China issues travel advisory for the US, warning of searches and harassment

Their phones, computers and other luggage items were searched piece by piece, and several people were banned from entering the country, it said.

Americans studying in China are safe despite US travel advisory, scholars say

“The ministry and the Chinese embassy and consulates in the US have lodged a solemn representation to the US, and we remind those who plan to travel to the US to be aware of these situations,” it said, advising Chinese nationals in need of help to contact their embassy or consulate.

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.

‘Stop harassing’ Chinese students at the border for no reason, China tells US

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.

On March 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.

Politics, red tape and job worries could slow China’s foreign student rebound

In recent months, the two countries have pledged to encourage educational and other exchanges. In November, while on a visit to the US, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China would invite 50,000 young Americans to study in the next five years.

Following that meeting, Chinese Minister of Education Huai Jinpeng met Stephen Schwarzman, chairman of investment management company Blackstone Group, and his delegation in Beijing on Thursday. Huai stressed that the ministry would encourage top universities in both China and the US to increase student exchanges and increase high-level cooperation.