Who knew that immigration, emigration, and tourism could all be parts of economic statecraft?
Anybody who knew anything about the topic: EVERYTHING can be!
China will now restrict overseas trips for mid-to-senior-level civil servants, CCP cadres, SOE employees, and private citizens working in sensitive areas.
By contrast, the West will open its doors wide for anyone going in and out.
Question: which works better in a Cold and hot war environment, and why?
Years ago, I lived in a Moscow suburb that had until then been a closed Soviet science city: its highly-educated population had been shielded from others for national security reasons.
Question: With contacts in elite universities saying many western scientists are underpaid, autistically apolitical and focused on their research, or utopian or anti-western thinkers, and universities focus on making money, how long until a western politician argues their scientists and experts need to have restrictions imposed on travel and contact with outsiders, etc.?
Economic statecraft is not just tariffs!