A travel advisory to the United States for its citizens was issued by China which is applicable till the end of the year even as the two countries escalate the trade war they have been engaged in for more than a year.
According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the advisory was issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and cited a spate of recent “frequent” shootings, robbery and theft in the US which prompted it to issue the travel alerts for Chinese travelers.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing that a number of problems were being faced by Chinese nationals while they were in US recently which prompted the travel warning. Replying to a question of whether the move can be viewed to be a part of the ongoing trade war, Geng said this move was in response to “current circumstances” and did not elaborate any further details.
Just a day ago, Chinese authorities also issued an advisory to Chinese students studying in China to remain cautious as the Trump administration is increasing its restrictions on academic visas and is increasing examination and scrutiny of America based Chinese researchers.
“Recently, U.S. law enforcement agencies have repeatedly harassed Chinese citizens visiting the United States through exit and entry inspections, door-to-door interviews and other means,” state-run China Central Television reported Tuesday, citing the Foreign Ministry.
“The Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates in the United States remind Chinese citizens and Chinese-funded institutions in the United States to raise security awareness and take more precautions,” it said.
Back in January, similar warning was issued for its citizens by China’s Culture and Tourism Ministry against traveling to Canada as the diplomatic relations between Canada and China soured over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the behest of the US. the ministry had then stated that the advisory was issued because of the detention of Meng. The advisory then had asked Chinese travelers to make a complete assessment of the risks before deciding to travel to Canada.
According to the National Travel and Tourism Office, which gathers data from U.S. customs forms, there has however been a drop of movement of Chinese tourists into the US. In 2018, the number of travel tourists from China to the US was three million which was lower than the 3.2 million travelers travelling there the year before. But more was spent in while travelling the Chinese tourists in 2018 at $36.4 billion compared to a total spend of $35.3 billion the year before which made this foreign tourist group the highest spenders among all international tourists to the US.
Tourism and a ban on tourism have earlier been used by China as an economic weapon. In 2017, this strategy was used against South Korea as the Chinese government put a stop to package trips to its neighbor over the issue of South Korea deploying a U.S.-backed missile system. In that year, about 0.4 per cent was shaved of South Korean economy because of the travel ban.
(Source:www.bloomberg.com)
According to the official Xinhua News Agency, the advisory was issued by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China and cited a spate of recent “frequent” shootings, robbery and theft in the US which prompted it to issue the travel alerts for Chinese travelers.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing that a number of problems were being faced by Chinese nationals while they were in US recently which prompted the travel warning. Replying to a question of whether the move can be viewed to be a part of the ongoing trade war, Geng said this move was in response to “current circumstances” and did not elaborate any further details.
Just a day ago, Chinese authorities also issued an advisory to Chinese students studying in China to remain cautious as the Trump administration is increasing its restrictions on academic visas and is increasing examination and scrutiny of America based Chinese researchers.
“Recently, U.S. law enforcement agencies have repeatedly harassed Chinese citizens visiting the United States through exit and entry inspections, door-to-door interviews and other means,” state-run China Central Television reported Tuesday, citing the Foreign Ministry.
“The Foreign Ministry and Chinese embassies and consulates in the United States remind Chinese citizens and Chinese-funded institutions in the United States to raise security awareness and take more precautions,” it said.
Back in January, similar warning was issued for its citizens by China’s Culture and Tourism Ministry against traveling to Canada as the diplomatic relations between Canada and China soured over the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the behest of the US. the ministry had then stated that the advisory was issued because of the detention of Meng. The advisory then had asked Chinese travelers to make a complete assessment of the risks before deciding to travel to Canada.
According to the National Travel and Tourism Office, which gathers data from U.S. customs forms, there has however been a drop of movement of Chinese tourists into the US. In 2018, the number of travel tourists from China to the US was three million which was lower than the 3.2 million travelers travelling there the year before. But more was spent in while travelling the Chinese tourists in 2018 at $36.4 billion compared to a total spend of $35.3 billion the year before which made this foreign tourist group the highest spenders among all international tourists to the US.
Tourism and a ban on tourism have earlier been used by China as an economic weapon. In 2017, this strategy was used against South Korea as the Chinese government put a stop to package trips to its neighbor over the issue of South Korea deploying a U.S.-backed missile system. In that year, about 0.4 per cent was shaved of South Korean economy because of the travel ban.
(Source:www.bloomberg.com)
