US Warns China May Detain and Interrogate Its Citizens

(via Doug Mills/The New York Times, AP, Pool, File)

The State Department issued travel advisories for mainland China and Hong Kong on Wednesday, warning that U.S. citizens may be arbitrarily interrogated and detained.

Warning for the mainland Chinese reader:

The government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) arbitrarily enforces local laws, including exit bans on US citizens and citizens of other countries, without a fair and transparent process under the law.

Foreigners in the PRC, including but not limited to businessmen, former foreign government personnel, academics, relatives of PRC citizens involved in legal disputes, and journalists, have been interrogated and detained by PRC authorities for alleged violations of PRC national security laws. The PRC also interrogated, detained, and deported U.S. citizens living and working in the PRC.

U.S. citizens traveling or residing in the PRC may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information regarding crimes they are alleged to have committed. U.S. citizens in the PRC may be subject to interrogations and detention without fair and transparent treatment under the law.

PRC authorities have broad discretion to deem a wide range of documents, data, statistics, or materials to be state secrets and to detain and prosecute foreign nationals for alleged espionage. Official scrutiny of U.S. and third-country firms, such as professional services and due diligence firms operating in the PRC, is increasing. Security personnel may detain U.S. citizens or prosecute them for conducting research or accessing publicly available materials in the PRC.

Security personnel may detain and/or deport US citizens for sending private electronic messages critical of the governments of the PRC, Hong Kong SAR, or Macau SAR.

In addition, the PRC government has used restrictions on travel or departure from the PRC, or so-called exit bans, to:

• coercing individuals to participate in PRC government investigations;
• pressuring family members of the restricted person to return to the PRC from abroad;
• To resolve legal disputes in favor of PRC citizens; And
• Gain bargaining power over foreign governments.

U.S. citizens may only become aware of the exit ban when they attempt to leave the PRC, and there may be no legal process available to challenge the exit ban in a court of law. Relatives of persons under investigation in the PRC, including minor children, may be subject to an exit ban.

advice For Hong Kong, it states: “Since the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) enacted the PRC Law on the Protection of National Security in Hong Kong SAR on June 30, 2020, Hong Kong SAR authorities have significantly restricted civil liberties. Following the Hong Kong SAR government’s enactment of its own Safeguard National Security Regulation on March 23, 2024, Hong Kong SAR authorities are expected to take additional measures to further restrict civil liberties. “Under these provisions, anyone who criticizes PRC and/or Hong Kong SAR authorities may be subject to arrest, detention, deportation, and/or prosecution,” before warning that “Hong Kong SAR authorities seek to enforce these provisions against individuals,” including U.S. citizens and by offering cash rewards to those residing outside their jurisdiction, including permanent residents, for information leading to their arrest in the Hong Kong SAR.”