All Chinese civil servants, including teachers and nurses, were required to surrender their foreign passports

In China, even the lowest-level civil servants, including teachers and nurses, have been required to surrender their foreign passports. About this informs The New York Times.

In this way, the authorities strengthen control over contacts between citizens and foreigners. The new rules also aim to establish so-called political discipline and ideological loyalty. Private trips abroad for officials have been almost completely ruled out, and those who studied abroad are now barred from a number of positions.

Officially, such measures are explained by the need to protect national security, fight against corruption, and reduce public spending. However, the range of persons to whom the restrictions apply is rapidly expanding — they apply even to those employees who do not have access to classified information or budget funds.

In six fishing villages in the coastal province of Zhejiang, workers were forced to surrender their passports. In one city in Jiangxi province, the local health department ordered its staff to report all foreign travel starting in 2018. And checks are not limited to civil servants.

Restrictions on foreign trips for certain categories of civil servants have been in effect for a long time. Since 2003, high-level officials or those working with state secrets have been required to give advance notice of their trips abroad. Their data is transferred to the border services to prevent them from leaving without the appropriate permission.

The chairman of Gree Electric, one of China’s largest home appliance manufacturers, Dong Mingzhu, said he would not employ people who had returned from abroad because they “may turn out to be spies.”