(Adnkronos) – New and stricter travel restrictions are in force in China starting today, including exit bans for individuals deemed potentially capable of compromising the country’s “industrial or technological security”. Citizens who violate technology import and export regulations could be banned from leaving China, the State Council announced. Those who engage in illegal activities abroad could be “banned from leaving the country for a period of six months to three years from the date of their return to China”.
China and the United States are engaged in a technological race with mutual accusations of misappropriation of artificial intelligence model capabilities. The new rules, initially published in July but effective today, were designed to “preserve national sovereignty, security, and development interests,” according to the State Council.
Analysts, however, warn that such restrictions grant China “a wide margin of discretion.” Security-related activities and criminal activities “can be vaguely defined and easily redefined,” Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore told AFP. “The outside world will only know how this discretion will be exploited after the first measures are implemented,” he added.
Chong Ja Ian specifically cited cases of travel bans imposed on foreign nationals, including American Min Zin. The US government stated that the analyst was arrested by Chinese authorities on June 3 in Yunnan province and that his detention is illegal. China rejected these accusations in August, stating that Min Zin was suspected of violating Chinese law. “The Min Zin case reminds us that the range of people China could prevent from leaving the country can be very broad and potentially arbitrary,” Chong said.
According to Dylan Loh, an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, these travel restrictions “send the message” that China will take measures to prevent “leaks in sensitive areas related to security or national interests”.
