China's new spy rules have Australian businesses alarmed

Staff at some of those firms were questioned and detained, while a Beijing-based Japanese executive from pharmaceutical company Astellas Pharma was accused of espionage and detained in March. The caution by Australian businesses in the country comes as a new report outlined a sharp increase in China's use of exit bans to stop foreigners leaving the country. Rights group Safeguard Defenders cited US university research saying 18 Australians were subjected to exit bans in China between 1995 and 2019. "If you are an expat coming into China looking for a new life and a new opportunity, you have to keep…