By Antoni Slodkowski, Casey Hall and Scott Murdoch
BEIJING/SHANGHAI/SYDNEY (Reuters) -Fears that employees of foreign firms risk entanglement with Chinese authorities have resurfaced after news that an employee of U.S. bank Wells Fargo has been banned from leaving the country.
Business groups, diplomats and overseas executives say the incident is part of a long-term trend that had appeared to ease off as Beijing pushed to promote its appeal to foreign commerce to bolster its slowing economy.
“Such stories can raise concerns of foreign businesses regarding travel to China,” said Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
“At a time when China is proactively trying to attract foreign investment it sends something of a mixed signal.”
Wells Fargo has suspended all travel to China after the incident, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Shanghai-born Chenyue Mao, who spearheads the bank’s international factoring business, was subjected to the ban after she entered China in recent weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported. She is a U.S. citizen, a source told Reuters.
An emailed request for comment sent to Mao received an automated response saying she was “travelling international on business”.
China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press briefing on Friday that he was not aware of the Wells Fargo matter, adding that China was committed to providing a welcoming environment for foreign companies to do business.
The U.S. embassy in Beijing said it could not comment on the specifics of the case due to privacy and other reasons.
“We have raised our concern with Chinese authorities about the impact arbitrary exit bans on U.S. citizens have on our bilateral relations and urged them to immediately allow impacted U.S. citizens to return home,” a spokesperson for the embassy added.
The United States does not provide an official figure for how many citizens are detained abroad, but The Dui Hua Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the release of political prisoners in China, estimates there are more than 200 Americans in China alone who are wrongfully detained or facing coercive measures, such as exit bans.
The U.S. State Department updated its travel advisory for mainland China in November 2024 saying visitors should “exercise increased caution” due to “arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans.”
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In a survey conducted by the EU Chamber of Commerce in China of its members last year, 9% of respondents reported challenges attracting foreign nationals to work in China due to concerns related to personal safety and/or civil and criminal liability such as company raids, arbitrary arrests or exit bans.
