Even as the US and China attempt to dial down tension and reset relations, a new US travel advisory warns US citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China.
US Travel Warning: Avoid Travel To China
Mainland China recently passed a new foreign relations law (text), which went into effect on July 1, 2023. More a policy manifesto than very concrete new ordinances, the law has several provisions which have concerned US leaders:
Chapter I, Article 8:
Where any organizations or individuals violate this Law and other relevant laws by engaging in conduct that harms national interest during diplomatic exchanges, they shall be pursued for legal responsibility in accordance with law.
Chapter IV, Article 33:
The People’s Republic of China has the right to employ corresponding countermeasures or restrictive measures against acts that violate fundamental principles of international law and international relations and harm the sovereignty, security, and developmental interests of the People’s Republic of China.
Chapter IV, Article 38:
Foreigners and foreign organizations in mainland China shall comply with Chinese law and must not endanger China’s national security, harm the societal public interest, or undermine societal public order.
As a result, this week the US has issued the following warning to US citizens (bolding mine):
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) 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 Department of State has determined the risk of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals by the PRC government exists in the PRC.
U.S. citizens traveling or residing in the PRC may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime. U.S. citizens in the PRC may be subjected to interrogations and detention without fair and transparent treatment under the law.
Foreigners in the PRC, including but not limited to businesspeople, former foreign-government personnel, academics, relatives of PRC citizens involved in legal disputes, and journalists have been interrogated and detained by PRC officials for alleged violations of PRC national security laws. The PRC has also interrogated, detained, and expelled U.S. citizens living and working in the PRC.
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. There is increased official scrutiny of U.S. and third-country firms, such as professional service and due diligence companies, operating in the PRC. Security personnel could detain U.S. citizens or subject them to prosecution for conducting research or accessing publicly available material inside the PRC.
Security personnel could detain and/or deport U.S. citizens for sending private electronic messages critical of the PRC, Hong Kong SAR, or Macau SAR governments.
That last point is quite scary.
I will never forget that after Ben from One Mile At A Time and I encountered a horrible transpacific flight on China Eastern many years ago and blogged about, we were met by airline officials on our way out, escorted like VIPs, brought to a private first class lounge, and treated like kings.
What if it had gone the other way? China Eastern is, after all, a state-run carrier.
> Read More: Smoking on China Eastern Airlines
> Read More: China Eastern Delights and Disappoints
CONCLUSION
The US has warned citizens to avoid travel to China. That’s a fairly dramatic suggestion, but may be worth heeding considering some of the arrests recently like that of John Shing-Wan Leung, a 78-year-old U.S. citizen was sentenced to life in prison on spying charges in May.
I would love to return to China and am absolutely not anti-China. But I do wonder if it is prudent?
Surprise the govt is late on their warning! Common sense folks
This is one of those things where the individual risk is low but if you happen to be the wrong person the penalty may be quite high. I’ve worked at various defense type places (government and contracting) and China along with Russia (even pre-war) are among a few countries I would never risk traveling to.
I know some will say there isn’t a risk but when something does happen it will be painful.
Y3ah and I worked for the CIA, FBI, DHS, BATF, DOJ, NAVY SEALS, BATMAN and twice got a DUI. I agree.
@Matt,
The 4th to last sentence ends as:
“…brought to a private first class lounge, and ”
Looks like part of the complete sentence may have been deleted in error.
Too bad. I still have several years left on my visa. Love the people there.
You will live
Yep, same.
Travel to mainland China and Hong Kong ( that phrase alone can get me into trouble!) is relatively safe. It all depends on one’s risk tolerance. Travel to rural Montana is risky because there’s no neurosurgeon to treat major head trauma.
My own criteria would be to avoid there if one is Chinese American, a journalist/government contractor/work in a high stakes industry (tech or military), work for a company that competes with Chinese companies, has conflict with Chinese business partners.
Tourists should have no problems. If you are a nurse, electrician, cashier, school board lawyer, podiatrist, etc. probably no problem.
Better to visit the Republic of China (Taiwan), oops I mean Chinese Taipei, Province of Taiwan, China or even Chicago, USA, Province of China.
You will live
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is a reminder from the U.S. government to those conducting espionage activities in China. China’s counter-espionage campaign are are beyond reproach. Just as the U.S. has been persecuting and suppressing Chinese university professors as much as possible for the past decade, many of them were even born in the U.S. and have done nothing to harm U.S. interests, but are still being persecuted relentlessly by the FBI. I would not be afraid to travel to China because I am not a spy for the United States.
What a bizarre comment. “Anyone with a discerning eye” knows that the U.S. government has channels to communicate with those conducting espionage activities on its behalf that do not involve public messages posted on the Department of State’s website. I’m not a spy for any country and I have been to China and would like to go back, but it has been on my “not under the current political climate” list since around the time the Hong Kong crackdowns started. The risk of arbitrary and unlawful detainment with no recourse is too high.
Also, your assertion that Chinese university professors are being prosecuted in the U.S. having “done nothing to harm U.S. interests” would be better with some evidence. There have been a number of professors and graduate students who have been arrested, but generally with pretty solid evidence that they were stealing technical information for Beijing.
A Danish national was held back in the US for almost one year, without any real evidence, so as a Danish national my selv, i vill avoid the US would never set food there, apart from risk of being arrested for no reason, i also run the risk of get shoot by a cop or in one of the thousands mass shootings.
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/nyregion/criminal-charges-are-dropped-against-intern-at-manhattan-preschool.html
Are you really Donald Trump?
Found PRC burner.
I want to go toAntarctic coasts and sub-Antarctic islands, but I’m afraid of penguins,
I agree with vbscript2. I would speculate that Joe is in fact a Chinese state operative.
Anyone that has studied world history knows that the China of today is moving into a very different phase than when President Nixon normalized relations with China. They are facing enormous internal challenges for which becoming more aggressive to the outside world is a viable solution to its internal challenges. Many western companies are working aggressively to at least develop backups to their huge China manufacturing operations. China decided to stop subsidizing its airlines’ longhaul international losses which allow Chinese to see the world pre-covid. The result is that there is and will be much less capacity over the Pacific which helps every other transpacific airline as the economic center of gravity in Asia shifts further from China and HKG. China is a huge country and market and airlines that connect China and the US via their hubs – esp. Korean and Japanese airlines – will grow stronger.
No terracotta warriors for me ☹️☹️☹️
China is a savage nation run by criminals who abuse humans in unimaginable ways and do so with impunity. If you wouldn’t travel to North Korea or Iran, don’t travel to China. It’s pretty simple.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States
Too late. It’s already known knowledge among expatriates working in China for US multinational to return. The undercurrent is clearly visible.
That is a load of bull, the US has and use the same law, just stay on thd right side of the law, use common sense then you live like paradise in China, not like the US where you are very likely to be shoot by a cop or shoot in one of the thousands mass shooting, or your kids in school are likely to end up in a funeral parlor.
All this bull is only the US trying to smear China, due to jealousy on the Chinese advancement in electronic, they are light years ahead of the US
They want to scare thd people so they don’t see China as it really is.
No government in the world has and do more for it’s people than the Chinese government
I remember the same warning a few years before Covod. If you are just a tourist this is nothing to worry about. I look forward to checking out Shanghai again soon.
Excuse the typos
The US will advise anyone to travel. And when you come back they will ask you WHERE have you been and WHY.