The US State Department has updated its recommendations for citizens traveling to China, replacing Level 3, which requires avoiding travel, with Level 2, which recommends greater caution within China.
The updated guidelines also “omitted a note indicating the risk of wrongful detention of U.S. citizens,” The Hill reports.
According to the publication, recommendations for traveling to China have changed after three American citizens: Mark Swidan, Kai Lee AND Juan Leung – were released in exchange for unknown Chinese nationals detained in the United States.
Svidan was arrested in China in the fall of 2012. He was charged with manufacturing and selling drugs. In 2020, the court sentenced him to death with a two-year suspended sentence. In China, the death penalty can be commuted to life imprisonment if the convicted person demonstrates good behavior and repents of the crime.
Arrested in Shanghai in 2016, Kai Li was sentenced to ten years in prison and John Leung was sentenced to life in prison in 2023. Both were accused of espionage, Interfax recalls.
