The communist regime doesn’t want young workers to emigrate because that would show they lack faith in the CCP, one expert said.
The Chinese communist regime has further tightened exit control, extending passport confiscation to the lowest-ranking civil servants and even retirees, among other groups, according to Chinese citizens.
Observers pointed out that there are both political and economic reasons for the change.
Since the 2010s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has required its higher-ranking cadres, state employees in certain sections that it deemed sensitive, such as in the financial system, and teachers in some parts of China to hand in their passports. If they need to go abroad, they must file applications for approval. In 2024, the exit control and passport confiscation expanded to more groups in more regions, including university professors and schoolteachers.
A retired civil servant in Beijing with the surname Guo told The Epoch Times on July 28 that he learned from his colleagues that many section chiefs and deputy section chiefs, who are the lowest-ranked officials within the CCP’s system, have been asked to hand in their passports and Hong Kong and Macau passes. Guo did not give his last name because of safety concerns.
“They were told their passports will be kept in a centralized location,” Guo said. “If they want to travel abroad, they must first submit a written application to their work unit, which will be signed by officials at the department level and above, and then submitted to the personnel department for approval.”
He said the passport confiscation also targeted retired low-ranking civil servants.
According to Guo, a retired civil servant he knew used to work as a division director in a small county in Guangxi Province before he obtained permanent residency in a foreign country. The person returned to China to visit relatives recently but was asked to hand over his passport, Guo said.
“His former work unit has demanded he surrender his passport,“ Guo said. ”He applied to leave China to return to his home abroad, but his work unit only approved a six-month leave. If he doesn’t return by that time, his pension will be suspended, which is completely against China’s national regulations.”
By Alex Wu
