HRIC Weekly Brief
March 11, 2025
Top News 头条
On March 8, the world celebrated International Women’s Day. However, for many, the day was one to reflect on the many human rights challenges facing women in China. Protests sprung up in multiple cities, drawing awareness not only to the abuses themselves, but also to the Chinese government’s systemic methods of suppressing public knowledge of injustices and making victims, such as the Chained Woman, disappear. Meanwhile, many women in China remain imprisoned on political charges. Zhang Zhan, female journalist and COVID-19 whistleblower, is expected to stand trial soon in Shanghai on charges of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.” Zhang is reportedly on a hunger strike in detention.
Read more about Chinese women’s rights:
The Three-Child Policy Monitoring Network released a research report last week on pro-natalist policies introduced by the Chinese government, raising concerns around women's privacy and reproductive autonomy.
Chinese activist and member of the “feminist five,” Li Tingting, looks back at the decade since her arrest for distributing stickers on the Beijing subway.
‘We had all this energy’: the landmark gathering of women that unnerved the Chinese government.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
NPC 2025: Agenda and Daily Schedule: This year’s “Two Sessions,” the annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, wrapped up on March 11.
Red light for rural land reform: The Party recently backtracked on its plans to reform the “rural land tenure system,” which places most rural land under the ownership of collectives.
Hong Kong security chief condemns legal scholar for ‘undermining rule of law’ in op-ed on Yuen Long attack court ruling: In a letter responding to legal scholar Johannes Chan’s Ming Pao opinion piece, Secretary for Security Chris Tang accused Chan of “shaking the public’s confidence in the court system” by critiquing a recent court case in which, he says, the court played down the role of pro-Beijing attackers who swarmed the Yuen Long subway station in 2019.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
China ramps up surveillance of residents through video cameras: A single district of Chongqing has “installed 27,900 surveillance cameras and 245 sensors as part of a comprehensive “grid” surveillance plan to keep tabs on residents.”
Rehabilitating DeepSeek: Some international companies are creating AI tools trained off of Chinese AI tool DeepSeek, without bothering to remove the censorship limitations imposed on it.
US charges Chinese hackers who targeted dissidents: U.S. prosecutors have brought charges against 12 Chinese nationals for hacking and selling data on U.S.-based dissidents to the Chinese government, as well as targeting a religious organization and a Hong Kong-based newspaper.
Facebook was 'hand in glove' with China, BBC told: A tell-all from a former employee reveals that Facebook had discussed and began planning ways of complying with the CCP’s strict censorship methods in order to break into the Chinese market.
Heavy Online Censorship of Articles Critical of Animated Chinese Blockbuster “Ne Zha 2”: Ne Zha 2 has become a source of online slang and nationalist fervor; as such, it has been the subject of close scrutiny from the authorities.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
China Is Exploiting America’s Social Divisions: United Front-affiliated individuals and groups have been involved in actions supporting the U.S.-based Chinese community, particularly in New York, preying on real anxieties about racial injustice and anti-Asian sentiment to “activate a sense of threat to ethnic Chinese identity” and sway Chinese Americans towards Beijing.
Governments Should Step Up Support for Tibetans in Exile: On the anniversary of the March 10, 1959 Tibetan uprising, Human Rights Watch argues that the international community should strengthen its support for diasporic Tibetans.
Letters call on UK residents to hand Hong Kongers over to China for reward: Hong Kong authorities reportedly sent letters to people living near “wanted” pro-democracy activists Tony Chung and Carmen Lau, both of whom live in the United Kingdom, offering HK$ 1 million to anyone who can “provide information on this wanted person and the related crime or take him to Chinese embassy.”
Hongkongers with BNO passports to be exempt from electronic authorisation for UK travel: The British government intends to amend its immigration policy such that British National Overseas passport holders are no longer required to obtain Electronic Travel Authorisation to travel to the UK.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
China cracking down on Protestant churches during annual congress: Authorities detained nine members of the Xinyi Village Church, including pastor Zhao Hongliang, who is still in detention with three others. Despite being on the authorities’ list of approved organizations, the church reportedly was targeting for refusing to comply with an unspecified official demand.
China’s crackdown on dissent: over 1,500 convicted in six years, report finds: A report from Chinese Human Rights Defenders found that thousands have been arrested and 1,545 people have been charged with crimes by the Chinese authorities for the peaceful exercise of their human rights over the last six years.
Related: How China holds officials in secret, solitary detention.
Top Hong Kong court overturns convictions of 3 former organizers of Tiananmen vigils: In a rare victory, Hong Kong’s top court has overturned convictions of Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong, writing that “by redacting the only potential evidential basis for establishing that the alliance was a foreign agent, the prosecution disabled itself from proving its case.”
Jailed Hong Kong activist Tam Tak-chi loses landmark appeal at top court over uttering ‘seditious words’: According to the court, there was no need for the prosecution to “establish that the words Tam uttered were intended to incite violence or public order.”
3 Hongkongers plead guilty to rioting in retrial after gov’t appeal: The three young Kong Kongers had been found not guilty of rioting in December 2021, but have now pleaded guilty instead. The judge has ordered that the three be detained pending their sentencing on June 25, 2025.
4 Hong Kong activists to face trial in April over alleged unauthorised fundraising: Chan Po-ying, Dickson Chau, Yu Wai-pan, and Lee Ying-chi face 12 counts related to collecting money and displaying posters without permission.
Hong Kong artist behind ‘Freedom’ graffiti charged again for criminal damage: Street artist Chan King-fai has once again been charged with spray painting the characters for “freedom” 20 times across Hong Kong in 2025. He will appear in court again on April 30.
Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai wraps up testimony at nat. security trial after 52 days in witness box: Lai’s trial, which was originally slated to last 80 days, has spanned 144 days since 2020.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Gay Dating App Profiles Frozen During “Two Sessions” Political Meetings: Temporary harsher restrictions are typically used by the authorities to prevent any possibility of online dissent during the high-profile “Two Sessions” political meetings. This year’s restrictions included dating apps “Blued” and “Finka.”
Ancient Outpost Seeks a New Voice: Guyuan is the location of the latest “International Communication Center,” an entity under the local propaganda office aimed at promoting Guyuan internationally, as part of a larger strategy of “grassroots storytelling” to boost the CCP’s international influence.
International Responses 国际反应
US offered to resettle Uyghurs that Thailand deported to China, sources say: Canada and the United States both offered to take a group of Uyghurs held in Thai detention, but fearing to “upset” China, the Thai government did not accept these offers. Instead, 40 individuals have been deported to China, where they face an uncertain fate.