The US state department has on Thursday, updated its travel warnings, the “Level 2” warning, about China urging its citizen travelling to China “to exercise increased caution” in the country “due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws as well as special restrictions on dual U.S.-Chinese nationals.”
According to news reports, the United States “Level 2” warning which was issued last year, has noted that Chinese authorities have “exit bans” in order to prevent the US citizens from leaving the country, might take “for years”.
The warning said the “exit bans” are used to compel American citizens to participate in China’s government investigations and to help their authority to resolve civil disputes “in favor of Chinese parties”.
The warning stated: “In most cases, U.S. citizens only become aware of the exit ban when they attempt to depart China, and there is no method to find out how long the ban may continue. U.S. citizens under exit bans have been harassed and threatened.”
In recent weeks, China has issued numbers of “Level 2” warnings for countries, including Italy, the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Russia and Spain, referring the risk of terrorism. The warning was issued last week for Burma urging the travelers to “exercise increased caution … due to areas of civil unrest and armed conflict”.
“Level 2” travel warnings are serious one step ahead of “Level 1” warnings, urging the travelers to “exercise normal precautions”. “Level 3” warnings are more serious than both, stand for “Reconsider travel” and the “Level 4” warnings stands for “Do not travel”.