How exit bans are harming China’s push to welcome foreign business
- Beijing is rolling out the red carpet for top overseas executives to show it is open for business again
- Yet it is also expanding its ability to stop people from leaving the country – sometimes just because they are on the wrong side of a business dispute or work for the wrong people
But, in conversation with Hong Kong-based executives in the past few months, I found some have begun to voice misgivings about something which would have sounded absurd even a few years ago: is it safe to travel to the mainland, and will they be barred from leaving the country?
As I dug deeper into the issue, almost all executives I spoke to have had a story to tell on exit bans, either about their own unpleasant experiences or their business friends being banned from leaving.
Mr X realised something was seriously wrong in October 2017 when he tried to fly to Canada to visit his family but was stopped by border police at Beijing Capital International Airport. They told him he was implicated in economic crimes and was not allowed to leave, but they refused to produce any documents or give further details.
It quickly dawned on him that the refusal to allow him to leave might have something to do with rumours that Duan had been secretly detained on corruption charges even though he left her company six years earlier.
Mr X ended up being stranded in Beijing for more than five years until January this year, during which time he remained separated from his wife and son and missed important family events. While he was free to go anywhere within mainland China, the psychological pressure took a toll on his mental and physical health.
Only at the beginning of this year did his hope rise when there was speculation that Duan had been released on bail. Trying his luck again, he booked a flight to Hong Kong and breezed through the border checkpoint at the Beijing airport.
According to my investigation, in a few exceptional cases, some businesspeople facing a travel ban can find themselves in a quandary for an indefinite period because the task forces formed to investigate those people were disbanded before exit bans had been lifted.
That explains why some overseas investors and businessmen are increasingly worried. While deals can go sour while conducting normal business, disputes should be settled properly and transparently. Arbitrary and expansive application of exit bans will only harm China at a time when the leadership is pushing to show it is open to overseas business.
Wang Xiangwei is a former editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post. He now teaches journalism at Baptist University