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US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

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Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#11

Post by adventured »

gentleman11 wrote: post #3

This is bad for Canadians recently, with many arrests and accusations of spying, all because of political retaliation over that rich lady

For Australia as well. They recently gave an Australian citizen a death penalty sentence in retaliation for the ongoing conflict between Australia and China.

At the rate things are going, in another five years nobody from a liberal nation will be able to safely visit Xi's new hermit kingdom.

It's a shame. I always thought it would be nice to visit Hong Kong.

Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#12

Post by rat323 »

ciguy wrote: post #2

I've been to China a few times, most recently in late 2018. I traveled overland by train from Beijing to Xian and then to Shanghai. Everything as a non-chinese citizen was just harder than it was when I visited in 2014. Buying train tickets was a massive hassle without a Chinese ID. Paying for anything was difficult because many places no longer take cash and you can't really get a proper WeChat account as a foreigne…

I don't know how China will cope with you not visiting. This may destroy the CCP altogether!

Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#13

Post by ciguy »

rorykoehler wrote: post #7
ciguy wrote: post #2

I've been to China a few times, most recently in late 2018. I traveled overland by train from Beijing to Xian and then to Shanghai. Everything as a non-chinese citizen was just harder than it was when I visited in 2014. Buying train tickets was a massive hassle without a Chinese ID. Paying for anything was difficult because many places no longer take cash and you can't really get a proper WeChat account as a foreigne…

Posted 10 mins ago and already downvoted. Do HN not have algos to stop this astroturfing behaviour? It’s becoming very prevalent for anything that criticises the CCP.

Yep, every time I post anything that mentions China I lose Karma, but I don't particularly care. Sometimes the comments start with 10+ upvotes and then suddenly a wave of downvotes comes. Most recently some very new accounts with mostly pro china submissions and comments began using my real name and posting it in comments, apparently thinking I would be scared of having my real name associated with anything critical of China.

Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#15

Post by aspenmayer »

DuskStar wrote: post #9
eplanit wrote: post #6

I get the impression that we're now in an undeclared Cold War with China.

How does a country declare a Cold War, anyways?

More to the point, how does a country end a Cold War? Hot wars have a formal end via truces and armistices; undeclared wars may continue unabated in other theaters and fronts, as well as different domains entirely.

Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#16

Post by hungryhobo »

wendyshu wrote: post #8

Not just arrested but tortured, as we've seen with the two Canadian Michaels and the British Simon Cheng. Edit: British-employed not actually British

I would say only 1 Michael, The other one sold drugs in a country that specifically banned drugs

Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#17

Post by [deleted] »

rorykoehler wrote: post #7
ciguy wrote: post #2

I've been to China a few times, most recently in late 2018. I traveled overland by train from Beijing to Xian and then to Shanghai. Everything as a non-chinese citizen was just harder than it was when I visited in 2014. Buying train tickets was a massive hassle without a Chinese ID. Paying for anything was difficult because many places no longer take cash and you can't really get a proper WeChat account as a foreigne…

Posted 10 mins ago and already downvoted. Do HN not have algos to stop this astroturfing behaviour? It’s becoming very prevalent for anything that criticises the CCP.

[deleted]

Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#18

Post by TimTheTinker »

rorykoehler wrote: post #7
ciguy wrote: post #2

I've been to China a few times, most recently in late 2018. I traveled overland by train from Beijing to Xian and then to Shanghai. Everything as a non-chinese citizen was just harder than it was when I visited in 2014. Buying train tickets was a massive hassle without a Chinese ID. Paying for anything was difficult because many places no longer take cash and you can't really get a proper WeChat account as a foreigne…

Posted 10 mins ago and already downvoted. Do HN not have algos to stop this astroturfing behaviour? It’s becoming very prevalent for anything that criticises the CCP.

Comments about voting are generally off-topic.

Although if you have genuine concerns about astroturfing, I suggest emailing hn@ycombinator.com.

Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#19

Post by tpmx »

aspenmayer wrote: post #15
DuskStar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does a country declare a Cold War, anyways?

More to the point, how does a country end a Cold War? Hot wars have a formal end via truces and armistices; undeclared wars may continue unabated in other theaters and fronts, as well as different domains entirely.

The most famous one ended when the soviet union collapsed (fatigue, economic stresses, random misunderstandings). I'm looking forward to the same thing happening to CCP/china in about a decade or so.

Re: US citizens warned they face arbitrary arrest in China

#20

Post by ketzu »

ciguy wrote: post #2

I've been to China a few times, most recently in late 2018. I traveled overland by train from Beijing to Xian and then to Shanghai. Everything as a non-chinese citizen was just harder than it was when I visited in 2014. Buying train tickets was a massive hassle without a Chinese ID. Paying for anything was difficult because many places no longer take cash and you can't really get a proper WeChat account as a foreigne…

I went to Beijing in 2019 and while I felt the security of subway stations was a bit overdone (metal detectors and bag scanners) I had little trouble buying things: while shops wanted me to pay with wechat they accepted cash all the time.

I also found the security of tiennam square not much different from the eiffel tower (which I didn't enter because the security seems such a hassle at that time). Security of very high profile spots seems to be high in general these days.

Not to deny your experience, I just had a different one. When talking to other travelers, it seems difference in experience happens all the time while traveling.

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