HKSAR urges residents to avoid traveling to Israel, Iran

As the tensions in the Middle East continue to escalate, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Chief Executive John Lee said on Tuesday the HKSAR immigration department has receive requests for assistance from 21 Hong Kong residents in Israel and Iran. Of those, 20 have already left the region, and the HKSAR authorities will maintain contact with the remaining individual.

In light of recent developments in Israel and Iran, the HKSAR government upgraded its outbound travel alert for both countries to the black alert level last week, Lee said on Tuesday, Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group reported. 

He also urged Hong Kong residents to avoid traveling to Israel and Iran, to stay vigilant about personal safety, and to leave the region or relocate to relatively safer areas as soon as possible.

Acting on the decisions and plans of the Party Central Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China’s diplomatic and consular missions in Iran and other countries, the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Administration worked together for the evacuation of 3,125 Chinese nationals from Iran to safety, Guo Jiakun, spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told at a press conference on Monday. 

“Among them, there are a 10-month-old baby, a 70-year-old senior, and citizens from Hong Kong and Taiwan. As the Chinese nationals who are willing to leave Iran have all been safely evacuated, the large-scale and well-ordered evacuation of Chinese personnel in Iran has been completed by the Chinese government,” Guo said. 

At the same time, China’s Embassy in Israel helped and organized the evacuation of over 500 Chinese nationals from Israel to safety, and helped some nationals from the UK, India and Poland safely evacuate, the spokesperson said. 

Still, some Chinese nationals choose to stay in Iran and Israel. Our Ministry reminds them to stay safe. Our colleagues in Chinese diplomatic and consular missions in Iran and Israel have stayed on their post, and will continue to do everything possible to offer Chinese nationals there assistance, the spokesperson noted.