Going abroad for a few days on a whim is not an option anymore for a growing number of Chinese citizens no longer allowed to hold their own passports, which must be turned over to their place of employment. It is then up to the individuals to put in a request to their boss whenever they intend to travel abroad.
This policy has long applied to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, particularly those in charge of government administration and state-owned enterprises. Now, however, it has started to affect more and more public sector employees, right down to ordinary schoolteachers. Its expansion has raised questions among the Chinese people, who have been asking themselves practical questions: Is it really possible to get one’s passport back? How quickly? For how long? And also, why has such a hardship been imposed in the first place?
After CCP officials and local political leaders, most civil servants, even in the lower echelons of the hierarchy, have now had to hand in their travel documents, as have, over the course of a second phase, employees of state-owned enterprises. Employees of banks − since they are state-owned − teachers down to the smallest classes, as well as doctors in hospitals, have been increasingly affected since 2018.
“I’m not a civil servant, I have access to absolutely no state secrets. Why do I have to hand in my passport?” said Wang, a doctor at a public hospital in Inner Mongolia. When she was informed of this measure by the establishment a few days ago, she was given no explanation. “I doubt that simply telling my supervisor that I want to travel would be enough to convince him,” she said.
‘We’re talking about a lot of people’
Although the reasons for this policy have not been explained to the population, the threat to national security posed by the potential for infiltration by hostile foreign forces has been repeatedly put forward. The Communist Party under Xi Jinping worried that the opening up of minds that has accompanied economic reforms will lead to a political collapse, has sought to regain control over society.
Since 2014, the president has promoted the concept of a “holistic approach to national security.” The environment has become increasingly circumscribed, even for those Chinese who are absolutely loyal to the lone party. Since opening an account on the WeChat platform in the summer of 2023, the Ministry of State Security has posted regular examples of risks, including that of being recruited by enemy intelligence services during a routine stay outside China.
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