China tightens control of overseas travel in sweeping new law

Submission Statement: China has implemented sweeping new controls on overseas travel for Chinese citizens as President Xi Jinping steps up efforts to secure state secrets, advanced technology and highly skilled workers.

The regulations, which come into force on Tuesday, will formalise creeping restrictions on overseas trips for mid-to-senior-level civil servants, Communist Party cadres and state-owned enterprise employees, as well as private citizens working in sensitive areas. Those who breach the new rules will face steep fines and exit bans ranging from three months to an indefinite period.

The law takes China back towards the decades-long prohibition on foreign travel that prevailed during the Mao era, analysts say. Those restrictions only fully eased when Beijing opened up to trade.

“The result could be a gradual shift back towards a pre-1990s model in which international travel is treated less as an individual right and more as a privilege subject to administrative approval,” said Henry Gao, a law professor at Singapore Management University.

Managers in charge of permitting trips for employees — government staff in China are often required to surrender their passports to their employers and ask for them back if they plan to travel — will be more reluctant to approve applications.

The authorities were also broadening the definition of public servants to include those working for state schools, research institutes and public hospitals, as well as state-owned enterprises and others, the general manager said. Spouses and children are also often restricted.

In the wake of a row with Japan over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment that an attack on Taiwan could force Japan to take military action, some reported difficulty in getting approval for trips there.

“Japan is the new banned destination this year,” said a banker at state-owned Bank of China in Beijing.

Others report receiving telephone calls from people claiming to be immigration authorities telling them not to travel to destinations such as the US. 

Zhao, a university lecturer in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou who asked not to be fully identified, said he had bought a return ticket to the US to visit a friend when, just hours before his departure in May last year, he received a call from someone claiming to be from “immigration” urging him not to go.

“They told me the US was not a sensible place to visit. They said US immigration might check my laptop and phone,” Zhao said.

He said he was puzzled by the warning. “I’m not a top-secret guy. I’m not working on anything that I feel could pose a risk to national security.”

Zhao ultimately cancelled the trip, losing about $2,000 because of the short notice. “I merely wanted to visit a close friend who was about to become a mother,” he said. “I had no other plans.”