A Wells Fargo executive born in China, Chenyue Mao, an American citizen who had been blocked from leaving China for months by the PRC government, has now been allowed to go. Discussions between the U.S. and China “ahead of a potential meeting” between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese Dictator Xi Jinping apparently had something to do with the lifting of the exit ban (CNN, September 17, 2025).
U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Response Adam Boehler says that President Trump has made it a priority to secure the release of Americans being unjustly detained abroad.
Setting the tone
“The president has set the tone and made it very clear. When things are raised at a senior level and ambassador level, at a [Secretary of State Marco] Rubio level, it does make a difference. They’re explaining that U.S. policy has changed and that it is a huge negative to hold Americans, and that is best expressed directly.”
The implication of this statement is that it was not a “huge negative to hold Americans” for, perhaps, the immediately preceding administration, which to be sure was feckless on all fronts.
Persons of Chinese descent may be subjected to arbitrary exit bans in part because the Chinese Communist Party seems to regard all the ethnic Chinese of the world as properly subject to its control no matter where they normally live or what their citizenship is.
Scores of Americans have been blocked from departing under China’s exit bans—a point of ongoing tension between the two countries. The US State Department has warned travelers of Beijing’s “arbitrary enforcement” of laws, including exit bans….
Mao, who was born in China and is a US citizen, was placed under an exit ban as part of an alleged criminal investigation. It was not clear who the target of the criminal case was or how Mao was allegedly involved. China does not recognize dual nationals, and the State Department has warned that “U.S. citizens of Chinese descent may be subject to additional scrutiny and harassment.”
The New York Post observes that exit bans “have become increasingly common in China, where people are often blocked from leaving for alleged civil disputes—and typically are unaware they’re facing such a ban until they try to leave. These travel bans have been used as intimidation tactics, or even to create leverage over another company or foreign government.
“Mao’s months-long ban prompted some companies to cancel business trips to China or create new policies that discourage employees from entering the country alone.”
One manifestation of the Trump administration’s pressure on foreign governments that arbitrarily detain Americans is a recent executive order “creating ‘state sponsor of wrongful detention’ designation.”
Also see:
The White House: Strengthening Efforts to Protect U.S. Nationals From Wrongful Detention Abroad (September 5, 2025)
StoptheCCP.org: “Foreign Businesses to China: ‘Hurt me more!’ ”
