The U.S. State Department issued a travel warning April 8 for China, citing inconsistent enforcement of COVID-19 lockdown rules and a zero-tolerance COVID-19 policy that has reportedly caused fears of further supply chain issues.
“The PRC government arbitrarily enforces local laws, including carrying out arbitrary and wrongful detentions and using exit bans on U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries without due process of law,” the Bureau of Consular Affairs travel advisory said.
Travelers should reconsider heading to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to this arbitrary enforcement of local laws and COVID-19-related restrictions, the advisory said. Further evidence of this is that parents and children may be separated, and non-emergency staff at the Shanghai consulate have been allowed to leave.
U.S. citizens in most cases only become aware of an exit ban when they attempt to depart the PRC. No reliable mechanism or legal process exists to find out how long the ban might continue or to contest it in court. Travelers may be detained without access to consular services or information about their alleged crime and may be subjected to interrogations and detention without due process of law, the travel advisory said.
COVID-19 cases in Shanghai have reportedly continued to rise despite a complete lockdown of all citizens. The lockdowns seem to be spreading as Guangzhou has started to move some students learning online and implement further COVID-19 restrictions, according to an April 10 Bloomberg article. The lockdowns have resulted in the curbing of some economic growth forecasts and sparked supply chain concerns.
Some lockdown measures may have been eased in certain areas of Shanghai despite the record case numbers, Reuters reported April 11. Pressure has grown on the authorities in Shanghai to relent as people have struggled to find food, and measures like locking people in their communities have been criticized.
The European Chamber of Commerce in China said it sent a letter to China's State Council April 4 explaining the difficulties that firms have had in the country due to the extreme lockdown measures, according to Reuters.
