Australians travelling to Hong Kong are being warned to \u201cexercise a high degree of caution\u201d when visiting the region as national security laws tighten.<\/p>\n
Authorities in Hong Kong now have the power to demand access to personal electronic devices \u2014 including passwords \u2014 from anyone entering or even transiting through the city\u2019s airport.<\/p>\n
Under changes that took effect last month, refusing to surrender a device or disclose its passcode is a criminal offence under Hong Kong\u2019s national security law.<\/p>\n
Non\u2011compliance carries a hefty maximum fine of HK$100,000 ($18,000).<\/p>\n
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By continuing you agree to our Terms<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n A ban on bringing \u201calternative smoking products\u201d \u2014 including vapes and herbal cigarettes \u2014 into Hong Kong takes effect on Thursday, extending to anyone carrying them in public areas or passing through the airport in transit.<\/p>\n The Australian government\u2019s Smartraveller website issued the fresh warning for the destination, explaining the extent of the laws.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to advise exercise a high degree of caution in Hong Kong,\u201d the alert reads.<\/p>\n \u201cHong Kong has strict laws on national security that can be interpreted broadly and could be applied to activities that occurred overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cThe maximum penalty under Hong Kong\u2019s national security laws is life imprisonment.\u201d<\/p>\n Hong Hong is generally considered a moderately safe place for Australians to travel to, rated the second lowest risk level, at level two.<\/p>\n The website reminded Aussie jet-setters planning to travel to the region in the coming months to be aware of very high pollution and humidity levels between May and October.<\/p>\n From a health perspective, Australians are urged to wash their hands often while visiting as hand, foot and mouth disease is common.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australians travelling to Hong Kong are being warned to \u201cexercise a high degree of caution\u201d when visiting the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,1625,44,3792],"class_list":["post-640022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-lifestyle","tag-news","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}