US State Department tells Americans to reconsider travel to Hong Kong
- New guidance warns that Beijing’s national security law poses ‘heightened risk of arrest, detention, expulsion or prosecution’ for visitors to Hong Kong
- US government also relaxes its advisory for China in general, downgrading its ‘do not travel’ recommendation in June to ‘reconsider travel’
The United States on Monday urged citizens to “reconsider travel” to Hong Kong, citing an environment in which the central Chinese government “unilaterally and arbitrarily exercises police and security power” in the semi-autonomous city.
Since then, however, concerns in Washington about arbitrary law enforcement have deepened, after Beijing’s imposition in July of a national security law that criminalised a broad range of behaviours under the categories of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign powers.
The new law has been invoked in a number of recent high-profile arrests in Hong Kong, including the owner of a tabloid-style newspaper. Authorities have also cited the law in their pursuit of several people living outside of Hong Kong, including at least one US citizen.
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US suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong over city’s national security law
Citing the legislation’s extraterritorial application, the State Department’s new advisory warned that the new law “could subject US citizens who have been publicly critical of the [People’s Republic of China] to a heightened risk of arrest, detention, expulsion or prosecution.”
