The World Ahead | China in 2024
Life will get even harder for foreign firms in China
It looks like the new, post-covid normal is here to stay
![The Central Business District on a rainy day, in Beijing.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20231118_TWCNP502.jpg)
By Don Weinland
In the span of a few days in September 2023, word spread that two businessmen working for global firms were not permitted to leave China. One of them, the head of a Chinese investment-banking division at Nomura, a Japanese bank, appeared to have been snagged in a corruption investigation. He had been hit with an “exit ban”, meaning he could travel within the country but could not leave. Days later news broke that a senior executive at Kroll, a due-diligence firm, was subject to similar conditions. According to the Wall Street Journal, he has been stuck in China since July.
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This article appeared in the China section of the print edition of The World Ahead 2024 under the headline “The new normal”