Top News 头条
As we reported last week, the Hong Kong government gazetted and enacted subsidiary security legislation under its homegrown Article 23 less than 24 hours after it was introduced during an extraordinary, off-schedule Legislative Council (LegCo) meeting. Six new offences were created, including failing to comply with the Beijing’s Office for Safeguarding National Security’s legal instruments, which could result in up to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$500,000. Last Wednesday, journalists attempting to take photos from outside a construction site listed as a “prohibited place” under the new legislation reported that they were stopped by police and told to delete the photos they took—as the Hong Kong Security Chief clarified, even taking photos of these places could constitute an offence if deemed to be done with “criminal intent.” Hong Kong’s “patriots only” legislature will form a subcommittee to oversee the subsidiary legislation, appointing the same roster of lawmakers who oversaw its passage last year. New information has surfaced that this was a “fast track” decision in anticipation of an expected easing of the US-China trade war that had been fully supported by the Central government. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu brushed off concerns about insufficient public consultation and LegCo discussion, stating that it was “imperative” to counter the threats to Hong Kong, likening them to a “virus.”
In the mainland, China’s new Private Economy Promotion Law took effect today (May 20). As the country’s first law promoting private enterprise, it has been closely watched by the business sector, particularly following recent trends related to prosecution and confiscation of assets from entrepreneurs. However, as one analyst explained, the final iteration of the law “contains little new in terms of substantive legal requirements, protections, or policy.” Furthermore, while the law addresses some serious concerns about unlawful targeting of business owners, it is also clear that businesses must “support the leadership of the Party, uphold the socialist system with Chinese characteristics, and actively participate in building a modern socialist country.”
Law & Policy 法律与政策
China’s National Legislature Releases 2025 Legislative Plan: Last week, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress released its legislative work plan for 2025. A new Law on Publicity and Education on the Rule of Law is on the schedule for June, and amendments to the Cybersecurity Law and a new Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress are also expected to be reviewed later this year.
New Guidelines for Implementing China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law: What Foreign Companies Need to Know: New regulations detailing the implementation of China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, expanding countermeasures and clarifying consequences for non-compliance, which heighten legal and financial risks for multinationals operating in both China and foreign jurisdictions that have imposed sanctions against Chinese entities.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
A Wall Behind A Wall: Emerging Regional Censorship in China: A new report by the NGO Great Firewall Report has documented that regional censorship is now emerging in China. For instance, provincial-level censorship in Henan engages in volatile and aggressive blocking of second-level domains which made it block ten times more websites.
Redacting History: A video widely re-posted on the Chinese internet last week to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, an interview with one affected farmer, notably censored part of the interview where another farmer shared that his child was killed in their shoddily constructed school building when it collapsed. This censorship is an example of how closely monitored the official narratives are surrounding tragedies, even years after the fact.
Chinese Mobile App Encryption is Suspiciously Awful: A new paper examining the top 1699 apps in Xiaomi’s “Mi Store” found that half of the apps listed used encryption that is easy to bypass; in fact, “the more popular an app is in the Mi Store, the more likely it is to use one of these vulnerable proprietary cryptosystems.”
South Korea fines China’s e-commerce giant Temu for user data violations: South Korea has fined Temu almost US $1,000,000 for “illegally transferring Korean users’ personal information to China and other countries.”
2025 RDR Index: Big Tech Edition: A new report from Ranking Digital Rights found that on average, Chinese big tech companies ranked lower on total scores (including transparency, governance, and freedom of expression metrics) compared to their biggest Western competitors (who still scored 50% at best). However, Chinese companies have been taking steps to improve transparency in some areas.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Documentary on Hong Kong journalist Ronson Chan withdrawn from overseas screenings, citing ‘pressure’: Documentary “A Single Spark A Little Blaze” has been withdrawn from screenings in five cities across Taiwan, Canada, the US, and the UK due to “pressure” on the film’s subject, Ronson Chan, former head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association.
What China's spies are doing in the U.S., and what happens when they're caught: In a feature from CBS’ 60 Minutes, Hong Kong activist Anna Kwok explains: “with China's long arm repression, it's difficult to feel free anywhere in the world. The thing about the Chinese government is that you can leave the country, you can leave the territory, but you can never actually leave their governance.”
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
Thirty years since it disappeared Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Chinese government must be made to provide the truth about his whereabouts: 30 years after the disappearance of then six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, on 17 May 1995, the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama and his family still remain unknown.
Related: HRW urges China to release 11th Panchen Lama, calls on ‘concerned parties’ to assert Tibetan rights.
China: Release journalist and human rights defender Zhang Zhan: A joint statement from civil society groups led by ARTICLE 19, including HRIC, has condemned the Chinese government’s arbitrary detention of journalist Zhang Zhan on the fifth anniversary of her arrest.
'Unbearable suffering': Australian writer pens letter from Chinese jail: Chinese-born Yang Hengjun was handed a suspended death sentence by a Beijing court on espionage charges. Dr Yang, who previously worked for China's Ministry of State Security, blogged about Chinese state affairs, but his writings often avoided direct criticisms of the government.
Related: 'You start to go crazy': The Australian who survived five years in a Chinese prison. Australian citizen Matthew Radalj, who spent five years at the Beijing No 2 prison for international inmates, described undergoing and witnessing severe physical punishment, forced labour, food deprivation and psychological torture.
Rights group raises alarm over ethnic Kazakh who fled Xinjiang: Yerzhanat Abai, an athnic Kazakh man who lived in Xinjiang and is a Chinese citizen, recently fled Xinjiang into Kazakhstan and sought help from a rights group there, but was detained by police shortly afterwards. The group, Atajurt, expressed concern that he could be repatriated to Xinjiang and face harsh consequences.
Mass protest by parents prompts reversal of private school closure in China: Large protests are rare in China, but another large protest over a school closure was enough to pressure a local government in Hebei into changing its plans.
Hong Kong High Court grants bail to father of wanted activist Anna Kwok pending his nat. sec trial: In a reversal of last week’s news, Kwok Yin-sang has been granted bail by the High Court for HK $200,000 cash, $200,000 in surety, and “surrendering travel documents, living at the reported residence, reporting to the police every day, not contacting prosecution witnesses, and not getting in touch with Anna Kwok during the bail period.”
Jailed Hong Kong social worker Jackie Chen appeals against rioting conviction, sentence after retrial: Chen was initially cleared of the rioting charge midway through her first trial in September 2020, but the government successfully appealed her acquittal. She pleaded not guilty when she faced the retrial in December 2024 but was convicted in March.
Hong Kong independence activist jailed under nat. sec law appeals for shorter sentence at top court: Joseph John, a Portuguese national and the leader of the now-disbanded UK-based Hong Kong Independence Party, was sentenced in April last year after pleading guilty to conspiring to incite secession between July 1, 2020, and November 1, 2022, by sharing social media posts.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Holy See: Review Vatican-China Agreement: Rights groups are calling for the new Pope, Leo XIV, to direct an urgent review of the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with the Chinese government that allows Beijing to appoint bishops for government-approved houses of worship.
Related: China’s unilateral appointment of bishops opposed by human rights groups. China has taken advantage of the sede vacante, the period of time between the death of one pope and the election of the next, and controversially appointed two bishops without the Vatican’s confirmation.
Hong Kong gov’t watchdog removes decades of reports, other documents for ‘website management’: The Hong Kong Office of the Ombudsman has removed decades of annual and investigative reports, press releases, and mediation examples from its website, leaving only documents dated after April 2023.
Related: Hong Kong ombudsman defends archived reports removal, citing website improvements. Ombudsman Jack Chan and Chief Executive John Lee responded to criticism that the move undermined transparency, with some raising doubts over the watchdog’s explanation that keeping records from the past 10 years was difficult.
International Responses 国际反应
How I Accidentally Became Part of China’s PR Campaign: A Duke student describes her experience as part of a 70-student free trip to China put on by the Jiangsu Foreign Affairs Office, where the students were constantly followed and interviewed by local media, and even coached to give more positive statements about China.
Hong Kong gov’t vows to ‘never be intimidated’ after US senators call for sanctions on city’s judges, prosecutors: Dan Sullivan and John Curtis of the Republican Party, and Jeff Merkley of the Democratic Party, had jointly introduced the Hong Kong Judicial Sanctions Act, listing 45 judges and prosecutors whom they said should be sanctioned.