Tibetan ethnic areas in Sichuan , Yunnan , Gansu , and Qinghai provinces in leaps and bounds , '' the report said .
U.S. : Locke meeting officials to impress importance of preserving Tibetan culture . Envoy also stressed the need to open up access to Tibet to foreign diplomats . Since 2006 , 119 monks have self-immolated in protest against Chinese policies . Comment: