US recommends Americans reconsider travelling to China due to arbitrary law enforcement, exit bans

Associated Press

Beijing: The US is recommending Americans reconsider travelling to China because of arbitrary law enforcement, exit bans and the risk of wrongful detentions.

No specific cases were cited, but the advisory comes after a 78-year-old US citizen was sentenced to life in prison on spying charges in May. It also follows the passage last week of a sweeping Foreign Relations Law that threatens countermeasures against those seen as harming China interests. China also recently passed a broadly written counterespionage law that has sent a chill through the foreign business community, with offices being raided, as well as a law to sanction foreign critics.

“The People's Republic of China 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,” the U.S. advisory said. “US citizens travelling or residing in the PRC may be detained without access to US consular services or information about their alleged crime.” it said.

“PRC authorities appear to have broad discretion to deem a wide range of documents, data, statistics, or materials as state secrets and to detain and prosecute foreign nationals for alleged espionage,” the advisory said. It listed a wide range of potential offenses from taking part in demonstrations to sending electronic messages critical of Chinese policies or even simply conducting research into areas deemed sensitive.

Exit bans could be used to compel individuals to participate in Chinese government investigations, pressure family members to return from abroad, resolve civil disputes in favor of Chinese citizens and “gain bargaining leverage over foreign governments,” the advisory said. Similar advisories were issued for the semi-autonomous Chinese regions of Hong Kong and Macao. They was dated Friday and emailed to journalists on Monday.

The US has issued similar advisories to its citizens in the past, but those in recent years had mainly warned of the dangers of being caught in strict and lengthy lockdowns while China closed its borders for three years under its draconian "zero-Covid" policy. China generally responds angrily to what it considers U.S. efforts to impugn its authoritarian Communist Party-led system.