Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
China's exit bans multiply as political control tightens
under Xi (1/2)
Tue, May 2, 2023 at 1:01 a.m. GMT+1
By James Pomfret and Angel Woo
HONG KONG (Reuters) -China is increasingly barring people
from leaving the country, including foreign executives, a jarring message as
the authorities say the country is open for business after three years of tight
COVID-19 restrictions.
Scores of Chinese and foreigners have been ensnared by exit bans, according to a new report by the rights group Safeguard Defenders, while a Reuters analysis has found an apparent surge of court cases involving such bans in recent years, and foreign business lobbies are voicing concern about the trend.
"Since Xi Jinping took power in 2012, China has expanded the legal landscape for exit bans and increasingly used them, sometimes outside legal justification," the Safeguard Defenders report reads.
"Between 2018 and July of this year, no less than five new or amended (Chinese) laws provide for the use of exit bans, for a total today of 15 laws," said Laura Harth, the group's campaign director.
The group estimates "tens of thousands" of Chinese are banned from exit at any one time. It also cites a 2022 academic paper by Chris Carr and Jack Wroldsen that found 128 cases of foreigners being exit-banned between 1995 and 2019, including 29 Americans and 44 Canadians.
Attention on the exit bans comes as China-U.S. tensions have risen over trade and security disputes. This contrasts with China's message that it is opening up to overseas investment and travel, emerging from the isolation of some of the world's tightest COVID curbs.
The Reuters analysis of records on exit bans, from China's Supreme Court database, shows an eight-fold increase in cases mentioning bans between 2016 and 2022.
China last week beefed up its counter-espionage law, allowing exit bans to be imposed on anyone, Chinese or foreign, who is under investigation.
Most of the cases in the database referring to exit bans are civil, not criminal. Reuters did not find any involving foreigners or politically sensitive subversion or national security issues.
By comparison, the U.S. and European Union impose travel bans on some criminal suspects but generally not for civil claims.
DUE DILIGENCE
China's Ministry of Public Security did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on exit bans, including inquiries on how many individuals, including foreigners, are subject to them.
One person prevented from leaving China this year is a Singaporean executive at the U.S. due-diligence firm Mintz Group, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The company, the executive and China's Public Security Bureau did not respond to requests for comment.
Mintz said in late March the authorities had raided the firm's China office and detained five local staff. The foreign ministry said at the time Mintz was suspected of engaging in unlawful business operations. Police visited Bain & Co's office in Shanghai and questioned staff, the U.S. management consultancy said last week.
"Because of rising tensions between the U.S. and China, the salience of this (exit ban) risk has risen," said Lester Ross, a veteran lawyer in China who has handled exit ban cases.
"I've seen a rise in companies and entities being concerned about this and asking for our advice on how to prepare and reduce risks" of exit bans, said Ross, the head of the American Chamber of Commerce's China policy committee.
(to be continued)
Translation
根據維權組織 Safeguard Defenders 的一份新報告，數十名中國人和外國人因出境禁令而陷入困境，而路透社的分析發現，近年來涉及此類禁令的法庭案件明顯激增，外國商業遊說團體對這趨勢表達了擔憂。
Safeguard Defenders報告中寫道: “自習近平 2012 年上台以來，中國擴大了出境禁令的法律範圍，並越來越多地使用它們，有時甚至超出了法律依據” 。
該組織的活動主管Laura Harth說: “從 2018 年到今年 7 月，不少於5條新的種類或修訂的（中國）法律條文, 提供出境禁令，今天總共有 15 種類律條文”。
該組織估計，任何時候都有“數万”中國人被禁止出境。 它還引用了
Chris Carr 和 Jack Wroldsen 於 2022 年發表的一篇學術論文，該論文發現
128 個案關於外國人在
1995 年至
2019 年期間被禁止出境，其中包括
29 名美國人和
44 名加拿大人。
對出口禁令的關注來自中美關係因貿易和安全爭端上升。 這與中國正在從世界上一些最嚴格的 COVID 限制措施的隔離擺脫出來, 發放正在開放海外投資和旅遊的信息形成鮮明對比。
路透社對中國最高法院數據庫中的出境禁令記錄的分析顯示，在 2016 年至 2022
年間，提及禁令的案件增加了八倍。
中國上週加強了反間諜法，容許對任何受到調查的中國人或外國人實施出境禁令。
數據庫中涉及出境禁令的大多數案件都是民事案件，而並非刑事案件。 路透社沒有發現任何涉及外國人或政治敏感的顛覆或國家安全問題。
相比之下，美國和歐盟對一些犯罪嫌疑人實施旅行禁令，但一般不會對民事索賠實施旅行禁令。
盡職調查
中國公安部沒有回應路透社就出境禁令發表評論的請求，包括詢問有多少人（包括外國人）受到這些禁令的約束。
據三位知情人士透露，今年被禁止離開中國的一個人是美國盡職調查公司 Mintz Group 的一名新加坡高管。
該公司、高管和中國公安局均未回應置評請求。
Mintz表示，當局在 3 月下旬突擊搜查了該公司的中國辦事處，並拘留了五名當地員工。 外交部當時表示，Mintz涉嫌從事非法商業活動。 這家美國管理諮詢公司上週表示，警方訪問了Bain & Co 在上海的辦公室並詢問了員工。
曾處理過出口禁令案件的中國資深律師 Lester Ross說: “由於美國和中國之間的緊張局勢加劇，這種（出口禁令）風險的突出性已經上升”。
美國商會中國政策委員會主席 Ross說： “我看到越來越多的公司和實體對此表示擔憂，並就如何準備和降低出口禁令的風險徵求我們的意見。”
（待續）
沒有留言:
張貼留言