Photo: VCG

China's new regulation on exit and entry administration took effect on Tuesday. The 19-article regulation aims to standardize exit and entry administration, protect the lawful rights and interests of exit and entry personnel, and safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests. It also improves the exit security risk prevention system, clarifies the requirements for exit and entry applications, refines restrictive measures and regulates intermediary services related to exit and entry, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

In a Q&A released after the regulations were promulgated, officials from the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Public Security and National Immigration Administration (NIA) said that as China continues to advance its high-level opening-up, an increasing number of Chinese citizens are traveling abroad for purposes including tourism, family visits, business and study. They said new situations and issues have emerged in exit-entry administration, including growing overseas security risks, creating a need to further improve relevant mechanisms. 

However, as the regulation took effect, some Western media outlets portrayed it as a broad tightening of overseas travel by Chinese citizens. Reuters claimed on Tuesday that China had "tightened travel curbs," describing the new rules as "barring citizens deemed a potential threat to national technology security from leaving the country." The Financial Times similarly described the regulation as "sweeping new controls on overseas travel for Chinese citizens," and cited views claiming that they could affect technology executives and researchers. 

In response to the misreading and sensationalism by some foreign media outlets, the NIA told the Global Times in an exclusive response on Tuesday that the fundamental purpose is to facilitate lawful and normal cross-border travel for the vast majority of people and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of those entering and leaving the country.

The administration stressed that the regulation is by no means intended to impose additional controls or restrictions on ordinary citizens and will not affect normal activities such as overseas tourism, family visits, study or business.

Article 4 of the regulation stipulates that Chinese citizens who violate export control or technology import and export regulations in ways that may endanger national industrial or technological security may be prohibited from leaving the country by relevant competent authorities under the State Council.

The regulation focuses on three areas: protecting normal cross-border travel, precisely targeting cross-border criminal and illegal activities, and further standardizing law enforcement procedures, the NIA said in a statement sent to the Global Times.

Overall, the regulations do not tighten normal exit-entry administration policies. Instead, by refining institutional rules and standardizing law enforcement procedures, they aim to make exit-entry administration more targeted and precise, law enforcement more standardized and fair, and rights protection stronger, the administration said.

A professor at China People's Police University told the Global Times on Tuesday that Article 4 of the regulation applies only when two conditions are both met: relevant rules have been violated and relevant conduct may endanger national industrial or technological security. The provision therefore does not target normal business trips, academic exchanges or other lawful overseas travel, said the professor who preferred not to be named. 

Other countries and regions also use preventive measures when there is an urgent risk of sensitive technologies being illegally transferred abroad, although the legal instruments and procedures differ, the expert said. 

For example, US export control enforcement can temporarily restrict the export transaction eligibility of relevant parties, while separate judicial measures may be used in related cases. Against this background, he said, portraying China's provisions targeting specific violations and security risks as general travel restrictions on technology professionals overlooks the clearly defined conditions for their application  and reflects an obvious double standard, the expert said. 

Other countries also have legal mechanisms to restrict passports or international travel in response to specific security risks, although their legal systems are not exactly the same as China's, experts said. 

Under Australia's Passports Act 2005, authorities may request the refusal or cancellation of a travel document if they reasonably suspect that a person would engage in conduct that could prejudice the security of Australia or another country. 

In the US, federal regulations allow the State Department to refuse a passport if the secretary determines that an applicant's activities abroad are causing or are likely to cause serious damage to US national security or foreign policy.

Guo said some Western media reports had broadened the provision by interpreting a rule tied to specific violations as a vague restriction on people deemed to be "potential security threats," noting that Chinese authorities had previously made clear that the relevant measures target illegal cross-border activities rather than ordinary people with legitimate needs to travel abroad.

Exit restrictions must be imposed in accordance with the law by competent authorities under the State Council, Guo pointed out. Portraying such case-specific legal measures as a "sweeping" tightening of overseas travel ignores their clearly defined legal scope and individualized application Guo said. 

Guo said such interpretations may also be shaped by a geopolitical narrative framework that tends to place domestic rules involving technological security within the discourse of "China-US technological decoupling" and "talent restrictions," thereby exaggerating the general deterrent effect of the provision.

Taiwan's so-called "Mainland Affairs Council" has also claimed that the regulations could increase the risk of exit restrictions for Taiwan businesspeople and personnel working in the technology and semiconductor sectors on the mainland. 

Responding to similar claims in August, Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said there was no need for Taiwan residents to worry.
She said the regulation would help protect the legitimate rights and interests of people engaged in cross-Straits exchanges and create a better legal environment for Taiwan residents visiting the mainland.

At a press conference on September 9, Chen Binhua, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, said the regulation would help further protect the legitimate rights and interests of all exit and entry personnel, including Taiwan compatriots.