February 2, 2023), Local [PRC] law enforcement and security services frequently employ extrajudicial means against U.S. citizens without regard to international norms, including the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations and the 1980 U.S.-China Bilateral Consular Convention. These include broad travel prohibitions, known as exit bans. These are sometimes used to prevent U.S. citizens, who are not themselves suspected of a crime, from leaving the PRC to pressure relatives or associates in the United States who are wanted by PRC law enforcement to return to the PRC. PRC officials also arbitrarily detain and interrogate U.S. citizens for reasons related to state security … [and] the PRC criminal justice system often subjects U.S. citizens to overly lengthy pre-trial detention in extremely difficult conditions while investigations are ongoing, and detention facilities arbitrarily prevent/limit detainees’ access to lawyers, medical treatment, and mail. (7) The People’s Republic of China is considered one of the least free countries to operate in as a journalist, ranked 179 out of 180 in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, above only North Korea. The ranking of the People’s Republic of China stems from the country’s near complete lack of independent journalism. (8) In 2022, Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net annual report ranked the People’s Republic of China as the world’s worst abuser of internet freedom for the eighth consecutive year, with censorship intensifying during the 2022 Beijing Olympics. (9) According to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China, the Government of the People’s Republic of China restricts the activities of journalists from the United States and journalists representing United States media outlets by denying entry into the People’s Republic of China or restricting access to people and places, attempting to censor their reporting, and harassing their colleagues and sources. (10) The Government of the United States generally allows journalists not