Desperate to get out of China’s surveillance state
Rich and poor leave the country amid the economic gloom and the endless erosion of personal freedom
It is not so much a paradise lost as a paradise in purgatory. As President Xi Jinping continues to tighten his iron grip on civil society, the people in the People’s Republic of China are desperate to get out of the surveillance state.
The “wealthy set” exodus started in 2023 after two punishing years of Covid-19 lockdowns amid invasive privacy policies. Illegal migration turned into a flood during the same time, with the United States seen as the promised land.
Now, public sector employees are being targeted by the ruling Communist Party as local authorities confiscate passports and travel documents.
“Curbs on international travel have been greatly expanded from last year to include rank-and-file employees of schools, universities, local government, and state-owned groups,” the Financial Times reported earlier this week.
Big Brother is watching you:
- The latest moves come under the guise of Comrade Xi’s pervasive national security clampdown.
- They have also been rolled out amid an economic crisis, rising unemployment among the young, and shrinking consumer spending.
It is difficult to get assets and cash out of China.
Kerry Brown of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London
Delve deeper: “[In 2023,] 13,800 millionaires left [China,] according to one report, mostly to the United States, Canada, and Singapore,” Kerry Brown, of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London,” wrote for The Conversation.
Between the lines: “People seem to be motivated by the economics and politics of their home country. The fact it is difficult to get assets and cash out of China underlines how badly these people want to [leave],” Brown said.
Big picture: But it is not just about the rich. “US authorities [revealed that] more than 55,000 Chinese migrants [crossed] illegally from Mexico during the past 18 months – up from 3,813 in 2022,” The Washington Post reported in July.
China Factor comment: For rich and poor, Xi’s “China Dream” has a hollow ring amid the economic gloom and the endless erosion of personal freedom.