The situation of a U.S. Commerce Department employee, who has been barred from leaving China since April 2025, highlights increasing tensions between the U.S. and China, particularly regarding espionage and exit bans.
U.S. Commerce Employee Subjected to Chinese Exit Ban Amid Surveillance
U.S. Commerce Employee Subjected to Chinese Exit Ban Amid Surveillance
A U.S. citizen working for the Commerce Department is barred from leaving China after being interrogated by Chinese intelligence about his military service.
Chinese intelligence officers have placed a U.S. Commerce Department employee under surveillance, preventing him from leaving China since mid-April 2025. The American citizen, who remains unnamed, was interrogated about his past military service during a visit to Chengdu in southwest China where he has family connections. Their actions are part of a growing trend of "exit bans" employed by the Chinese government as a tool of coercion against foreign nationals.
According to a recently obtained U.S. State Department cable, Chinese officers seized the man’s passport, credit card, cellphone, and iPad on April 14, 2025. While the passport was returned eight days later, he was informed he could not exit the country. His wife is currently residing in the United States.
The cable, dated May 2, also details efforts by U.S. diplomats to safely transport him from Chengdu to Beijing while Chinese officers continued to surveil his activities. The case has drawn significant attention after multiple American news outlets reported on the man's ongoing ordeal over the weekend. The incident raises alarms over the operations of China's Ministry of State Security, which is responsible for intelligence and counterintelligence activities in the country.
As diplomatic tensions between the U.S. and China escalate, this incident underscores the risks faced by American citizens in China, with the Chinese government increasingly utilizing tactics such as exit bans to exert pressure on foreigners.
