China ‘barring thousands of citizens and foreigners from leaving country’

Analysis of Chinese court records shows eightfold increase in cases mentioning exit bans between 2016 and 2022

China is increasingly barring people, including foreign executives, from leaving the country, according to a report and research.

Scores of Chinese nationals and foreigners have been ensnared by exit bans, according to the report from the rights group Safeguard Defenders, while a Reuters analysis has found an apparent surge in court cases involving such bans in recent years.