HRIC Weekly Brief
August 27, 2024
Top News 头条
Many Chinese human rights defenders and groups on Twitter/X have recently been targeted by “spear-phishing” attacks, posing as official X Support to convince users to enter their log-in information. HRIC spoke to one victim of the attacks, who had acted swiftly to warn others of the danger.
Meanwhile, China’s soft power efforts were boosted this week by the launch of “Black Myth: Wukong,” the first “AAA” video game released by a Chinese studio. The game’s popularity worldwide was tainted, however, by a censorship scandal: the company sent out a list of topics to avoid while livestreaming the game, including “feminist propaganda, fetishisation, and other content that instigates negative discourse.” It is unclear to what extent these instructions fall under explicit direction from the authorities, as opposed to trying to placate the censors.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
China proposes law to make it easier to register marriages, harder to divorce: The draft, released by China's Ministry of Civil Affairs this week for public feedback until September 11, aimed to build a “family friendly society.”
Related: Quote of the Day: "They'll Stoop to Anything to Reduce the Divorce Rate". The proposed draft is viewed as an attempt to address low marriage rates and a falling birth rate giving rise to a looming demographic crisis in China.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
Why are VPNs getting slower in China?: Over the last few months, VPNs in China have become to run markedly slower than before, perhaps indicating an increased focus on cracking down on VPN usage.
Weibo Cracks Down on Posts About Weibo Crackdowns: Weibo announced that it had suspended more than 10 accounts for “hyping the censorship of other accounts” as a form of transgressing Weibo’s numerous but unwritten political taboos.
List of Chinese entities who have turned to the cloud for access to restricted US tech: According to recent public tender documents, state-linked Chinese entities including research institutes and universities are using cloud services provided by Amazon or its rivals to access advanced U.S. chips and artificial intelligence capabilities that they cannot acquire otherwise.
Apple, Spotify take down banned Hong Kong protest anthem: However, many have argued that the injunction only applies to Hong Kong, and should have no overseas effect at all, and Apple and Spotify’s actions go beyond what they were required to do within Hong Kong.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Shock and sympathy greet news of arrest of Chinese dissident on spy charges: Yuanjun Tang’s arrest sparked a flurry of discussion within the dissident community, as members try to understand why the pro-democracy leader was now being accused of working as a Chinese agent.
Related: 唐元雋案衝擊海外民運士氣 周鋒鎖：信心通往勝利之路 [The Tang Yuanjun case has impacted the morale of overseas democracy movements. Zhou Fengsuo: Confidence leads to victory]. Fengsuo Zhou, Executive Director of HRIC, emphasized that overseas pro-democracy organizations are still the most difficult for the CCP to penetrate, and that people should continue to have confidence in their beliefs.
Fire breaks out at Chinese dissident-run sculpture park in California desert: This is the second time in three years that a fire has engulfed the Liberty Sculpture Park, opened in 2017, which displays a host of outdoor pieces of art that are generally critical of the Chinese government. Law enforcement has yet to release a statement regarding the cause of the fire, but its volunteers noted that the park has a history of pro-CCP vandalism.
Chinese calls for Taiwan hotel boycott part of propaganda machine: Travel blogger "Instructor Zhang," with millions of followers on Douyin and TikTok, went viral after confronting a manager at the Taiwan-invested Evergreen Laurel Hotel in Paris for failing to include the Chinese flag in its Olympics-themed decor. Notably, Instructor Zhang has revealed that the video was approved by a France-based United Front organization, and posted an approval letter stating that the video contents would “safeguard national peaceful reunification.”
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
人权律师余文生、妻子许艳被控“煽动颠覆”案即将开庭 [Human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and his wife Xu Yan, charged with "inciting subversion," are about to go to trial]: Human rights defenders Yu Wensheng and Xu Yan will reportedly be tried for “inciting subversion of state power” on August 28 and 29 at the Suzhou Intermediate People's Court, a year and four months after they were initially detained.
Taiwan denies entry to asylum-seeking Chinese dissident writer: Taiwanese officials turned Deng Liting away at the airport, citing Taiwan’s lack of a refugee law and fears of a wave of asylum-seekers from neighboring China.
Activist defending himself in Hong Kong security trial says he has no remorse: Ng kin-wai, one of 47 democratic activists arrested and charged in 2021 with "conspiracy to commit subversion to subvert state power" for participating in an unofficial poll in 2020, said he would shoulder the responsibility for what he did but "will not apologize for the beliefs and values I share with my voters."
Hong Kong man to enter plea under new security law over ‘seditious’ bus graffiti next month, as lawyer hints at ‘no trial’: Chung Man-kit is the third person charged under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, also known as Article 23, which raised the maximum penalty for sedition from two years of imprisonment to seven years.
Hong Kong activist ‘Grandpa Chan’ to plead not guilty over showing banners atop Lion Rock without permit: Park regulations state that visitors cannot display signs, notices, posters, banners or advertisements in a country park without permission from authorities. Chan’s defense team reportedly plans to make an argument pertaining to freedom of speech.
Hong Kong activist Chan Po-ying loses appeal against conviction over collecting money in public without permit: Chan Poying is the chairperson of the League of Social Democrats, one of Hong Kong’s last remaining opposition groups after dozens of pro-democracy groups disbanded following the enactment of the Beijing-imposed national security law.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
No Way In or Out: Authoritarian Controls on the Freedom of Movement: According to a special report by non-governmental organization Freedom House, researchers have found that the Chinese Communist Party, which exercises a wide range of mobility controls against ethnic minority populations, denied Uyghurs living in Turkey the opportunity to renew their passports, offering one-way travel documents to China instead.
International Responses 国际反应
China: Update on the work of UN Human Rights Office: The office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights has released a statement on their recent work in relation to China, mentioning their June visit where they raised the issue of human rights violations in Xinjiang, and ongoing attempts to raise “individual cases of particular concern.”
Senior US officials meet with Dalai Lama in New York: According to a U.S. State Department statement, Uzra Zeya, the U.S. undersecretary of state for human rights and special coordinator for Tibetan issues, traveled to New York for an audience with the Dalai Lama, joined by the White House director for human rights, Kelly Razzouk.
Current Events 热点新闻
Hong Kong schools see ‘crazy’ surge in number of applications from mainland Chinese pupils: Hong Kong’s city public schools, which have seen a massive drop in Hong Kong students in recent years, now struggle with unprecedented rise in number of mainland Chinese applicants, many with poor English-language proficiency.
Japan says Chinese spy plane violated its airspace: Japan has accused a Chinese spy plane of breaching its airspace, in what would be the first known instance of such a direct violation. According to reports, a Chinese Y-9 surveillance plane "violated the territorial airspace" of Japan’s Danjo Islands for about two minutes at 11:29 local time Monday.