I have a trip to China on Saturday and I'm worried about:
a. Chinese retaliation. I don't think they are going to start arresting Americans, but it might get uncomfortable if I don't have my passport in the subway station.
b. American retaliation. My wife has a greencard, this is actually worrying me more than anything, although as far as I have heard so far, we should be OK.
Trip is still on. I'm really interested in how China has changed since I left 8 years ago.
I don't think you have lived experience to back that up. There are definitely people being turned away at customs in the US, and China has targeted nationals of other countries they have disputes with (e.g. during the Huawei daughter incident and putting two Canadians in jail for two years while she got house arrest in her mansion). And anyways, having your passport in a Beijing subway station is just the way things are now (never was needed before, but they random check all the time before I left in 2016).
There have been people turned away at customs for as long as you have been alive. These are only stories because they're effective at manipulating you into believing the narrative du jour.
Yes, and I've always been the "it could never happen to me" person. But now things are volatile and chaotic. That is elevated risk, and you just shouldn't ignore it.
a. Chinese retaliation. I don't think they are going to start arresting Americans, but it might get uncomfortable if I don't have my passport in the subway station.
b. American retaliation. My wife has a greencard, this is actually worrying me more than anything, although as far as I have heard so far, we should be OK.
Trip is still on. I'm really interested in how China has changed since I left 8 years ago.