By Evelyn Cheng
State Department Warning (click here)
A Koch Industries executive (click here) was prevented from leaving the immediate vicinity of his hotel in southern China in early June, The New York Times reported Thursday, citing three sources.
In the days that followed, the unnamed Chinese-American executive was interrogated about topics including U.S.-China trade tensions, and was not allowed to leave the country until the State Department intervened, the Times report said.
The detention plays into growing fears among American businesspeople about harassment from Chinese authorities. In October, a banker with Switzerland-based UBS was prevented from leaving China in order to meet with Chinese officials.
After Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer at Chinese tech giant Huawei, was arrested in Canada in December at the request of the U.S. government, China arrested former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor....
