Beijing has quietly tightened restrictions on officials with family members overseas in the past year as part of a sweeping anti-corruption drive, according to sources.
Three people familiar with the situation said inspections had been carried out since early last year within government bodies and state-owned enterprises to scrutinise the overseas connections of top officials and executives.
In the past, such inspections have sought to identify “naked officials” – those whose spouses and children live overseas. The group has long been a target of Beijing’s anti-corruption watchdog.
The latest inspections have broadened to include another category known as “quasi-naked officials”, according to a Communist Party insider who spoke under the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic.
“Quasi-naked officials are those whose children are living abroad, but their spouses are still in China. They are now placed under heightened monitoring and have to report relevant information in a timely manner,” he said.
A Beijing-based source said the Central Organisation Department, the party’s top personnel organ, carried out a nationwide survey in the first half of last year to dig into officials’ overseas ties.
“The organisation department’s survey is aimed at those who hold critical positions. It does not mean they have committed any wrongdoing,” said the source, who is familiar with the party’s personnel work.
“The concern is, if they have extensive relations overseas, the risk of infiltration and corruption is likely to be higher. So the organisation department usually moves them to less sensitive positions.”
The change comes as President Xi Jinping steps up his anti-corruption campaign, which has swept through multiple government bodies, state-owned enterprises and the military over more than a decade.
China’s top graft-buster, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, put a record 63 high-ranking officials under investigation for corruption last year.
Beijing has been scrutinising “naked officials” for years. A 2014 policy document issued by the Central Organisation Department explicitly said “naked officials” were barred from promotion and were not allowed to take leadership positions in state or party organs, the military or state-owned companies.
Officials are required to regularly declare family ties and assets located outside mainland China.
But the recent change means Beijing has grown even less tolerant of officials’ overseas family ties. Some have lost promotion opportunities and even been removed from their posts.
Officials who hide information from the CCDI also risk losing their jobs.
The tighter restrictions on officials with family living overseas arose from “the broader picture of the anti-corruption campaign”, said the party insider, who has knowledge of the policy change.
He added that for corrupt officials, overseas family members were often an important link for transferring money outside mainland China.
“Corruption often operates like a chain. Put plainly, once an official takes money, it has to be spent or transferred somewhere; otherwise the corrupt act cannot be completed,” he said.
“That money – or even people involved – may be moved overseas, forming one link in the chain,” he said. “We are now cracking down more forcefully on this part of the process.”
“We want the money, we want the people. Neither are acceptable if they are out of the country.”
In recent months, a senior manager at a leading state-owned insurance company was removed from their post because their child had been living in the United States and obtained a green card, according to a state-owned company employee familiar with the situation.
A ministry-affiliated institute also removed a director amid the latest crackdown after he was found to be hiding the fact that his son had a US green card, according to another person familiar with the matter.
Removal from a position, especially a senior post, typically signals the end of a person’s career in Chinese politics. It is also often difficult to find private sector employment following removal.
Insiders and analysts said the caution about officials’ overseas family ties reflected the party’s growing concerns about fugitives moving embezzled funds abroad.
The party insider added that China’s cross-border judicial cooperation with the US had become more challenging in recent years compared with other countries due to the intense rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
A provincial official familiar with disciplinary matters said scrutiny had intensified because none of the “naked officials” involved in corruption cases had previously disclosed having family members overseas.
Over the past decade, Beijing has expanded its overseas travel restrictions to cover several state employee categories, including officials, executives of state-owned enterprises as well as government contractors and employees at hospitals, the SCMP reported in 2024.
The restrictions have only become harsher since then.
In at least two provinces in southern China, local authorities have imposed stricter overseas travel requirements on state employees in the past year. According to people with direct knowledge of the policy, employees are now required to submit their passports and obtain advance approval for all overseas travel for years after they retire.
The move reflects a broader trend in China to “distrust the West”, said Alfred Wu, a scholar specialising in Chinese politics at the National University of Singapore.
Wu said that removing officials because their family members lived overseas would “make the party and state lose some capable people”.
“Naked officials have a higher chance of being corrupt? I don’t think so. No evidence suggests that. Even if your whole family stays in China, corruption could still happen,” Wu said.