It Only Takes a $7k Debt to End Up Trapped in China

If you owe $2,500+ in child support you can't apply for or renew your US passport. However, my understanding is that it's possible to flee if your existing passport is valid. (On the other hand, your existing US passport can be revoked if you have more than $50-60k (figure changes every year) unpaid federal tax debt).

Also it sounds like WSJ is counting Taiwanese businessmen (e.g. one who was sued by his German partner) which China doesn't consider foreigners.

> The Wall Street Journal conducted a search of an online court database that included millions of documents and turned up 37 cases of foreign nationals hit with exit bans ...academics have found more than 150 cases. The cases in the court database include Americans stuck in China for missed payments or failed debts, a Taiwanese restaurant owner who got into a disagreement about share ownership with his German co-owner

It sounds bad from the headline but from the article it looks like most of them had judgements against them for unpaid employees. Admittedly in at least some of the cases it was the overseas parent company that stopped paying and the locally stationed manager who got stuck with the bill.