China’s exit ban is being abused

 Direct translation

Foreign media revealed: China’s exit ban has intensified

—China’s exit ban is being abused

Editor: Fang Xun / Source: Radio France Internationale / https://www.aboluowang.com/2025/0723/2251631.html / Image : Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images

On 22 July 2025, Le Monde, a French newspaper, published a special article by Harold Thibaud, a Beijing-based reporter for the newspaper, titled "In China, exit bans exacerbate uncertainty", pointing out that several foreign citizens were prohibited from leaving China without prior notice. According to legal experts, this measure is usually used in civil or commercial disputes, and its scope and procedures are still opaque.

The article wrote that China emphasizes its openness to foreign investors and tourists, but the case of exit bans on foreign citizens has deepened people's insecurity. A female employee of Wells Fargo Bank in the United States is the latest foreigner to be banned from leaving the country. According to human rights organizations, this measure does not mean any judicial conviction, but its use is becoming increasingly common, which highlights China's dual personality image. While being hospitable and having an attractive market, it is possible to put foreigners in legal trouble without warning.

Mao Chenyue (transliteration), who was born in Shanghai and is now a U.S. citizen, is based in Atlanta and is a managing director of Wells Fargo Bank, specializing in international trade payments. According to the Wall Street Journal, she was recently banned from leaving the country at the end of her trip to China. A spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed the news on 21 July 2025, saying she was involved in an "ongoing criminal investigation" and had to cooperate with the investigation. As a result, Wells Fargo, headquartered in San Francisco, has banned all of its employees from traveling to China.

The article said that it is not new for a country to ban people suspected of criminal cases from leaving the country, but legal professionals pointed out that China lacks transparency in using this practice, often using such measures as an additional means to target regime critics or people released from prison, even if the ban is not explicitly included in the court's judgment. Sometimes, some people find out that they are banned from leaving the country when they leave the country. Such measures are usually used in civil or commercial disputes: plaintiffs can apply to the court to ban the person they want to summon from leaving the country. Once this ban takes effect, it is difficult to lift it, and because of its restrictive nature, it has become a powerful means of pressure.

Concerns about arbitrary detention

The article pointed out that there is currently no public official data on the number of people affected by this measure. But the non-governmental organization Safeguard Defenders estimated in a report released in 2023 that the number of people banned from leaving the country will reach tens of thousands, mainly Chinese citizens. The report pointed out that there are 15 legal provisions involving exit bans, an increase of one-third in four years.

The article also introduced a survey conducted by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China in 2024, which showed that 9% of member companies said it was difficult to allow foreign employees to work in China because they were worried about arbitrary detention, police raids on their offices or being banned from leaving China. Among the 128 companies participating in the survey, 4% said that due to the exit ban imposed on some employees, their travel between China and headquarters was restricted. Business executives of foreign companies also admitted that they refused to serve as corporate legal persons in China, or spent a lot of money to hire legal representatives because they were worried about being involved in old cases or trivial legal disputes.

The article quoted James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based lawyer and former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, as explaining: "In most cases, exit bans have legal basis, but there are also cases where government departments abuse their power, including for political reasons. Although it is possible to apply for the ban to be lifted, the process is long and difficult due to the lack of transparency in the procedure and the bail system."

Corruption investigation

The article lists several examples of Chinese and foreign people who have been banned from leaving the country, such as Zhang Yiqiong, the wife of human rights activist Huang Wenxun, who was told that her passport had been cancelled when she was preparing to leave Chengdu to take up a post in Singapore in 2021. Airport customs explained that the cancellation order may have come from the police in her hometown of Hubei or her husband's hometown of Guangdong. In 2023, senior executives of Japan's Nomura Bank and US consulting firm Kroll were banned from leaving the country. And the controversial scientist and "father" of genetically modified babies, He Jiankui, also said that he was denied a passport after serving three years in prison.

The article concluded by writing that as corruption investigations increase, the scope of use of these bans is also expanding. Under Xi Jinping's leadership, corruption investigations are also a means of political cleansing. A lawyer concluded: "This problem is not new. In the past, it was mainly related to the Chinese but now the reasons are becoming more and more complicated. In a country where the law is a tool of power, this is a way for the state to force relevant people to 'comply'."