Lawmakers and activists call for China to be added to the ‘No Travel’ list due to concerns of arbitrary detention risks.

WASHINGTON—Lawmakers and relatives of detained Americans in China are urging the United States to elevate their travel advisory for the country to the highest level due to concerns about arbitrary arrests on Chinese territory.

“Nobody is safe in China—nobody,” expressed Peter Humphrey, a former British journalist and fraud investigator who spent almost two years imprisoned in China on charges of unlawfully collecting personal information of Chinese individuals, during a congressional hearing on Sept. 18.

The hearing showcased four Americans whose family members endured over eight years in Chinese prisons, a persistent issue that has gained renewed attention following the release of David Lin, an American-Chinese pastor who was detained by the Chinese Communist Party for 18 years.

The State Department currently advises Americans to reconsider traveling to China due to “arbitrary enforcement of local laws,” such as preventing individuals from leaving China and detaining people on unjust charges.

The witnesses at the hearing, along with the hearing’s chair Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who heads the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), emphasized the necessity of raising the State Department’s travel warning level to its highest, level four, to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.

According to the CECC, Beijing has more Americans detained than any other country globally. Estimates from Humphrey and the human rights organization, the Dui Hua Foundation, indicate that over 200 Americans in China are under detention, exit bans, or other coercive measures.

“I don’t believe any of them should be imprisoned. It doesn’t matter what they’re accused of—it doesn’t matter if they’re guilty or not when they haven’t received a fair trial in an impartial court,” emphasized Humphrey.

Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) stressed the importance of addressing the detention of Americans in discussions between the U.S. and China.

“When China seeks to improve relations due to various interests they have related to the U.S., including selling their products in our market, it provides us with leverage to demand changes in other practices and the release of those detained,” Merkley conveyed to The Epoch Times. “This should be a central aspect of our dialogue with China in every dimension of our relationship.”

Representative Zach Nunn (R-Iowa) described the issue as a strategy orchestrated by Beijing to create a pool of potential detainees that can be used in the future to negotiate concessions with the U.S.

He emphasized that while raising the travel advisory is a primary step, it is just one aspect of the broader tactics employed by China to pressure the U.S. “China has detained more Americans, potentially as political hostages, than any other country globally, and this has far-reaching effects on families, individuals associated with the detainees, and entities here in the U.S.,” Nunn told The Epoch Times.

Smith announced plans to introduce a bill that would provide additional resources to those with detained loved ones in China to help in their efforts and develop strategies to secure their release.

“This is a flagrant violation of American human rights,” Smith underscored.

Heartbreaking Stories

Harrison Li’s father, Kai Li, continues to serve a 10-year sentence in Shanghai on espionage charges that U.N. human rights experts consider arbitrary. Harrison revealed during the hearing that his father had suffered a stroke and lost a tooth while imprisoned.

“Every day, I wake up with the dreadful image of him cramped in that tiny cell with seven to 11 other individuals,” he lamented.

Nelson Wells Jr. was apprehended at an airport in 2014 following a China trip when Chinese authorities purportedly discovered drugs in a bag he believed contained baked goods, as detailed by his father, Nelson Wells Sr., at the hearing. Nearly a decade later, the younger Wells remains detained, grappling with chronic pain, seizures, malnutrition, severe depression, and thoughts of self-harm.

Also arrested in the same year, Dawn Michelle Hunt has been imprisoned on similar charges. Her brother, Tim Hunt, emotionally implored the commission to “bring her home.”

Dawn was lured into believing she had won a cash prize



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