HRIC Weekly Brief
April 23, 2024
Top News 头条
This week, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee plans to review amendments to the National Defense Education Law, which is aimed at teaching citizens “necessary military skills” and “patriotic enthusiasm.” Meanwhile, for “National Security Education Day,” a holiday introduced by Xi Jinping in 2015, Hong Kong held flag-raising ceremonies and events across the city. Multiple students reported that they were told they would not be allowed to sit for exams unless they joined the flag ceremonies.
In the past four years, Hong Kong has arrested 491 people, ages 15-90, under its first National Security Law. Last week, Chow Hang-tung and two other activists were denied the opportunity to challenge their convictions over refusing to turn data over to the national security police in Hong Kong’s top court.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
A New Round of Restrictions Further Constrains Religious Practice in Xinjiang: Years of so-called “Sinicization” of Islam in Xinjiang have been codified in recent laws passed by the CCP to further restrict Uyghur culture in the region, ruling that “religious activity sites that are newly built, renovated, expanded, or rebuilt should reflect Chinese characteristics and style in terms of architecture, sculptures, paintings, decorations, etc.”
Follow-up on the fate of China Judgments Online: An appendix to the Supreme People’s Court Work Report from last month discusses the new People’s Court Case Database, a new database of narrowly selected cases intended to serve as guidance for judges, and the fate of China Judgements Online, which will continue to exist, but will be further redacted and may reduce the number of cases from lower courts.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
The not-so-silent type: A new report from the Citizen Lab has found that nearly one billion users are potentially affected by a vulnerability in cloud-based pinyin keyboard apps from eight vendors, including Xiaomi and Samsung, that would allow passive network eavesdroppers to collect users’ keystroke data, thus revealing everything they type on their device.
Apple pulls WhatsApp and Threads from App Store on Beijing’s orders: Beijing ordered Apple to pull WhatsApp and Threads from the Chinese app store on unspecified national security grounds, as the United States Congress considers a Tiktok ban.
Related: US House passes bill that could lead to total TikTok ban.
China bans Uyghurs from using social media apps: The Chinese authorities have issued a new ban on Uyghurs using social media, including the app Tiktok, and any firewall circumvention methods such as VPNs. The ban carries high penalties and is being enforced through random phone checks.
The Flip Side of Influence: Foreign influencers that “tell China’s story well” are highly sought over by the Chinese propaganda machine; however, even those that have Beijing’s approval can face censorship and police attention for mentioning “sensitive” topics.
China: The rise of digital repression in the Indo-Pacific: According to a new report by internet freedom organization Article 19, the Chinese government has used tech companies including Huawei and ZTE as “proxies” to export “digital authoritarianism” throughout Southeast Asia.
China axes hundreds of TV dramas depicting family tensions: Hundreds of TV shows have been banned by Chinese censors for showing fighting between spouses or in-laws, as part of the Chinese government’s efforts to encourage marriage and children.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
New Report: Chasing Fox Hunt: Safeguard Defenders has released a new report investigating “Operation Fox Hunt,” the Chinese government’s global supposed anti-corruption campaign that has led to the extrajudicial returns of at least 283 individuals through methods including harassment, threats, and even kidnapping.
Hong Kong dissident suspects Chinese agents tracked and monitored him in London: Simon Cheng, Hong Kong activist in exile, describes being followed and watched by a group of unknown Mandarin-speaking individuals in central London. Cheng says the individuals were likely informants for China’s Ministry of State Security, and that he has been followed several times recently while meeting with friends.
Taiwanese, Tibetan students protest Chinese envoy's speech at Harvard: Four Harvard students of Taiwanese and Tibetan heritage interrupted a speech by Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng to protest against “the Chinese government for its human rights abuses and aggressions in Tibet, Hong Kong, East Turkestan, and Taiwan.” The students held banners and yelled that Xie’s hands were “painted with blood” before they were forcibly removed by an event organizer.
Protesting Spanish professor 'warned university' over Confucius Institutes: Journalism professor Mar Llera protested the opening of a new Confucius Institute at Spain’s Seville University by getting on stage at the opening ceremony, saying that her concerns about transnational repression had been ignored “for years” and that the university had lied to her about their plans to open an Institute.
Chinese students in US tell of ‘chilling’ interrogations and deportations: Under the backdrop of increasing tensions with China over espionage cases, Chinese students and academics say they are facing increased suspicion due to their background. Some have been denied entry by Customs and Border Patrol, even if they hold a valid visa.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
"Do You Think Xi Jinping is a Dictator?": Streamer Hu Chenfeng announced a break from streaming and was suspended on Chinese social media platforms after a live commenter asked him whether he thought Xi Jinping was a dictator. Despite strongly chastising the commenter, Hu still faced immediate censorship and repercussions.
Hong Kong loses 10,000 civil servants amid political crackdown: More than 10,000 Hong Kong civil servants resigned from 2022-2023, as a “deteriorating social environment” and clampdown on free speech has caused many to leave their positions and emigrate abroad.
Hong Kong workers can raise issues through ‘celebrations,’ pro-Beijing union says as it confirms no Labour Day march: Raising freedom of assembly concerns, Hong Kong’s largest trade union federation says it will no longer hold its traditional Labor Day march but will instead hold activities to “raise awareness” of labor issues. Last year, the march was scrapped due to “pressure” on one of the organizers.
Hong Kong lawmaker questions gov’t film fund vetting process, citing ‘soft resistance’ in some movies: Hong Kong’s government-subsidized Film Development Fund has come under fire for funding movies that supposedly contain so-called “soft resistance.” A film that received accolades at the Hong Kong Film Awards was criticized by a Hong Kong lawmaker for poorly portraying the police.
Hong Kong student jailed for 1 year and 4 months over money laundering charge linked to 2019 protest fund: Yu Yan-yuk has been sentenced to one year and four months in prison for “money laundering” related to letting Spark Alliance, a bail fund and assistance platform for protestors, use his bank account to store and transfer money. Yu was 17 years old at the time.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
China's spy agency encourages people to see spies everywhere: For “National Security Education Day,” China’s Ministry of State Security released a video warning of “hostile foreign forces” and highlighting “confessions” of apparent spies, including an elderly Chinese-American man.
China expels teacher for pushing for students to use Tibetan language: A Tibetan teacher was removed from his position at a Chinese government-run boarding school, and his teaching license was suspended, for teaching Tibetan language and history to students.
Explaining the politics behind Chinese language translation: The year of “Loong”: Chinese state media has chosen to use an unusual transliteration of the Chinese word for “dragon” rather than the English term in its translated content, claiming that the English has a different context from the Chinese term. In recent years, the Chinese government has attempted to use transliteration of Mandarin to erase words such as Tibet and emphasize “cultural confidence” under Xi Jinping.
Team set up to rebut ‘slanders’ of new security law here to stay, Hong Kong says, citing ongoing ‘misinformation’: The Hong Kong government declared that its “Response and Rebuttal” team would continue to operate, with the goal of promoting the new Article 23 national security law and cracking down on dissent against it.
International Responses 国际反应
House Reps urge crack down on companies benefiting from Chinese forced labor: The U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP urged the State Department to encourage allies in the European Union to support a ban on products made by Uyghur forced labor.
Blinken says genocide in Xinjiang is ongoing in report ahead of China visit: The US State Department’s annual human rights report highlighted the issue of “genocide, crimes against humanity, forced labor, and other human rights violations against predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups” in a preface by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, ahead of his upcoming visit to China.
Three German citizens arrested on suspicion of spying for China: Germany has arrested three German citizens for selling military secrets to China, two of whom were apparently affiliated with a university.
Related: UK police charge two men with spying for China.
UK tells Hongkongers ‘you are safe here,’ as city slams ‘slanders and smears’: A UK government report published last week described Hong Kong as being on a “negative trajectory” and reassured the Hong Kong diaspora community in the UK that they are safe from extradition to China.
Very interesting, very scary.