- Advisory comes after a 78-year-old U.S. citizen was sentenced to life in prison on spying charges in May
- China recently passed a broadly written counterespionage law
- Advisory warns: U.S. citizens in China ‘may be detained without access to U.S. consular services or information about their alleged crime’
The U.S. recommended Americans reconsider traveling to China because of arbitrary law enforcement and exit bans and the risk of wrongful detentions.
No specific cases were cited, but the advisory came after a 78-year-old U.S. citizen was sentenced to life in prison on spying charges in May.
It also followed the passage last week of a sweeping Foreign Relations Law that threatens countermeasures against those seen as harming China´s interests.
China also recently passed a broadly written counterespionage law that has sent a chill through the foreign business community, with offices being raided, as well as a law to sanction foreign critics.