The U.S. is recommending that Americans “reconsider travel” to mainland China because of “arbitrary” law enforcement and the risk of wrongful detention, according to a new travel advisory.
The Chinese government “arbitrarily enforces local laws, including issuing exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries, without fair and transparent process under the law,” reads the recent advisory from the State Department.
The department said it has found a “risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals” by Beijing, and that U.S. citizens traveling or residing in China “may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime,” as well as “subjected to interrogations and detention without fair and transparent treatment under the law.”
Among a number of other warnings within the advisory, the State Department cautions that Chinese authorities can consider “a wide range of documents, data, statistics or materials” as state secrets — and to detain or prosecute on allegations of espionage.
U.S. citizens could also be detained or deported for sending private messages critical of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong SAR or Macau SAR governments, the advisory notes.
So-called exit bans, or restrictions on travel from China, could also be used to “compel individuals to participate in PRC government investigations; pressure family members of the restricted individual to return to the PRC from abroad; resolve civil disputes in favor of PRC citizens; and gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments,” according to the update.
Americans are also warned against using drugs in or prior to arriving in China, and against participating in demonstrations, protests “or any other activities that authorities interpret as constituting an act of secession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with a foreign country.”
Similar advisories were also issued for the semi-autonomous Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao.
The new advisory comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing over a number of issues, ranging from the U.S. military shoot-down of a Chinese surveillance balloon floating through American airspace earlier this year to China’s relationship with Russia as Moscow wages its war on Ukraine.
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