Apparently China is taking a play from the Trump playbook by banning hotels from accepting guests from five, predominantly Muslim countries, including Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan. The ban was allegedly implemented by local police in the southern city of Guangzhou and coincided with a development forum being held there. The ban is expected to remain in place until after the G20 Summit to be held in Hangzhou (620 miles away) in early September.
That said, apparently the cops are only worried about "low income" terrorists as the ban has only been implemented at Guangzhou's low-end hotels charging an average of around $25 per night. Per the Independent:
Budget hotels in the southern city of Guangzhou said they had received notices from police beginning in March, ordering them to turn away guests from Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Afghanistan.
The rule coincided with a development forum held in Guangzhou on 25 and 26 August, and will extend until after the G20 summit set to take place in Hangzhou, 620 miles away from Guangzhou, on 4 and 5 September.
A hotel worker told the South China Morning Post that local police had told staff they must turn away guests from the five countries until September 10, but had not explained why.
“I'm not clear of the reason. We just can't take them,” a worker in another hotel told Reuters.
The ban has not been extended to upmarket hotels, or to budget hotels that belong to international or domestic chains. Three hotels identified by Reuters were all independent and charged around $23 a night.
Foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, denied that Muslims were banned from low-end hotels in Guangzhou. Instead, Kang insisted that China's official policy is to "encourage people from China and other countries to have friendly exchanges."
“I've never heard that there is this policy being followed in China,” Lu told a daily news briefing.
“Moreover, as far as China is concerned, our policy in principle is that we encourage people from China and other countries to have friendly exchanges and are willing to provide various convenient policies in this regard.”
Frankly, we've never heard of a diplomat making such gracious and welcoming comments to foreign visitors…an "official policy" supporting "friendly exchanges" is pretty serious.
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