A Chinese court has evicted an American woman from her home in Beijing even though the Chinese government refuses to allow her to leave the country, despite U. S. public calls and personal lobbying.
“We urge the Chinese government, adding to the highest degree, to express our fear of China’s coercive use of bans on the departure of U. S. citizens and citizens from other countries, and we will continue to do so until we see a transparent and fair process. “”, the State Department spokesman told the Washington Examiner.
The Chinese government has rejected efforts in the case of Huang Wan, an immigrant to the United States whose stepfather was a senior Chinese Communist Party official before his arrest in 2014 and his life sentence for corruption. Huang has been trapped in China ever since. 2016, despite the launch of one in which he apologizes for any irregularities through his stepfather, Zhou Yongkang.
“Although I am a U. S. citizen, I face restrictions that I leave the country and have nowhere to turn for help,” Huang wrote in an open letter released this week. “My only wish is to move from home to my son. Please let us through the house.
Chinese diplomats cited a dispute over a lease to justify the “exit ban” and Huang added that he cannot leave because of the case involving his mother.
“The court said I couldn’t get out of China because I’m my mother’s daughter, who’s the defendant,” she said, according to the South China Morning Post. “But there hasn’t been a hearing or a trial in 18 months, and I still can’t leave.
The Chinese government has made greater use of exit bans compared to Americans in recent years, employing U. S. citizens as leverage in front of members of the family circle. “We have no company figures on the exact number of people, eer in the Chinese aspect or in the foreign aspect, which has been the subject of Array bans . . . but we know the number is pretty high,” said Thomas Kellogg of Georgetown University Law Center. South China Morning Post.
Huang’s case is also related to Xi Jinping’s tactic of staying at the top of the Chinese regime, a position he has held in component through corruption rates opposed to potential rivals. Zhou reportedly warned another senior Chinese official that Xi would act against him, a leak that contributed to his own downfall.
“He still can’t with his family,” Huang said in a 2019 message to other party officials. “Can you be yours when it’s your turn?”
A trial over ordered Huang this month to leave his home in Beijing. “I’ve packed my things now, but I don’t know where I’m going,” he says.
China’s rollout of exit bans is one of many irritants to Washington-Beijing diplomacy.
“We work with like-minded governments, to every degree and around the world, to defend the coverage and well-being of our citizens abroad,” the State Department spokesman said. “We are in contact with U. S. citizen Ms. Huang Wan and provide all appropriate consular facilities while thorough monitoring of the situation. “