For China’s top artificial intelligence researchers, the borders are quickly closing. Travel restrictions now apply to industry leaders, with some requiring government approval before venturing abroad.

The tightening of rules reflects Beijing’s growing concern over AI as both an economic and a security asset. In March 2025, Chinese authorities advised prominent AI founders and researchers to avoid travel to the U.S., marking a shift in strategy towards safeguarding this critical sector.

Restrictions have intensified following scrutiny of the Manus-Meta deal, with China barring its co-founders from leaving the country. Regulators are investigating whether Meta’s $2 billion acquisition breaches Beijing’s foreign investment rules. The race between East and West is now closer than ever; Stanford's latest index shows that as of March 2026, the performance gap between top U.S. and Chinese models has shrunk to just 2.7%, from around 31% in 2023.

While America still dominates in model quality and high-impact patents, China is catching up in publications, citations, and patent volume. In addition to travel bans, Beijing plans to scrutinize U.S. capital flowing into top AI firms, requiring government approval for companies like Moonshot AI, StepFun, and ByteDance.

The news of these restrictions follows broader economic countermeasures: in 2025, China imposed export controls on 14 rare earth materials critical to high-tech military manufacturing and barred state-funded data centers from deploying foreign AI chips. The future of the global tech race hangs in the balance.