The Chinese government has ordered a passport recall among a growing number of public sector employees, including teachers at state-run schools.

The passport collection drive comes at a time when President Xi Jinping is implementing tighter national security measures on the country.

The initiative is referred to as “personal travel abroad management” and gives local government officials the ability to control and monitor who can travel abroad, along with their destinations and frequency of travel.

Reinforcing long-standing regulations

It should be noted that this new initiative most likely stems from national regulations implemented back in 2003 to establish a system that restricts travel for key government personnel. Likewise, these regulations allowed local authorities to set rules for overseas travel for all state employees regardless of rank.

Residents of restive regions such as Tibet lost their freedom to travel more than a decade ago. As of the mid-2010s, some areas applied “personal travel abroad management” rules to local teachers. 

After pandemic-era travel restrictions were lifted in 2023, a growing number of education bureaus began to introduce travel restrictions on public school teachers, reinforcing them throughout the summer of 2024.

Teachers planning to travel overseas need to file applications with their schools. Under most circumstances, applicants are restricted to a single trip of less than 20 days each year.

Those who refuse to hand in their passports or travel abroad without proper authorisation are subject to criticism and education or referred to China’s anti-corruption authority, depending on the severity of their case, and will face a travel ban for up to five years.

These recent impositions are said to be one way by which the Chinese government seeks to prevent espionage.