Chinese intelligence officers began tracking an employee of the U.S. Commerce Department this spring, when he was in southwest China and where he has family members, at one point interrogating him about his prior service in the U.S. military, according to a U.S. government document.

据一份美国政府文件披露，中国的情报人员今年春季开始追踪美国商务部一名雇员，当时他正在中国西南地区探亲，期间中方人员就其在美国服兵役的经历进行了盘问。

The man, who is an American citizen, has been prevented from leaving China since mid-April, according to the document, a State Department cable that was obtained by The New York Times.

据《纽约时报》获得的一份美国国务院电报显示，这名美国公民自4月中旬以来一直被阻止离开中国。

The cable, from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, was dated May 2 and sent to officials in Washington, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House aides on the National Security Council.

这份电报由美国驻北京大使馆于5月2日发出，已送至包括国务卿鲁比奥及白宫国家安全委员会助理在内的华盛顿官员手中。

On April 14, the Chinese officers seized the man’s passport, credit card, cellphone and iPad while he was in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, the cable said. The officers, who worked for the Ministry of State Security, China’s main intelligence and counterintelligence agency, returned the passport on April 22 but told the American he could not leave the country. His wife is in the United States.

电报指出，该男子4月14日在四川省会成都期间，中国国家安全部的工作人员扣押了他的护照、信用卡、手机和iPad。国家安全部是中国主要的情报与反间谍机构。尽管在4月22日归还了护照，但中方明确告知这名美国人不得离境。据悉其妻子目前在美国。

The cable gives a glimpse into the operations of the secretive Ministry of State Security as it increased pressure on the American during his stay in China. It also lays out efforts by U.S. diplomats to get him to Beijing from Chengdu in early May, while Chinese officers continued to conduct surveillance on him.

这份电报揭示了神秘的国家安全部在这名美国人逗留中国期间对其不断施压所采取的种种手段。它还详细描述了美国外交官在5月初将他从成都转移至北京的过程，期间中方人员始终对其保持密切监视。

The man’s situation became public over the weekend, after American news organizations reported on his plight. The cable obtained by The Times did not identify the man by name or give details about his background, but it offers new information about his situation.

上周末，在美国的新闻媒体报道了他的困境后，此事才得以公开。《纽约时报》获得的电报未透露当事人姓名及具体背景信息，但首次披露了其处境的最新细节。

China’s restrictions on the American come at a precarious moment, as President Trump tries to carry out a trade war against the superpower rival while also courting Xi Jinping, the country’s leader, whom the American president has spoken of in flattering terms. Mr. Rubio said during a trip to Malaysia this month that “the odds are high” that Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi would meet this year.

中国对这名美国人的离境限制正值一个微妙的时刻：特朗普总统正试图对这个超级大国竞争对手发动贸易战，同时又在讨好中国领导人习近平，他曾多次以恭维的语气谈及习近平。鲁比奥本月访问马来西亚期间表示，特朗普和习近平今年举行会晤的“可能性很高”。

The Commerce Department employee is one of perhaps dozens of American citizens barred by China from leaving the country, in a shadowy practice called an “exit ban” that the Chinese government has used for years. The targets are often but not always ethnic Chinese, and many are former citizens of China. Some have been involved in business disputes in the country.

中国禁止离境的美国公民或有数十人，这名商务部雇员是其中之一。这种被称为“限制出境”的隐秘手段已被中国政府使用了多年。被针对的对象通常（但并非总是）是华裔，且许多人曾是中国公民。部分人员涉及该国的商业纠纷。

In recent years, Chinese intelligence and security officials have been given greater power to scrutinize and detain foreign citizens and their Chinese associates in hunts for so-called subversive elements.

近年来，中国情报和安全部门被赋予了更大的权力，可以审查和拘留外国公民及其中国关联人员，以搜捕所谓的颠覆分子。

Another U.S. citizen, Mao Chenyue, who is a Wells Fargo banker, has also been barred from leaving China.

另一名美国公民、富国银行的银行家茅晨月也被禁止离开中国。

The State Department cites the exit ban practice in its Level 2 travel advisory for China that urges visitors to “exercise increase caution.” In November, the department lowered its advisory from Level 3, “reconsider travel.”

美国国务院在针对中国的二级旅行警告中提及了出境限制措施，敦促前往该国的人员“加强防范”。去年11月，国务院将赴华旅行建议从三级“重新考虑旅行”降至二级。

The Commerce employee eventually told U.S. diplomats that the Chinese officers’ questioning “focused heavily” on his U.S. military background rather than his work for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a unit in the Commerce Department, the cable said. The man told the Chinese officers about an entry-level job he had held at a nuclear institute in China, his graduate studies in engineering at a university in Puerto Rico and his work maintaining Black Hawk helicopters while he was in the U.S. Army.

根据这份外交电报，该商务部雇员后来告诉美国外交官，中方的盘问“重点关注”他在美军服役的背景，而非其在美国商务部下属专利商标局的工作。这名男子向中方交代了自己曾在中国某核研究所担任初级职位、在波多黎各大学攻读工程学研究生，以及在美国陆军服役期间从事黑鹰直升机维护工作的经历。

His case became so contentious that a senior U.S. diplomat and a diplomatic security officer went to Chengdu to meet with him. The diplomat observed “heavy surveillance” around the Commerce employee when the two met on May 1, the cable said. The diplomat planned to accompany the man to a meeting the Ministry of State Security had scheduled for him that day, but it was postponed.

他的案子变得如此具有争议性，以至于一位美国高级外交官和一名外交安全官员前往成都与他见面。电文称，5月1日该外交官与其会面时，注意到这名商务部雇员周围存在“严密的监视”。该外交官原计划陪同该男子参加国家安全部当天安排的会议，但会议被推迟。

The next day, the two embassy officials and the Commerce employee took an Air China flight to Beijing, the cable said. The employee was under surveillance by Chinese officers the entire time. A man with no luggage sat in the row in front of the American and appeared to be watching him and the embassy officials, the cable said.

电文称，第二天，这两名大使馆官员和商务部雇员乘坐中国国际航空的航班前往北京。该雇员全程受到中方人员的监视。电文称，一名没有行李的男子坐在商务部雇员前排的座位上，似乎在监视他和两名使馆官员。

After the group arrived in Beijing, the U.S. diplomat saw people taking photographs of her and of the man while they sat at a restaurant next to the man’s temporary housing near the U.S. Embassy, the cable said.

电报称，三人抵达北京后，这位美国外交官看到有人在他们就餐时拍摄她和那名男子的照片，当时他们坐在美国大使馆附近该男子临时住所隔壁的一家餐馆里。

“He is growing more deeply concerned about his overall situation, as well as the safety and security of his Chinese relatives based in Chengdu,” the cable said.

电文称：“他对自己的整体处境以及生活在成都的中国亲属的安全越来越感到担忧。"

The White House National Security Council referred a request for comment to the State Department. The department had no comment on the details of the case on Monday morning. “Our highest priority is the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas,” it said in a statement on Sunday night.

收到置评请求的白宫国家安全委员会称相关问题应由国务院答复。周一上午，国务院未对此案细节发表评论。它在周日晚间的一份声明中表示：“我们的首要任务是保障海外美国公民的安全。”

When a reporter in Beijing asked about the case on Monday, Guo Jiakun, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, said: “I don’t have information to provide. China is a country under rule of law and handles the entry and exit affairs in accordance with the law.”

周一，当记者在北京问及此案时，中国外交部发言人郭嘉昆表示：“我没有可以提供的具体情况。中国是法治国家，依法处理出入境事务。”