[Salon] China warns travellers to avoid Seattle airport after academics denied entry to US

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

China warns travellers to avoid Seattle airport after academics denied entry to US

About 20 Chinese scholars going to conference harassed and interrogated at border, Beijing says

SCMP

Laura Zhou

Published: 6:31pm, 16 Apr 2026Updated: 7:52pm, 16 Apr 2026

China has advised its citizens travelling to the US to avoid a Seattle airport, citing “malicious interrogation and harassment” of some 20 Chinese academics.

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Thursday that the academics had valid visas and were going to a conference but were denied entry after “unreasonable interrogation” by US border officers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The ministry said that any citizens planning to travel to the US in near future should improve their awareness of security, avoid Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and “carefully review US entry regulations in advance to make all necessary preparations”.

The travel reminder, issued by the foreign ministry and Chinese diplomatic missions in the United States, was made “in light of consecutive incidents of malicious interrogation and harassment targeting Chinese scholars” at the Seattle airport, the notice added.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for further comment.

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The notice is the latest in a series of protests from Beijing over the treatment of Chinese citizens, including researchers, students and company employees, who had permission to enter the US but were subjected to intense questioning on arrival.

It also highlights the broader climate of mistrust between the two powers even as they prepare for US President Donald Trump’s visit to China next month.

The US has tightened its restrictions on visas and its screening of Chinese researchers in recent years, citing national security concerns.

It began under the first administration of Donald Trump and was continued under his successor, Joe Biden.

In May last year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US would “aggressively” revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying “critical fields”.

There are no official figures for how many Chinese students or academics with valid visas have been questioned or repatriated at American airports.

In August, the Chinese foreign ministry claimed that some Chinese students were detained for over 70 hours and questioned about topics unrelated to their purpose for travelling to the US.

Laura Zhou

Laura Zhou joined the Post's Beijing bureau in 2010. She covers China's diplomatic relations and has reported on topics such as Sino-US relations, China-India disputes, and reactions to the North Korea nuclear crisis, as well as other general news.