The State Department has again issued a travel warning instructing U.S. citizens to use “increased caution” when heading to China.
According to the updated advisory, issued Thursday, Chinese authorities have implemented “exit bans” that have prevented U.S. citizens from leaving China. The State Department claims the exit bans are used to force Americans to comply with Chinese government investigation, “lure individuals back to China from abroad,” among other things.
The warning also cautions that U.S. citizens have been kept in China for up to several years.
“In most cases, U.S. citizens only become aware of the exit ban when they attempt to depart China, and there is no method to find out how long the ban may continue. U.S. citizens under exit bans have been harassed and threatened,” the warning said.
Last month, China detained several Canadian citizens and accused the Canadians of jeopardizing state security. China’s prosecutor general Zhang Jun said Thursday that the Canadians “without a doubt” violated the law.
The Canadians were detained after Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada last month. Canadian police were responding to a request from the U.S., as U.S. prosecutors claim Meng was dishonest about bank transactions connected to Iran and therefore endangering banks for not adhering to U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. State Department also issued a travel advisory last January, citing “the arbitrary enforcement of local laws and special restrictions on dual U.S.-Chinese nationals.”
