US Embassy in Beijing follows a case of a patent office server that traveled to the Asian country to visit family members
An employee of the (United States Patents and Brands Office) is prevented from leaving China after making a personal trip to the Asian country. The information was released by the US Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday (22.Jul.2025).
“We are following this case very closely and we are in contact with Chinese authorities to solve the situation as soon as possible”declared the US embassy spokesman about the uspto employee case. According to a report, the situation has caused concern among US authorities, especially after other similar cases have been reported recently.
US authorities did not reveal the employee’s identity or specific details about their visit to China. According to, the employee, who works for an agency subordinate to the Department of Commerce, traveled to the country for several months to visit family members. According to sources consulted by the newspaper, he was prevented from leaving for not reporting in his visa request that he worked for the US government.
The incident was registered in mid -April, as reported by a statement from the State Department. The employee was questioned by Chinese intelligence officers about his previous service in the US Armed Forces.
On April 14, China State Security Ministry officers seized passport, credit card, cell phone and iPad while he was in the city of Chengdu, in the southwest of the country. Subsequently, the authorities returned the passport and the employee traveled to Beijing in early May accompanied by US embassy employees.
China’s Foreign Ministry, when asked about the case during a press conference on Tuesday (22.Jul), did not confirm or denied the ban. “China is a country with a rule of law and all issues related to entry and exit are dealt with according to the law”afirmou o porta-voz Guo Jiakun.
During the interrogations, the Chinese officers were mainly concentrated in the employee’s military history in the US, according to the report of the Times. The man informed Chinese officers about an initial level employment he had at a nuclear institute in China, his postgraduate studies in engineering at a university in Puerto Rico and his work in maintaining Black Hawk helicopters while serving in the US Army.
The case of the USPTO employee is not isolated. Recently, the China Foreign Ministry confirmed that similar restrictions were Chenyue Mao, Wells Fargo banker. According to the ministry, Mao is prevented from leaving the country because he needs to assist in a criminal investigation.
Following the prohibition of departure imposed on MAO, an administrative director born in Shanghai and based on Atlanta’s office, Wells Fargo suspended all trips to China.
