China is warning its citizens against traveling to the U.S. amid rising tensions between the two countries.
The country’s Foreign Ministry, the embassy, and the consulates in the U.S. said Chinese visitors to America have been interrogated and subjected to harassment by U.S. law enforcement agencies, according to the Associated Press.
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a separate travel alert, warning that “shootings, robberies and thefts have occurred frequently in the United States.”
“The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to fully assess the risk of travel to the United States, keep abreast of information on public security, laws and regulations, and improve their awareness of safety and security,” the travel alert said.
Both warnings are active until Dec. 31 and come amid an escalating trade war between China and the U.S.
In addition, China told students Monday to consider the “risks” associated with enrolling in college in the U.S. Xu Yongji, an official from the Education Ministry, said the Trump administration and Congress have “politicized some normal China-U.S. educational exchanges and cooperation activities.”
“[They] are cracking down on them under the banner of ‘China threat’ and ‘China infiltration,’ and they are stigmatizing Confucius Institutes as a tool for China,” she said. “[They] are accusing Chinese students and scholars in the United States of launching ‘nontraditional espionage’ activities and causing trouble for no reason.”
