>The U.S. State Department said on Monday that the Chinese government had blocked a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office employee visiting the Asian country in a personal capacity from leaving.
>”We are tracking this case very closely and are engaged with Chinese officials to resolve the situation as quickly as possible,” a State Department spokesperson said.
>The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is part of the federal Department of Commerce.
>The individual’s name and whether the person was detained were not disclosed.
>The Chinese embassy in Washington and the U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
>The Washington Post reported on Sunday that a U.S. citizen who works for the Commerce Department had traveled to China several months ago to visit family. The man was being prevented from leaving the country after he failed to disclose on his visa application that he worked for the U.S. government, the newspaper said, citing sources.
>Beijing has used exit bans on both Chinese and foreign nationals in connection with civil disputes, regulatory enforcement and criminal investigations. Analysts say the tactic is at times used to crack down on local dissent and also as diplomatic leverage in disputes with other nations.
>Washington and Beijing have had friction for years over issues ranging from tariffs to the origins of COVID-19 and Taiwan.
>The U.S. bank suspended all employee travel to China after Mao’s exit ban, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last week, saying Mao was a U.S. citizen.
!ping China
bingbaddie1 on
You’d think that they would stop doing this when they’re best positioned to gain goodwill, but I guess unforced error is the first pillar of Xi Jinping thought
sevgonlernassau on
It’s a ten year visa, so no one is allowed to get a job after you got your visa?
flatulentbaboon on
This reminds me of the arrest of the two Canadian Michaels by China in response to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou by Canada.
The Canadian government did everything to tell us that these two Michaels were innocent and that they were just two random people swept up off the streets
It’s only later we found out that Michael Kovrig was actually conducting espionage work on behalf of the Canadian government, and we found that out when Michael Spavor filed a lawsuit against Canada and Kovrig for dragging him into the espionage. The Canadian government later paid Spavor a settlement of 7 million.
> According to a report by The Globe and Mail in November 2023, Spavor sought a multimillion-dollar settlement against the federal government for involving him in espionage activities without his knowledge. Spavor alleges that he provided Michael Kovrig with intelligence on North Korea, which Kovrig then secretly gave to the Canadian government and its Five Eyes allies without Spavor’s permission, leading to their arrest and detention.[19] According to the report, a “highly placed source” told The Globe that Kovrig was “considered an intelligence asset, as a diplomatic officer at the Global Security Reporting Program (GSRP) within the Canadian embassy in Beijing, and later when based in Hong Kong at International Crisis Group.”[19]
> A watchdog report criticized the GSRP operating in a “distinctly grey zone”, putting its officers and their contacts at risk and might breach global diplomatic conventions.[64][65][20]
> In December 2023, The Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian government has offered CA$3 million each to Kovrig and Spavor, while Spavor’s lawyer is seeking $10.5 million.[66] Spavor reached a $7 million settlement deal with the Canadian government in March 2024.[8]
So my point is, I guess, wait for the details to come out. In the case of the guy being arrested for failing to disclose that he works for the US government, it is also extremely illegal in the US to fail to disclose that you work for a foreign adversary government and failing to disclose that can have serious consequences.
> Chinese intelligence officers began tracking an employee of the U.S. Commerce Department this spring, when he was in southwest China and where he has family members, at one point interrogating him about his prior service in the U.S. military, according to a U.S. government document.
> The Commerce employee eventually told U.S. diplomats that the Chinese officers’ questioning “focused heavily” on his U.S. military background rather than his work for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a unit in the Commerce Department, the cable said.
5 Comments
>The U.S. State Department said on Monday that the Chinese government had blocked a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office employee visiting the Asian country in a personal capacity from leaving.
>”We are tracking this case very closely and are engaged with Chinese officials to resolve the situation as quickly as possible,” a State Department spokesperson said.
>The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is part of the federal Department of Commerce.
>The individual’s name and whether the person was detained were not disclosed.
>The Chinese embassy in Washington and the U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
>The Washington Post reported on Sunday that a U.S. citizen who works for the Commerce Department had traveled to China several months ago to visit family. The man was being prevented from leaving the country after he failed to disclose on his visa application that he worked for the U.S. government, the newspaper said, citing sources.
>Beijing has used exit bans on both Chinese and foreign nationals in connection with civil disputes, regulatory enforcement and criminal investigations. Analysts say the tactic is at times used to crack down on local dissent and also as diplomatic leverage in disputes with other nations.
>Washington and Beijing have had friction for years over issues ranging from tariffs to the origins of COVID-19 and Taiwan.
>Chenyue Mao, a Wells Fargo banker, [has also](https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/china-says-wells-fargo-banker-under-exit-ban-is-involved-criminal-case-2025-07-21/) been blocked from [leaving China](https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/wells-fargo-suspends-china-travel-after-employee-exit-ban-source-says-2025-07-17/). Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Monday she was involved in a criminal case and obliged to cooperate with an investigation.
>Mao was the latest of [several executives](https://www.reuters.com/world/china/foreign-firms-executives-entangled-chinese-probes-2025-07-18/) from foreign corporations to be stopped as they tried to depart China.
>The U.S. bank suspended all employee travel to China after Mao’s exit ban, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last week, saying Mao was a U.S. citizen.
!ping China
You’d think that they would stop doing this when they’re best positioned to gain goodwill, but I guess unforced error is the first pillar of Xi Jinping thought
It’s a ten year visa, so no one is allowed to get a job after you got your visa?
This reminds me of the arrest of the two Canadian Michaels by China in response to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou by Canada.
The Canadian government did everything to tell us that these two Michaels were innocent and that they were just two random people swept up off the streets
It’s only later we found out that Michael Kovrig was actually conducting espionage work on behalf of the Canadian government, and we found that out when Michael Spavor filed a lawsuit against Canada and Kovrig for dragging him into the espionage. The Canadian government later paid Spavor a settlement of 7 million.
> According to a report by The Globe and Mail in November 2023, Spavor sought a multimillion-dollar settlement against the federal government for involving him in espionage activities without his knowledge. Spavor alleges that he provided Michael Kovrig with intelligence on North Korea, which Kovrig then secretly gave to the Canadian government and its Five Eyes allies without Spavor’s permission, leading to their arrest and detention.[19] According to the report, a “highly placed source” told The Globe that Kovrig was “considered an intelligence asset, as a diplomatic officer at the Global Security Reporting Program (GSRP) within the Canadian embassy in Beijing, and later when based in Hong Kong at International Crisis Group.”[19]
> A watchdog report criticized the GSRP operating in a “distinctly grey zone”, putting its officers and their contacts at risk and might breach global diplomatic conventions.[64][65][20]
> In December 2023, The Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian government has offered CA$3 million each to Kovrig and Spavor, while Spavor’s lawyer is seeking $10.5 million.[66] Spavor reached a $7 million settlement deal with the Canadian government in March 2024.[8]
—
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detention_of_Michael_Spavor_and_Michael_Kovrig
So my point is, I guess, wait for the details to come out. In the case of the guy being arrested for failing to disclose that he works for the US government, it is also extremely illegal in the US to fail to disclose that you work for a foreign adversary government and failing to disclose that can have serious consequences.
[NYT added that](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/us/politics/china-exit-ban-us-government-employee.html) his military record is apparently drawing the most attention.
> Chinese intelligence officers began tracking an employee of the U.S. Commerce Department this spring, when he was in southwest China and where he has family members, at one point interrogating him about his prior service in the U.S. military, according to a U.S. government document.
> The Commerce employee eventually told U.S. diplomats that the Chinese officers’ questioning “focused heavily” on his U.S. military background rather than his work for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a unit in the Commerce Department, the cable said.