Beijing grabs families of those who flee
China’s police had little hope of catching Xu Weiming, a former executive of a state-owned company accused of embezzlement and placed on the country’s 100-most-wanted list. He was living 11,000km away in the United States.
But when his son entered the country on a family visit, they struck. Daniel Hsu, a US citizen, was seized and put in a detention centre.
Nearly three years on, Hsu, who is not accused of any wrongdoing, has been released but is still in China, unable to return to his home in Seattle. The authorities have barred him from leaving the country unless his father returns. ‘‘They told me if my dad is not coming back, I will never leave this country,’’ he said.
His plight is the latest example of Beijing’s increasing use of ‘‘exit bans’’ to hold foreign nationals as political or emotional bargaining chips, and its policy of collective punishment by targeting the family members of those it wants to find. It is harming the already fractious relations between the US and China, tested even further by the coronavirus outbreak.
‘‘It is immoral and unjust that the communist Chinese government uses so-called exit bans to prevent American citizens from leaving China,’’ said Marco Rubio, the Florida senator, in January, when he introduced legislation that would impose sanctions on Chinese officials involved. ‘‘We must protect our citizens and ensure that they are able to return home when they travel abroad.’’
Exactly how many people have been banned from leaving China is not known but the restrictions have affected Australian and Canadian citizens as well as Americans. All three countries have issued travel warnings to their citizens that they may be detained in China over disputes that may not directly involve them. None have extradition treaties with Beijing, making them attractive destinations for anyone fleeing China.
A recent US travel advisory states: ‘‘In most cases US citizens only become aware of the exit ban when they attempt to depart China, and there is no method to find out how long the ban may continue.’’ The exit bans were initially intended to ensnare those involved in legal disputes or criminal investigations, but their scope has been widened under President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption drive. A global ‘‘fox hunt’’ for wayward officials is designed to boost public confidence by signalling the leadership’s determination to prosecute fugitives who have absconded overseas.
Police vowed to ‘‘innovate’’ and ‘‘fully utilise all sorts of resources’’ to ensure that the fox hunt was successful.
Two high-profile victims are Cynthia Liu and Victor Liu, the children of Liu Changming, a former executive at a state bank who was linked by Beijing to a US$1.4billion fraud case. Both US citizens, they have been barred from leaving China since they visited in the summer of 2018.
Cynthia Liu, who worked at a New York consulting company before her abrupt detention, says she and her brother, a student at Georgetown University, are ‘‘political pawns’’. She insists she is estranged from her father and has had no contact with him.
The United Nations has protested about China’s use of exit bans but that appears unlikely to help Hsu. He was grabbed during a visit to China in the summer of 2017 with his wife, Jodie Chen, and their daughter.
He was placed in a detention centre in Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui province, from where his father was alleged to have stolen the money. He spent a fortnight locked up with two dozen suspected criminals, including one who was facing charges for murder.
He was then placed in solitary confinement for six months, watched over by five surveillance cameras and two guards. He was required to sleep face up and under lights so he could be constantly monitored. There was no privacy.
Hsu is in touch with his parents in the US. The family all insist on Xu’s innocence.
Qin Peiyun, Xu’s wife and Hsu’s mother, has said she and her husband will return to China – but only after their son has been released and is back in Seattle. That appears very unlikely at the moment.