Top News 头条
Monday, July 1, marked the 27th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule in 1997. To commemorate the 27th anniversary, Hong Kong has been “gifted” a pair of pandas while a new mainland travel permit for Hong Kong and Macau’s foreign permanent residents to be valid 5 years for 90-day stays is now in place. In an article published Monday, Chief Executive John Lee called the national security laws a “sharp sword” and claimed that the principle of One Country, Two Systems remains the “best institutional arrangement” for Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability.
While traditionally a day of pro-democracy marches led by opposition parties and civil society groups, Hong Kong only saw brief, solo demonstrations, such as an elderly man surnamed Ng who held up handwritten signs outside a shopping mall in Causeway Bay with arrest figures related to the protests in 2019. On the same day, dentist Lee Ying-chi, one of the first people arrested for alleged sedition under Hong Kong’s homegrown security law, was reportedly taken away by the police. She was wearing a white t-shirt featuring a portrait of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong before getting stopped at the metro station.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
NPC Calendar: July 2024: The NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC) is seeking public comment on several bills through July 27, including the draft revision to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law and the draft Preschool Education Law.
China passes revised emergency response law to improve protection for lives, property: The Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress has passed a revised emergency response law, which will tighten government surveillance of media reporting on emergencies.
Opinions on Punishing Crimes of Separatism and Inciting Separatism by "Taiwan independence" Die-hards in Accordance with Law: China Law Translate has shared a full translation of the new guiding opinions on “Taiwanese separatism.” In case you missed it: even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction over Taiwan, China has threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for so-called “diehard” supporters of Taiwanese independence.
Related: Taiwan warns against travel to China after execution threat: On Thursday, Taiwan's government heightened its travel advisory for China, which also extends to the Chinese-administered cities of Hong Kong and Macau, urging its citizens to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
Censorship Is No Solution to China’s Public Safety Problem: China’s censorship on recent knife attacks does not hide the flaws in public safety issues, despite the Chinese government’s stringent control of the media and statistics on random acts of violence.
Related: Netizens Reflect on Anti-Japanese Propaganda After Stabbing at School Bus Stop. A reflection on recent events involving stabbings of foreigners in China reveal xenophobic sentiments among netizens and anti-Japanese propaganda widely spread on the Chinese internet.
Censorship and isolation as China bans thousands of mobile apps: A research report details China’s “Isolation by Design” and its many banned apps, noting that the most censored apps sector are games, listing eight sensitive categories, and criticizing Apple for its lack of commitment to business human rights.
Translation: He Jiayan on the “Accelerating Collapse” of the Chinese Internet: A censored WeChat article reveals concerning statistics about the decreasing scope of the Chinese internet, including the loss of more than a third of Chinese-language websites.
China-backed hackers step up spying on Taiwan: security firm: RedJuliett, a (potentially Chinese state-sponsored) hacking group, continues its hacking campaign against Taiwanese organizations, likely in order to support intelligence operations from Beijing. The Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson denied awareness of or involvement in the group.
Huawei's Harmony aims to end China's reliance on Windows, Android: An open-source operating system developed by Huawei, OpenHarmony, is being promoted as a “national operating system” that will possibly replace Windows and Android in China. This paves the way towards an entirely isolated digital ecosystem within the country.
China’s National Power and Artificial Intelligence: Dr. William C. Hannas, a professor from Georgetown University, provides insights on the link between China’s AI research and state power. China pours significant resources into developing AI and researching AI-neuroscience research, possibly with the goal of “merging” human and artificial intelligence.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
New Tactic in China’s Information War: Harassing a Critic’s Child in the U.S.: As part of the Chinese authorities’ attempts to silence U.S.-based dissident writer Deng Yuwen, thousands of accounts—many of them bots associated with the known “Spamouflage” disinformation campaign—have flooded sites such as X/Twitter, Facebook, and even TripAdvisor with over 5,700 threatening and sexually suggestive posts aimed at Deng’s 16-year-old daughter, even advertising bounties for her assault. Experts call the move an “escalation” that indicates the Chinese government’s willingness to cross lines in its efforts to exert pressure.
Taiwan probes reports of direct Chinese influence at TV station: Lawmakers in Taiwan warn of ongoing attempts by the Chinese government's propaganda machine to infiltrate Taiwan's media environment, linked to an ongoing investigation regarding a journalist from China's state news agency Xinhua who may have played a key role in editing the content of a political talk show at one of Taiwan’s TV stations.
'Silver' protest democracy activist keeps marching for Hong Kong: Now living in the U.K., Hong Kong activist Yeung Po Hei has continued to attend events marking the 2019 protest movement, saying that everyone can contribute to the campaign for democracy in Hong Kong 'according to their own abilities."
Censored back home, Hong Kong authors are publishing in Taiwan: Hong Kong's bookstores once drew Chinese-language bibliophiles from far and wide. Now, as the government has cracked down on free expression and political thought, Hong Kongers are taking their thoughts and memories elsewhere, as a new publishing base emerges in exile.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
Chinese Feminist Activists in Nine Cities Rally in Support of Imprisoned Rights Activists Huang Xueqin and Wang Jianbing: The nine cities include New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Tokyo, and Boston.
Tibetan political prisoner hospitalized following severe illness: Jailed Tibetan writer and Tibetan language advocate, Thupten Lodoe, also known by his pen name Sabuche, is now receiving medical treatment for a “serious illness.” His exact status is unknown, but Lodoe has faced harsh treatment during his imprisonment as part of the Chinese government’s crackdown on Tibetan intellectuals.
Roxie, One of China's Few Lesbian Bars, Closes Its Doors: Citing “forces beyond our control,” a euphemism for official pressure, one of the last open spaces for lesbian and LGBTQI+ community in Shanghai has shuttered its doors. The authorities often crack down in June, to coincide with Pride Month. Once home to an increasingly vibrant LGBTQI+ scene, Shanghai has faced ever-increasing pressure since 2019, when the government abruptly intensified its targeting of LGBTQI+ activities.
Activists slam Euro 2024 for Chinese sponsors’ links to Uyghur forced labor: According to a March 2020 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI, there is evidence that the supply Euro 2024 sponsors BYD, Hisense and Alibaba are tainted by Uyghur exploitation.
Jailed Hong Kong protester files first legal challenge against new security law after early release axed: Ma Chun-man, who is serving a five-year sentence in jail, is challenging the Commissioner of Correctional Services’ decision to revoke his early release under the new Article 23 national security law on constitutional grounds.
29-year-old charged under Hong Kong’s new security law over ‘seditious’ bus graffiti: Chung Man-kit has been accused of sedition for “writing words with seditious intention on multiple occasions on the back of bus seats on different public buses in March and April.”
Ex-Bar Association chair says he left Hong Kong after being warned by nat. sec. police of possible sedition charge: Paul Harris, who served as the Hong Kong Bar Association’s chair in 2021, said he left Hong Kong in response to a warning by police that he could be charged for sedition for describing the 2019 protestors’ motives as not wanting “to be extradited to China, because they couldn’t get a fair trial there.”
Almost 90% of social workers say helping marginalised groups to be made harder under gov’t-proposed overhaul: The survey, with over 3,000 responses, clearly showed social workers’ dissatisfaction with the government’s plan to appoint a majority of members on the registration board, in an unusual moment of pushback against government policy.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
China still arresting ‘thousands’ each year for practicing faith: The U.S. Annual Report on International Religious Freedom found that China’s requirement that clergy members swear allegiance to the CCP severely restricts religious freedom in the country. The report also found that thousands are arrested per year for just practicing their religion.
Decoding China: How Beijing is Sinicizing Islam: In China, where practicing the Muslim faith is not socially acceptable and often criminalized, many continue to live their faith underground.
China trying to ‘normalize’ incursions in Taiwan Strait, Taipei says: Taiwan's Defense Ministry has raised concerns about China's increased military activities in the Taiwan Strait, particularly near the Kinmen islands, seen as part of China's broader strategy to assert its claims over Taiwan and gradually shift the status quo in its favor without direct confrontation.
Hong Kong officials want louder singing of national anthem in schools: Hong Kong's education officials are pushing for louder and more enthusiastic singing of the Chinese national anthem in schools, part of a broader campaign to enhance patriotic education and instill a stronger sense of national identity among students.
Political reform to realise direct elections ‘not a priority,’ Hong Kong’s leader John Lee says: Marking his second anniversary holding office, Lee maintains: “[n]ow we’ve handled the legislation of Article 23 and district governance has been improved, we will next focus on boosting the economy.”
International Responses 国际反应
US probing China Telecom, China Mobile over internet, cloud risks: The Biden administration is investigating China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom over concerns the firms could exploit access to American data through their U.S. cloud and internet businesses by providing it to Beijing.
NCA failure to investigate imports linked to forced Uyghur labour unlawful, court rules: The World Uyghur Congress (WUC) is taking legal action against the U.K. home secretary, HM Revenue and Customs, and the National Crime Agency (NCA), for failing to investigate imports from Xinjiang, which reportedly hosts 380 internment camps for ethnic minorities.
Current Events 热点新闻
China's Communist Party expels ex-defense chief, predecessor in graft probe: Former Defense Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe, have been expelled from the Party after being accused of accepting bribes and improperly benefiting from their positions. This expulsion is part of a broader anti-corruption campaign led by Xi Jinping, targeting high-ranking military and defense industry officials.