In 2024, the Biden Administration secured the release of all four men, and the State Department reduced its travel advisory to Level 2.
Today, Chinese citizens who work for foreign companies, dual nationals, or even people of Chinese heritage and their family members may be at heightened risk of facing exit bans or arbitrary detention, experts say.
“There have been cases where the Chinese government does tend to regard ethnic Chinese as Chinese, even if their citizen documents say otherwise,” says Gabriel Wildau, China political risk analyst at Teneo, a global CEO consulting and advisory firm. “We’ve had cases where … the family members of Chinese people who are under investigation or fugitives are held as sort of hostages, subject to exit bans in China, as a means of leverage to try to get the actual target of the corruption investigation or the actual fugitive to return.”
Despite the heightened risks of business travel to China, Wildau says for the most part, travel to China is safe.
“Things have gotten a bit worse, but perceptions have outstripped the reality in terms of how bad things are,” he says. “Thousands of people enter and exit every month without incident. There are a few high-profile incidents that have gotten people’s attention, rightfully so. But I think to some extent, focusing on those incidents obscures the bigger picture, which is that for … the vast majority of people in the vast majority of situations, there’s no problem.”
Wildau, who regularly visits China for work himself, says that China is also granting more business visas than ever, including 10-year visas, and some countries experience visa-free travel to the country.
For business people planning to travel to China, these are some of the considerations before going, according to experts:
Consider your risk level. People linked to adversarial foreign governments, or working in sensitive industries, such as avionics, defense-related industries, or human rights law, may be at heightened risk of scrutiny.
Use a VPN. Though not foolproof, a virtual private network can protect your search history and provide access to websites blocked by the Great Firewall.
Protect your devices. Sophistical surveillance and tracking technology has opened up phones and other devices to monitoring. Consider bringing a burner phone if you wish to protect the contents of your device.
Check your documents. Make sure your passport and visa are up to date to avoid extra scrutiny or detention at Chinese customs.
Post-trip protocol. Assume that any devices taken to China have been compromised and have your company’s IT department do a thorough search for any malicious software.
https://www.cntraveler.com/story/how-to-travel-to-china