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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/02/china-barring-thousands-of-citizens-and-foreigners-from-leaving-country>
"China is increasingly barring people, including foreign executives, from
leaving the country, according to a report and research.
Scores of Chinese nationals and foreigners have been ensnared by exit bans,
according to the report from the rights group Safeguard Defenders, while a
Reuters analysis has found an apparent surge in court cases involving such bans
in recent years.
Foreign business lobby groups are voicing concern about the trend, calling it a
jarring message as the authorities say the country is open for business after
three years of tight Covid-19 restrictions.
“Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has expanded the legal landscape
for exit bans and increasingly used them, sometimes outside legal
justification,” the Safeguard Defenders report says.
The group estimates “tens of thousands” of Chinese citizens are banned from
leaving at any one time. It also cites a 2022 academic paper that found 128
cases of foreigners being exit-banned between 1995 and 2019, including 29
Americans and 44 Canadians.
Focus on the exit bans comes as China-US tensions have risen over trade and
security disputes and contrasts with China’s message that it is opening up to
overseas investment and travel after the isolation of its Covid curbs.
The Reuters analysis of records on exit bans, from China’s supreme court
database, shows an eightfold increase in cases mentioning bans between 2016 and
2022.
China last week beefed up its counter-espionage law, allowing exit bans to be
imposed on anyone, Chinese or foreign, who is under investigation.
Most of the cases in the database referring to exit bans are civil, not
criminal. Reuters did not find any involving foreigners or politically
sensitive subversion or national security issues. By comparison, the US and EU
impose travel bans on some criminal suspects but generally not for civil
claims.
China’s ministry of public security did not respond to Reuters requests for
comment on exit bans, including inquiries on how many individuals, including
foreigners, are subject to them."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
