HRIC Flies Banner Over APEC For Xi's Visit

The banner read "End CCP, Free China, Free Hong Kong, Free Tibet, Free Uighur."

Nov 21, 2023

On November 14, 2023, Xi Jinping arrived in San Francisco for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference. Human Rights in China, Humanitarian China, and Liberty Sculpture Garden jointly organized a protest action to coincide with Xi’s arrival: a small plane flew a banner with the words "End CCP, Free China, Free Hong Kong, Free Tibet, Free Uighur” over San Francisco for four hours, circling over key locations such as the hotel where Xi planned to stay, the APEC meeting location, and SFO Airport, where Xi’s plane landed shortly after.

HRIC believes that human rights must be the center of the United States’ policy towards China, and hoped to use the banner to raise awareness around the fact that in order to appease Beijing, the U.S. government neglects human rights issues when it seeks to engage with China. Therefore, the protests sought to encourage Biden to raise human rights in his meeting with Xi. The action successfully generated attention for the pro-democracy and anti-CCP activists, who gathered in San Francisco to “welcome” Xi. News organizations reported on the banner, which was spotted at various points around the city (1, 2, 3, 4), and Twitter/X users shared photos of the banner as it flew.

See below for videos and photos, taken by activists at various locations.