Chinese Americans banned from leaving China

China has blocked at least two Americans — a Commerce Department employee and a Wells Fargo banker — from leaving the country in recent weeks, according to reports.

The Commerce Department employee, who works under the Patent and Trademark Office, has been barred from leaving China for months after reportedly failing to disclose his government position on his visa application during a family visit. The State Department said it is tracking the case “very closely and are engaged with Chinese officials to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”

On the other hand, Chenyue Mao, a Shanghai-born, Wells Fargo managing director based in Atlanta, has been stuck for weeks for being “involved in a criminal case” under probe, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

China imposes exit bans with limited transparency in their resolution process, according to the State Department. Unlike formal detentions, these bans have a lower legal threshold and local courts can impose them in civil matters without requiring police action.

John Kamm, chairman and founder of the Dui Hua Foundation, told the Washington Post that there are at least 30 active cases affecting Americans, with numbers rising each month. Those affected typically learn of the restrictions only when they try to leave the country. Among those impacted were a 7-year-old boy and his mother, whose ban has been linked to the detention of New York artist Gao Zhen over artwork that allegedly “defamed the honor” of former Chinese leaders.

In response to the incidents, Wells Fargo has suspended all employee travel to China. “This has everyone jittery again, nervous about traveling,” Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, who previously worked as a U.S. diplomat in China, told CNN. Separately, he told Bloomberg that China should “shed light on these cases so companies and individuals can assess their own risk.”

The cases especially concern naturalized U.S. citizens who grew up in China, since Beijing treats Chinese Americans as Chinese nationals despite their American citizenship. Senior U.S. diplomats have raised both cases with Chinese counterparts as Washington and Beijing explore arranging a potential Trump-Xi meeting this year.