Once a market every foreign investor wanted a slice of has now become a No-Go zone. Times have changed and foreign businesses are thinking twice about sending people to China.
Tammy Krings is the chief executive of ATG Travel Worldwide. She told the Wall Street Journal that about 25 percent more U.S. companies canceled or delayed business trips to China.
Dale Buckner, chief executive of U.S. security firm “Global Guardian” told the Journal that American companies are also imposing more security measures for their employees in China. Including background checks and keeping an eye on social media to make sure employees don’t share anything online that Beijing could deem “anti-China.”
Those could include posts supporting pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong, or speaking out against forced labor in Xinjiang. Posts like these could put employees at risk of detention in China.
The self-censorship is even going as far as checking if employees have ever served in the U.S. military — or have any dual nationalities. Both could also be problematic in China.
All this came after the Chinese regime barred two executives of foreign companies from leaving the country. One is a senior executive at U.S. risk-advisory firm Kroll.
The other is a senior investment banker at the Japanese firm Nomura.