China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned its citizens Thursday not to travel to the U.S. through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and to be cautious of traveling to the states altogether.
The government agency said 20 Chinese scholars were traveling to attend an academic conference with valid U.S. visas, but were denied entry after being subjected to “unreasonable questioning” by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers at Sea-Tac, according to Reuters, who translated the foreign ministry’s notice.
Chinese citizens were advised to “strengthen safety awareness, avoid entering through this airport … and make all necessary preparations,” due to “repeated incidents of malicious questioning and harassment targeting Chinese scholars” at Sea-Tac.
The ministry advised citizens to respond calmly and rationally if they are questioned by U.S. law enforcement officers.
Sea-Tac and Customs and Border Patrol did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
I met him about a year before Fear Inoculum was even announced at a Target in LA. I didn't even ask him about the album since I was sure he was tired of answering questions about it. I just said I was a big fan and he said "Thanks! New music should be out soon". I got so hyped
Not much to it. Saw him get off the light rail and go down the escalator, I didn't want to intrude on him even though he's known to be pretty warm to fans versus Maynard.
He honestly just has a lot of shyness and some anxiety around people he doesn't know, but can also come off as an elitist jerk, kind of a limousine liberal
For international students, there are a few airports (SEA, IAH, DFW) notorious for extended screening, you can be detained for 3-4 hours and risk being deported.
Yea... This absolutely does not track with my professional experience nor with what international students share.
I have a decade plus in the field. SEA is REGULARLY listed as one of the best entry points. I have never had significant issues with my students entering SEA and I have never had anyone ever say they had regular issues with SEA regionally or at any conferences.
Saw this first hand when I brought my girlfriend who is from Taiwan to visit my family in Seattle. At SeaTac she was questioned for 20 minutes about the EXACT reasoning for her coming, the nature of our relationship, why I was living in Taiwan, why would an American live in Taiwan, what would she do in America, where would she be in America, etc. I’d heard several Chinese and Korean women tell me that these guys could be asses but it’s another thing to see it first hand.
Not excusing this behavior, but I’ve encountered the same elsewhere personally. In Canada of all places (Montana border) they searched our car, separated us, questioned us rigorously for 30minutes, and tried to find anything our answers didn’t align on, then they told me I didn’t bring enough cash to “support myself” (for my 30min trip to the end of Glacier park that is Waterton park there. They made my friend agree to “financially support me.” It was a load of crap, and they were just terrorizing two nice young men for S&Gs.
London Gatwick…dude made a show of harassing em at 18yo for…who knows why. It was a show.
France…super rude and a ton of stupid questions to try to apparently rattle me or shake something out of me?
Denmark…taken to a special room, questioned, frisked in my underwear (by an incredibly attractive woman, which was confusing at 25yo), and made to wait while they “checked things” for a long time.
Had no issues in eastern bloc countries, German-speaking countries, or elsewhere for the most part.
We tried to get a visa for my mother in law for Canada. We had a cruise booked which stopped at Victoria for like 5 hours. They denied the visa because they didn't think she would bring enough money to support herself. What money would she need? The cruise was already booked and would bring her back to Seattle, and she had a plane ticket to go back to her home in Hong Kong. I even put on the application that I would be supporting her, and I have a job and money and all that. Still no good. Seriously? We don't even want to go to your stupid ass country, hell we even stayed on the ship anyway during the Victoria stop. Had to leave her here by herself while the rest of us went. And by that time it was too late to get a refund anyway from the cruise line, so we were out that money as well.
I don't read Chinese myself; the translation offered by Google is:
In light of the recent incidents of malicious questioning and harassment targeting Chinese scholars at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Embassy and Consulates in the United States remind those planning to travel to the US recently to enhance their security awareness, avoid entering the country through this airport, and familiarize themselves with US entry regulations in advance to make necessary preparations. If questioned by US law enforcement personnel, remain calm and respond rationally.
emphasis added.
The warning is definitely about Sea-Tac in particular, as well as more broadly about travel to the US.
Seatac warns avbout seatac. Last I went through they had info signs on every board saying they do not control customs and border protections operations at the airport and to be prepared.
There were signs like that before but I'd never seen them on every set of flight display boards before, far outside the international gate areas.
This *is* the airport that would detain my US citizen mom every single time for the better part of a decade for the crime of having a similar name to some random criminal in China. Became the most bothersome routine at one point - she’d show up to the kiosk, a ticket gets printed out with a big black X, an officer whisks her away to a room for two hours and she comes out substantially more irritated than she already would’ve been from a trans-oceanic flight.
Needless to say, no fond memories of this airport.
I’ve had this same experience coming back from overseas deployment. I was given the 50 questions despite being in a line full of people all on the same flight that the departure airport was an Air Force base…
This sub is being flooded with disingenuous “Seattle is so bad” headlines so regularly now over shit that shouldn’t even be attributed to seattle. Its getting obnoxious.
Also, more or less than other countries? Israel is considered the #1 offender with Russia and China rounding out the top 3. But pretty much every country does everywhere.
Nobody who knows the subject is going to argue that one thing isn't true, just because 2 others are, and i feel like that's what's happening. Israel and Russia are balls deep in the US. But most of you still are clueless as to just how big the China threat is. I'm not denigrating the citizens of China, but I am suggesting that the country is not your friend.
Probably not that much proportionate to the ones not committing espionage. I don't think that refutes the point of calling out that it does happen is RW propaganda.
saying there are /many/ instances of /scholars/ doing it and especially that this justifies harassment and denied entry of other scholars is absolutely right wing propaganda.
you're insane. you literally posted peter thiels alt-right jerk off rag he founded asa direct response to minorities publishing. their own viewpoints: the standford review.
with one semi documented instance of china targeting scholars which is very different from whats claimed here and a bunch of nonsubstance allegations
Except there's just one little problem. I disagree with all right-wing nationalist propaganda. Unfortunately for you, even a stopped clock is correct twice a day.
I just happen to have a job in a relevant sector, that gives me an understanding of some of the problems that you immediately reject as conspiracy theory. All I can tell you is, try to be grateful there are people who are gatekeeping subjects that you will never have to know anything about personally. I know that you want to believe that the world is all rainbows and sunshine, but it's actually pretty fucking bleak behind the curtain.
There is really no need for me to defend my position on this, because you've just made it abundantly clear that you will always be talking out of your asshole.
There is really no need for me to defend my position on this, because you've just made it abundantly clear that you will always be talking out of your asshole.
It's really because there's a trend of Chinese scholars coming here under the pretense of academic work, when the actual goal of the CCP is economic espionage.
I mean, quite a lot of their technological advancements and economy for the last *checks notes* 40 years have been built of stealing patented tech and knocking it off, that’s not really a secret.
But please, you tell me? What else would they like?
Patents around the world only last 20 years (21 years if you count the 1 year provisional which some countries like the US issue) for the express purpose of fostering innovation, not so someone can have a perpetual monopoly. Patents are also defined quite narrowly to enable fast improvements in products. If ARM, AMD, Motorola, MOS, IBM, Toshiba etc. were banned from making microprocessors because Intel was issued a broad and forever lasting patent for their 4004 processor (released in 1971), we'd be living in a significantly less technological world. There's discussion now that even the 20 years is too long for today's speed of advancement.
One possible example of this actually happening and two claims from the US government that they made in order to defend their actions might not be as convincing as you think.
I provided 4 credible, reliable sources. Whether you're convinced by them or not isn't my problem. Unless you'd like to refute my sources with your own
Our culture, in the west, isn't the same as it is in China. Trying to hold them to our standards is foolish at best, racist at worst. They have long term planning we can't even understand. Our system is dying, and good riddance.
Back in the 90’s Japanese businessmen often flew into PDX to visit Intel. This shit happened all the time so JAL eventually stopped flying that direct route.
Pretty sure it was Delta's mini asia hub at the turn of the century that earned the city the DEPORTland moniker. I'm nearly positive JAL never actually serves PDX (just offered codeshare service)
As a US citizen born and raised parents, grandparents etc all citizens four hundred years back, my worst experience with customs was as SeaTac. I live in Washington for the last 20+ years and coming in from a trip to the UK got the interrogation and asked to step aside for more questions. No explanation and I even have TSA pre check. Never had problems with any other airport before or after. They suck.
It’s gotten worse at every American airport and border over the past ten years. It was already bad before, but it’s just downright embarrassing and shameful coming back home as an American now. Gives me fewer reasons to come back.
I’ve traveled to many different countries and other than the land border of Turkey and Bulgaria, I always get the rudest welcome coming back to America.
Yea, I actually just got back from London. And that's all that happened to me, too. I was asked if there's something I needed to declare and I said, "I have teas." They just went, "You're all good," and let me pass.
EPP, it’s pretty awesome. Does all the risk assessment stuff before you get to the tablet, so the officer doesn’t have to question you much. If you’re flagged for secondary or need further verification, the tablet will tell you to speak to an officer at a booth.
Which has not advertised or been made clear in any way when I've gone across the border. Not to mention that I don't appreciate the state spending my tax dollars on Orwellian surveillance gizmos.
Idk man, there were signs about opting out of facial recognition in baggage claim, on every booth, and in the queue last time I was there. The data is already in the system, that’s how the tablets work, so I’ll keep using it.
My experience coming back to the US through SeaTac vs LAX was so different. The officer at SeaTac asked me a million questions (I’m a US citizen btw) and then I was “selected” for a random inspection meanwhile at LAX they just looked at my passport and let me go.
Perhaps your 400yr back family were indigenous, but still, in the 1600s there were natives and colonists. ‘Citizen’ is a legal abstraction that did not exist for either.
But it's specifically being cited as a DHS issue at SeaTac. Yes, they're advising travelers to avoid the US, but specifically to avoid SeaTac if they do need to travel to the US.
Through anecdotal accounts from immigration lawyers, some border crossings are worse than others. Probably it’s just a few crazy agents at specific locations.
I'm not sure if DHS at the airport cares about you presenting in China. But the DOJ has targeted prominent researchers in medicine and science that have received research grants from China, and now generally bans US researchers from collaborating with and receiving grants from China especially on very important research (such as cancer and other diseases, space, and semiconductors). See Charles Lieber for a prominent case. The International Space Station has a ban on Chinese citizens and space conferences hosted by NASA by law bans Chinese citizens including astronauts and scientists.
I think this is largely a problem with the electorate. We think of money for the military as "keeping America safe" and money spent on everything else as "for welfare queens" or "making lab rats gay" or whatever.
As horrible as Trump is, a lot of this is on us. He won his recent election fair and square, and it remains to be seen if we as a country are willing to countenance the things needed to repair the damage he's done.
Even if there was interference and Kamala "rightfully" should have squeaked by it's nowhere near good enough. The fact that dozens and dozens of millions of Amercian voters full-throatedly cheer for Trump and each and every thing he did and does is a disgrace.
Dawg there was a 7 point shift in the electorate away from Democrats. There was no "rightfully should have squeaked by" about it. It was a terrible year for incumbents all over the globe, and Democrats happened to be the incumbents. The Joe Biden of it all didn't help, and in areas where Kamala was able to campaign extensively she cut that margin by 3-4 points, but the political environment was what it was.
I don't actually think there's a lot of people who think we need to spend a trillion dollars a year on the military.
But production for the US military is spread throughout every state so that each Congress person can funnel money into their district or state and claim they're "creating jobs in [wherever]." And the lobbyists for those businesses threaten to say that Congress person X is taking jobs away from the good people of [wherever]. It's an intentional tragedy of the commons.
I got pulled in for secondary at Sea-Tac once (only place in the states I have been) -- the agent thought it was "suspicious" that I was visiting for a wedding but not staying at the wedding couple's home...
And he called Australia "The Totalitarian Covid Lockdown State of Australia",
It's one of the worst things US can do. I had a professor friend visiting Seattle from China for an academic conference. He told me the custom officer asked him if he's here to steal US technology. I was stunned and speechless.
It shows our border control and custom officers know nothing about academics which relies on international collaboration. Little do they know over 70% of conference papers were authored by Chinese. If they decline entry of all Chinese scholars there wouldn't be a conference.
Entry was fine for me. Getting a visa was a bit of a weird experience. Embassy was not friendly at all and didn’t seem to want to encourage tourism. But I’m sure getting a US visa isn’t easy either.
People are quick to simultaneously wish worse upon ourselves and our future (wishing for consequences on us due to Trump?) and also glaze China.
Few have personal experience on what it's like being a tourist there, and I'll tell you 10 yrs ago they were more intrusive of visitors than we are even now.
I’m curious what you mean by “10 years ago they were more intrusive of visitors”. I traveled in China 20 years ago and aside from getting an advanced visa the process and experience wasn’t vastly different from other places. Were there specific things that stood out?
Our airport is not big enough, overcrowded, and we desperately need a new one, so it's nice that China is warning their citizens to consider alternative points of entry.
Is this a recent thing? I went through customs a few times through SeaTac and it was pretty smooth even as an East Asian American Citizen. But this was right before covid. I haven't done any international travel since then.
I dislike Trump and 99% of what DHS is doing right now but you are painfully oblivious and living in a bubble if you think this was out of line. We are in a Cold War with China, and they have been proven to use academic scholars to infiltrate private companies and our government. Additionally, they should be the last to cast judgement. Americans entering China are subject to constant surveillance, not only at border entries but to the point of being followed constantly by state police everywhere you go in the country. This article is stupid clickbait relying on people that hate Trump so much tha they’ll side with an adversary doing the same if not worse as us.
Lived in china for 6 years. Never got followed or experienced anything but friendliness, except one time i cluelessly ruined a guy's wedding picture. That got me a frown and nothing more.
At least we don't mandate retina and fingerprint scans for all visitors like China.
Edit: we do fingerprints but not retina currently. We also do not have hyper specific non-standard requirements for visa portraits to clearly feed a facial recognition database like China.
Just saying in general we treat foreigners as good or better than China so the warning is rich. Personal bias having been "randomly" selected for another security check right before I boarded and I watched the last people board my flight wondering how long they'll wait for me vs how long China takes.
You may want to check what’s being done at the Us entry today and what the current plans and discussions are. Fingerprints and pictures are taken since years and they are discussion additional data.
Curious because I was surprised Munich required it this year, and went to a couple countries a couple years ago and they didn't require it. Seems to be the new normal
I opted in for Global Entry and I'm a national so I can't speak from the perspective of a visitor.
I edited my comment. We do fingerprints and a photo (as the EU recently adopted) but not a retina scan.
China's visa process and foreigner intake is more intrusive and hostile in my experience. Just thought the warning was a little rich considering how China treats visitors. Didn't even mention they have the most stringent "where are you staying what's your itinerary" with govt officials tailing you and questioning your hotel front desk at each location. And I was on a tourist visa not an academic where there's any concern for espionage or anything like that.
China does not do retina, they do the exact same as the US. I’m in Taipei right now and live in China part of the year and travel frequently back and forth.
And China has visa free travel now for nearly every country except for Americans, because orange man. And the questioning is literally the same as it is for any other country. You can’t enter Japan without a return flight and a hotel.
I also live in Hawaii. HNL regularly turns international visitors away by asking them if they have enough money to stay and if they look like the don’t, they get denied entry. It’s happened frequently enough that the local news stops reporting it.
If memory serves correct China did require retina for me. Their kiosk had you bring your eyeball up to a shape and hold it not just a photo. China required a visa for Americans at least for 10+ yrs now.
A very non standard visa btw. Regular passport photo places don't adhere to China's specific facial ratios and dimensions because it clearly feeds a facial recognition database.
Also mailing your passport to a 3rd party in San Francisco to run it for you is the only way to get the visa stamped if you don't live there. We're specifically told to NOT mail our passport by our Govt but do you want to fly to SF yourself?
Also China will strictly ask where you stay each night, each city, what are you doing, etc and then a govt official comes in person demanding that info from your hotel. Not exactly hospitable to come in, explore around, maybe plan as you go.
Not to mention I was profiled and detained at the gate for BS random drug testing and my whole plane waited while I hoped the process ends before the pilots/airlines patience ends.
Just saying you can think orange man bad and not actively wish for the world to punish us or glaze China like they haven't had the strictest, hostile, intrusive intake of foreigners (Americans) for awhile now.
It's objectively true. Tell me when you visited China. This is firsthand experience.
I'm wrong about the biometric kiosk?
Or the tourist visa process?
Or having my full trip itinerary checked and verified by hotel and govt officials? Absolutely happened and you can blame the dawn of the trade/tariff wars but it happened.
Or the security profiling me on my way out? Only Russian sounding names coincidentally pulled at the gate before boarding.
What's flatly wrong? What's your experience in China?
I was there last month? And I’ve been visiting since the late 90s.
They don’t care where you stay as long as you register with local police when you visit, which has been the case since forever, but now you can do it online.
There are more Russians in China right now than all other foreigners combined.
Chinese scholars definitely contribute in no way lumping them all in
But to put our head in the sand and act like it’s no biggie and then literally parrot the CCP talking points about our airports, pretty laughable propaganda
Espionage is pretty much par for the course for every country but we shouldn't be so overzealous with DHS that it causes people to stop visiting. Tourism is pretty important for Seattle's economy.
The existence of espionage doesn't change our government's responsibility to conduct customs and immigration in a reasonable/fair way. If you think the DHS under Trump is conducting itself well then you fundamentally have un-American values.
Okay sure buddy now apply that same moral righteous to China
I don’t think the DHS is conducting them self “well” but it is so insanely laughable you are choosing to believe the CCP is better then even this modern DHS
Go to a Chinese airport and start talking about Tiananmen Square or Xi looking like Winnie the Pooh
Use some common sense, your moral equivalency is deeply flawed
Nah I can criticize my government without some dumb disclaimer about China just to make people who don't believe in American values like you feel more comfortable.
Do you know what academic research is? Just what do you think research collaboration is? What do you think people do at conferences when they are giving talks?
Yeah, I keep seeing this happen. My controversial take is that no matter your disapproval of the government, espionage is something to always be taken seriously.
944
u/Senior_Ability_4001 That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. Apr 16 '26
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned its citizens Thursday not to travel to the U.S. through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and to be cautious of traveling to the states altogether.
The government agency said 20 Chinese scholars were traveling to attend an academic conference with valid U.S. visas, but were denied entry after being subjected to “unreasonable questioning” by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers at Sea-Tac, according to Reuters, who translated the foreign ministry’s notice.
Chinese citizens were advised to “strengthen safety awareness, avoid entering through this airport … and make all necessary preparations,” due to “repeated incidents of malicious questioning and harassment targeting Chinese scholars” at Sea-Tac.
The ministry advised citizens to respond calmly and rationally if they are questioned by U.S. law enforcement officers.
Sea-Tac and Customs and Border Patrol did not immediately respond to requests for comment.