China has stopped an US citizen who works for the US Department of Commerce from leaving the nation for several months, according to media reports — an episode that coincides with Beijing and Washington trying to arrange a leaders’ summit so they can address their differences on trade.
The Chinese-American individual who works for the Patent and Trademark Office had traveled to China to meet relatives, the Washington Post reported, citing four people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive issue.
The US sent a very high-level message to Beijing to let the man depart, the newspaper added, citing one person.
Photo: Reuters
It said it did not know the name of the man facing a so-called exit ban, which was put in place over an apparent failure to disclose on a visa application that he worked for the US government.
Officials from Beijing and Washington — including in the commerce department — are negotiating a trade deal after US President Donald Trump hit goods from China with heavy tariffs that he later paused. Trump also wants a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to sort through their problems, which touch on technology curbs, rare earths and the status of Taiwan.
To get the meeting and a trade agreement, Trump has softened his harsh campaign rhetoric that focused on the US’ massive trade deficit with China and resulting job losses. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this month said after a meeting Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) that there was “a strong desire on both sides” for a Xi-Trump meeting.
The outlook for such a meeting could be complicated if the episode involving the employee of the commerce department escalates. The incident is somewhat magnified because Wells Fargo suspended travel to the world’s second-biggest economy after one of its top trade financing bankers was blocked from leaving.
“These cases in combination are significant and will have a chilling effect on US business travel to China,” said Jeremy Chan, a senior analyst on the China and Northeast Asia team at Eurasia Group, who once worked as a diplomat in China and Japan. “Given that Trump’s team is reportedly planning to bring a group of CEOs along with him for his summit with Xi later this year, these reports may complicate that effort or make US business executives less willing to participate.”
The commerce department employee, a veteran of the US army, was detained when he arrived in the southwestern city of Chengdu in April, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday, citing a person familiar with the situation.
He was being prevented from leaving China because his case was “related to actions Beijing deemed harmful to national security,” the newspaper reported, though the specifics could not be confirmed.
Since the man arrived in Chengdu, he had also traveled to the Chinese capital with a US official, the newspaper reported.
The Patent and Trademark Office handles US patents and registers trademarks. It says on its Web site that its “mission is to drive US innovation and global competitiveness.”
A spokesperson for the US embassy in Beijing said that its “highest priority is the safety and security of US citizens overseas.”
They added that “we track these cases closely, and have raised our concern with Chinese authorities about the impact these arbitrary exit bans have on our bilateral relations and urged them to immediately allow impacted US citizens to return home.”
China’s use of exit bans has been a point of contention between Beijing and Washington. The US Department of State has repeatedly advised citizens to reconsider travel to China based on what it called the “arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans.”
The move by Wells Fargo came after Mao Chenyue (毛晨月), an Atlanta, Georgia-based managing director for the bank who was born in Shanghai, was banned from departing after entering China, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
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