News Analysis China is restricting people from leaving the country, and even U.S. permanent residents or U.S. citizens have been caught by this campaign. Over the course of 2021, many Chinese netizens shared on social media their difficulties when applying for passports. For those who had the travel documents, during the exit inspections at the airports, officials asked them difficult questions and carefully checked their passports and visas, some netizens recounted. One even said that their passport was torn by the inspector on the spot. China’s National Immigration Administration (NIA) in July confirmed that the regime was tightening rules around people leaving the country. At a press conference on July 30, 2021, the NIA, also known as the Exit and Entry Administration said, in an effort to block the coronavirus from overseas, it had implemented a series of strict measures to limit people going abroad: suspend issuing ordinary passports for …