Commentary

Beijing recently imposed exit bans on two more U.S. citizens, indicating the continued dangers of travel to authoritarian states without the rule of law.

The regime in China imposed an exit ban on a U.S. Commerce Department official in mid-April, supposedly for failing to mention on his visa application that he worked for the U.S. government. He is a U.S. citizen who previously worked for the U.S. Army. He was reportedly interrogated by and spoke to China’s intelligence service about his work maintaining Black Hawk helicopters. The man was in China to visit family in Chengdu, and his name is not yet public.

Beijing imposed another exit ban on Mao Chenyue, an Atlanta-based managing director at Wells Fargo. Ms. Mao is reportedly a U.S. citizen who grew up in China. She was in China for business, but ran into an exit ban made public on July 18. China’s foreign ministry claims that she is being held because “she is involved in a criminal case,” but the regime has not released details. There is typically no transparent process for the resolution of exit bans, and Wells Fargo responded by canceling all travel to China.

One of the most egregious recent cases of an exit ban involves the wife and 7-year-old son of Gao Zhen, a New York artist accused by the regime of “slandering China’s heroes and martyrs.” He was detained in China, and an exit ban was imposed on his family. This is a form of “collective justice” seen as entirely unjust by most of the world.

There are more than 200 Americans facing coercive measures in China, including detention, exit bans, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, and other measures. This is 200 too many, given that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has no democratic mandate or governmental legitimacy.

Tens of thousands of Chinese nationals are also likely affected by such exit bans, which can be held over the heads of all others to force them to cooperate with the regime’s intelligence services even when they work for foreign companies. Capital controls and the difficulty of obtaining full-family exit visas are another form of exit ban aimed at preventing Chinese citizens from emigrating from the repressive country permanently.

The risk of exit bans is underestimated and underemphasized in the international business community. A 2024 survey of European businesses found that only 9 percent reported challenges attracting foreign employees to work in China; 4 percent reported difficulty with business trips to their headquarters due to exit bans.

The CCP often detains foreign employees in an attempt to coerce foreign companies or countries on unrelated matters. This is tantamount to hostage-taking for the purpose of diplomatic or commercial leverage. Foreigners hit with exit bans are typically of Chinese ethnicity and only find out at the airport as they are about to fly home.

The CCP’s focus on those of Chinese ethnicity is in part a function of its failure to recognize dual citizenship. But even Chinese-Americans born in the United States could be considered by Chinese nationalists to be traitors to their race if they are critical of the regime in China. If more is not done to oppose the CCP, it could eventually try to claim that every person of Chinese ethnicity, no matter what their citizenship, is a citizen of China.

However, non-Chinese can also be targeted. In one of the most famous cases, Canadian citizens Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were detained for three years, until 2021, to obtain the release of a Huawei executive charged with bank and wire fraud.

A study of 128 exit bans imposed on foreign individuals between 1995 and 2019 found 44 Canadians and 29 Americans under exit bans, suggesting that Canada’s less powerful position vis-à-vis Beijing makes Canadians an easier target. One-third of the cases in the study were related to business disputes.

The latest two exit bans against high-profile U.S. citizens, including the first against a U.S. government employee, are yet another indicator that nobody is safe in communist China. The CCP has next to zero respect for individual liberties or the rule of law, making practices in the country alien to Westerners accustomed to governments that respect the rights of not only their citizens but also those who travel through for tourism or business.

So, unsuspecting Americans travel to China without realizing the risks they take. Gathering business information in China, for example, can result in charges of espionage and an exit ban. In the West, this is a normal business practice. Beijing’s diplomatic hostage-taking is a coercive tactic, not the rule of law that it wants people to believe. It chills business investment in China, which is already suffering from a property sector crash, decreased consumer spending, deflation, unemployment, regulatory hurdles, and overproduction resulting from state subsidies.

The U.S. State Department last changed its travel advisory for China in November, stating, “Exercise increased caution when traveling to mainland China due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans.” It relaxed the advisory from a more dire Level 3, “Reconsider Travel.” This relaxed approach now appears to have been a mistake. It is time for the State Department to once again raise its advisory to Level 3.

In addition, the United States should gradually increase sanctions and tariffs on China until, at a minimum, all U.S. citizens unlawfully detained or banned from exit are freed.

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