China tightens exit controls on tech talent, signaling economic anxiety

In a striking reversal of its long-standing posture as a destination for global ambition, China has begun restricting the departure of its most strategically valuable engineers, founders, and specialists — a quiet admission that what a nation builds, it fears losing. The new exit controls, targeting expertise in artificial intelligence, rare earths, and batteries, arrive against a backdrop of record capital flight, a collapsed property market, and weakening domestic demand. Where Beijing once stood accused of drawing talent and secrets outward from the West, it now erects walls inward, reveali