US warships refused entry to Hong Kong for scheduled Thanksgiving holiday visit

A flotilla of U.S. warships carrying as many as 8,000 American sailors heading for a four-day Thanksgiving holiday visit to China’s port of Hong Kong has been refused entry, the U.S. Navy said Thursday.

U.S. aircraft carrier denied access to Hong Kong

The Kitty Hawk group and its crew of 8,000 U.S. airmen and sailors had been expected in Hong Kong on Wednesday, but will now spend the holiday on the South China Sea.
Hundred of relatives of crew members of the USS Kitty Hawk had flown to Hong Kong to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones. Hong Kong has been a regular port of call for U.S. sailors on “R & R” (rest and recuperation) since the Vietnam War.
[. . .] The move by Beijing coincides with “airspace controls” on Wednesday which Xinhua news agency said affected the air travel plans of 7,000 people in south and east China.
The controls were introduced for “unspecified reasons.”