State Department downgrades travel advisory for China

The State Department on Wednesday downgraded its travel advisory for China, shortly after the White House announced it had secured the release of three Americans as part of a prisoner swap with Beijing.

The travel advisory was updated to a Level 2 “exercise increased caution,” down from a Level 3 “reconsider travel,” according to the State Department.

The updated advisory also removed the “D” notation, which indicates a risk of wrongful detention for U.S. nationals, and it removed language in the advisory related to wrongful detention.

The updated travel advisory comes after the White House announced three U.S. citizens — Mark Swidan, Kai Li and John Leung — had been freed in exchange for an undisclosed number of Chinese nationals detained in the U.S.

Li and Swidan had both been designated by the State Department as wrongfully detained. Swidan was arrested in 2012 on drug-related charges, while Li had been held since 2016 on espionage charges.

Politico reported that the prisoner swap “was a factor” in the State Department’s move to downgrade the travel warning, citing a spokesperson granted anonymity to discuss the matter on record.

A State Department spokesperson told The Hill that the department believes the “D” designation “is no longer warranted going forward at this time.”

“There are no longer any Americans who have been determined as wrongfully detained who are being held in the PRC,” the spokesperson said, using an acronym for the People's Republic of China.

The State Department said its Level 2 travel warning remains in place “due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans.”