Earlier, in response to US President Donald Trump's claims that China was “moving troops to the border with Hong Kong,” China's Foreign Ministry stressed that the city falls exclusively within the domain of China's jurisdiction, amd urged the US to stop “prying into Hong Kong affairs.”
The US State Department's travel.state.gov website updated its ‘Country Information' section for the Chinese autonomous city of Hong Kong to ‘Level 2' on Wednesday, urging travellers to “exercise increased caution” “due to civil unrest.”
The rating saw the city's status jump up from Level 1, which calls on travellers to ‘exercise normal precautions'. The State Department's travel advisory has four levels, with Level 3 urging US nationals to ‘reconsider travel', and Level 4 simply saying ‘do not travel'.
In the explanatory section, the State Department points to political demonstrations taking place across the city, including at the Hong Kong International Airport, and says that while most of these “have been peaceful…some have turned confrontational or resulted in violent clashes.”
The website urges travellers to maintain caution, including avoiding areas where demonstrations are taking place, keeping “a low profile,” monitoring local media for updates, and following the US Consultate General in Hong Kong on Facebook and Twitter.
Earlier Wednesday, Canada similarly updated its travel advisory website, urging any Canadians in Hong…