China demands schoolteachers hand in their passports

Chinese authorities are demanding that a growing number of schoolteachers and other public sector employees hand in their passports as President Xi Jinping tightens his grip on society.

The passport collection drive, carried out under what is known as “personal travel abroad management”, allows local government officials to control and monitor who can travel abroad, how often and to where.

It comes as Xi steps up state involvement in everyday life and clamps down on official corruption.

China’s powerful state security apparatus has also intensified its campaign against foreign espionage.

Interviews with more than a dozen Chinese public sector workers and notices from education bureaus in half a dozen cities show restrictions on international travel have been greatly expanded from last year to include rank-and-file employees of schools, universities, local governments and state-owned groups.

“All teachers and public sector employees were told to hand in our passports,” said a primary school teacher in a major city in the western province of Sichuan.

The passport collection appears to be based on national regulations from 2003 that established a system to restrict travel for key personnel such as mid- to high-level officials and allowed local authorities to set rules for all state employees’ international travel.