[Cross-Strait] Hong Yao-nan Column: From Confiscating Passports to Investigating Family Members, CCP Blocks "Naked Officials" Retreat, Overseas Travel Agencies Become Surveillance Outposts
RtiTalk 小編1d ago
In the past, the CCP's most direct method to control the departure of personnel from party and government agencies, military, state-owned enterprises, sensitive positions, and some educational systems was to centrally keep their passports: apply to go abroad, and submit upon return. However, confiscating an official's passport does not necessarily control his wife and children. While the official remains within the system, their spouse and children first go abroad to study, work, obtain permanent residency, or even foreign nationality; assets are also transferred simultaneously. By the time the official is investigated, their family, property, and escape routes have already been arranged.
This is the "naked official": someone whose body is within the system, but whose family and money are outside the system. The CCP has been trying to rectify "naked officials" for over a decade, yet they persist. Now, Beijing has changed its strategy: instead of just confiscating officials' passports, it is targeting immigration agencies, family member applications, nationality checks, and entry-exit data, attempting to gather all clues before a family truly leaves China.
Why can't "naked officials" be eliminated?
This system has had three loopholes from the beginning.
First, the investigation relies heavily on self-reporting by officials. When the spouse goes abroad, what status the children obtain, how much assets the family transfers – how much supervisory agencies can see often depends on how much the official is willing to disclose. Letting the supervised party determine what the supervisor can see is itself a systemic joke.
Second, investigations are always a step behind. It's only after the spouse and children obtain foreign nationality or permanent residency that the reporting and processing procedures begin; by the time the organizational department discovers it, the family's focus and assets may have already been transferred.
Finally, after being identified as a "naked official," they are usually just transferred from important positions, rather than having their property sources investigated, let alone preventing family members from emigrating. When the official changes positions, their spouse's and children's foreign status remains valid, and their overseas retreat is not eliminated.
The CCP has not failed to crack down on "naked officials," but has always apprehended them at the end, without sealing the front-end channels.
160,000 Overseas Travel Agencies Brought Under Supervision
On July 22, 2026, Li Qiang signed State Council Order No. 841, promulgating the "Regulations of the State Council on Entry and Exit Management," which came into effect on September 15.
This regulation has only 19 articles, but its control extends to the entire entry and exit service industry. According to official Chinese data, as of June 2026, there were over 160,000 institutions whose business scope includes "intermediary services for private entry and exit."
This includes not only traditional immigration companies but also study abroad consultants, overseas employment and labor intermediaries, travel agencies, law firms, personal studios, and "shell companies" set up by overseas institutions in China.
The new regulation requires existing operators to register within a time limit, and new institutions must also register quickly; overseas enterprises are prohibited from directly providing related services within China. On the surface, this is to rectify black market intermediaries, fake documents, and immigration fraud; what is truly politically significant is Article 10.
This article clearly stipulates that when public officials, military personnel, etc., illegally apply for foreign nationality, overseas permanent residency, or other entry-exit procedures through intermediaries, the intermediaries must not only refuse but also report to supervisory agencies and other departments. From then on, immigration companies are not just service providers but also become front-line outposts for anti-corruption, preventing escapes, and political surveillance.
From Official Self-Reporting to Intermediary Reporting
The most significant change in this system is the shift in the supervision model from "official self-reporting" to "cross-discovery by intermediaries." Applying for foreign nationality, permanent residency, or long-term residency typically requires submitting household registration, marriage, kinship, employment, property, source of funds, and overseas contact information. Even if the applicant is an official's spouse or child, the intermediary may discover their connection to the public official from kinship, financial proof, and application documents.
Order No. 841 does not explicitly require intermediaries to report as soon as a public official's family member applies for overseas status. However, China's existing cadre personal matters reporting system already covers the foreign nationality, overseas residency, overseas employment, and marital status of spouses and children.
Once the two systems are connected, intermediary data can be cross-referenced with public security household registration, cadre personnel, disciplinary inspection and supervision, and entry-exit records. In the past, officials could choose when and how much to report; now, as soon as a wife contacts an immigration consultant or a child prepares to apply for permanent residency, a traceable record may be created. In the past, it was dealt with after an official became a "naked official"; now, before they become "naked," their retreat is cut off from the intermediary end.
The Gray Area of Dual Status is Disappearing
Beijing is also strengthening the implementation of the "Nationality Law." China does not recognize dual nationality; Chinese citizens residing abroad who voluntarily acquire foreign nationality automatically lose their Chinese nationality according to law and should have their household registration, ID card, and Chinese passport canceled.
However, in the past, due to insufficient data linkage between departments, many individuals who had acquired foreign nationality still retained their Chinese household registration, ID card, and even passport: they used their foreign identity abroad, and upon returning to China, they used their Chinese resident status to buy property, conduct financial transactions, inherit property, or enjoy benefits, forming a de facto "dual status."
Now, with the gradual integration of entry-exit, household registration, visa, aviation, and biometric data, this gray area is rapidly shrinking. Those who have acquired foreign nationality but have not canceled their Chinese documents may be discovered by the system when returning to China for visits or when handling administrative matters, and be required to return to their original household registration place to complete the cancellation. Their travel may be delayed, or they may even be unable to leave on time before their status is clarified.
However, the normal logic of the "Nationality Law" should be that acquiring foreign nationality leads to the loss of Chinese nationality, not forcing individuals to renounce foreign nationality and restore Chinese nationality.
Rumors of Japanese-Chinese Businessman Expose Exit Anxiety
A controversial case has recently circulated on social media. A Chinese businessman, who claims to have immigrated to Japan 13 years ago, stated that he runs a business in Japan with assets of about 80 million RMB and over 40 employees. After returning to China for a visit in July 2026, he was stopped before boarding his flight to return to Japan; his entire family was interrogated separately and asked to state on camera that they "voluntarily renounce Japanese nationality and restore Chinese nationality."
However, the reason this unverified rumor spread so quickly reflects the fear of overseas Chinese regarding the lack of transparency in China's exit controls. Especially since the new regulation allows authorities to restrict exit without stating the reasons when national security or criminal investigation is involved. When "national security" becomes a catch-all reason that does not need to be explained, returning to China for a visit is no longer just travel, but could become a status review with unknown risks.
What the CCP Wants to Control is the Entire Family
Order No. 841, the cadre family reporting system, and nationality checks are forming a five-layered control network:
Layer 1 controls the individual. Passports are centrally kept, and private overseas travel requires approval.
Layer 2 controls family members. Spouses and children obtaining foreign nationality or overseas residency status must be reported.
Layer 3 controls intermediaries. 160,000 institutions are fully registered, and they must refuse and report when specific personnel illegally apply for overseas status.
Layer 4 controls nationality. Through household registration, passports, visas, and biometric data, de facto dual status is clarified.
Layer 5 controls assets. Applications for overseas status involve income, property, source of funds, and overseas investments; once the data is accessed by supervisory and public security systems, it can become an entry point for investigating the outflow of property.
What Beijing truly worries about is never just whether an official can board a plane, but whether his wife and children have already left, whether assets have been moved overseas, and whether he still has a way out when the political climate suddenly changes.
From "Preventing Escape" to "Preventing Departure"
In the past, Beijing stopped people at the airport; now, it wants to detect it when a family begins preparing to emigrate. In the past, it was the official's own passport that was confiscated; now, it is the wife, children, property, and second identity that are being investigated. In the past, officials were transferred after becoming "naked officials"; now, immigration agencies may send clues into the supervisory system before they even become "naked."
The authorities can package this system as cracking down on black market intermediaries, implementing the Nationality Law, and plugging anti-corruption loopholes. But its other side is to incorporate personal migration, study abroad, residency, and nationality choices entirely into the scope of national security and disciplinary inspection and supervision. This is no longer just about preventing corrupt officials from fleeing, but from "preventing escape" to "preventing departure": not only stopping those who are already preparing to flee, but also proactively understanding who wants to leave, who's family is leaving, and who has prepared an escape route from China.
Author: Hong Yao-nan, Assistant Professor, Department of Diplomacy and International Relations, Tamkang University; Deputy Director, Center for Cross-Strait Relations Studies, Tamkang University.
Source Link: https://www.rti.org.tw/news?uid=3&pid=225279
How does this article make you feel?
0 people reacted