China issues travel advisory to citizens visiting the US, warns of ‘unwarranted interrogations and harassment’

In January, China Science Daily, a newspaper affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reported that a biological sciences PhD candidate was deported by officials at Dulles airport in December as she was trying to return to the US to continue her studies.

The report said the student was subjected to a body search and spent eight hours in an interrogation room followed by 12 hours in solitary confinement.

When she returned to China, she learned of 10 other Chinese students who had similar experiences. The students were mainly interrogated on their undergraduate scholarships from the China Scholarship Council and their involvement in confidential research, the newspaper said.

On Mar 8, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the US has disrupted personnel exchanges between the two countries, violating the consensus reached by the heads of states.

She called the incidents “political and discriminatory law enforcement” and said they were caused by the “cold war mentality” of some people in the US.

Last month, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said US authorities were “weaponising” academic research, overextending the concept of national security, persecuting Chinese students, and “poisoning” the atmosphere of bilateral people-to-people exchanges.