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Laura Zhou

China has warned its citizens in the United States to be on the alert for security risks during Independence Day festivities on Thursday.
In a notice issued online on Wednesday ahead of the July 4 holiday, the Chinese embassy in Washington urged Chinese citizens in the US to “heighten their vigilance of safety risks and strengthen security precautions”.
The caution comes after reports that US security agencies, including the FBI, have called on law enforcement personnel to be on alert for possible terrorist attacks during the holiday.
The embassy said Chinese nationals should also “keep up to date with cautions from local governments and the media, and closely monitor safety at home and travel destinations, avoiding crowded areas during the holiday”.
Chinese citizens should also learn some basic safety skills and stay calm in case of emergency, it added.
The US has long been one of the most popular destinations for Chinese tourists, especially since the administration of US president Barack Obama introduced 10-year visas for Chinese travellers in 2014.
But for the first time in more than a decade, the number of Chinese travellers to the US dropped last year, partly because of the stricter immigration policy of US President Donald Trump’s administration as well as a year-long trade war between the two countries, which has expanded to technology to geopolitical influence.
According to the National Travel and Tourism Office of the US Department of Commerce, travel from China to the US fell 5.7 per cent year on year to 2.9 million visitors in 2018.
Last month, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a rare safety warning against travelling to the US, citing “frequent” shootings, robbery and theft in the country.
In a separate alert, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a warning last month about the growing risks of studying in the US, with some Chinese students reporting visa refusals and cuts in the duration of their stay.
But tensions between the two countries appear to have eased since Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday. At the meeting, the two leaders agreed to a truce on fresh tariffs.
According to Chinese state media, Xi told Trump during their bilateral meeting on Saturday that the US should treat Chinese students in a fair way.
Trump later said he wanted more Chinese students to go to the US and even stay there.


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Caution comes after reports that US law enforcement personnel on alert for possible terrorist attacks over Independence Day


Caution comes after reports that US law enforcement personnel on alert for possible terrorist attacks over Independence Day.


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