Top News 头条
Tomorrow, July 9, marks the tenth anniversary of the 709 crackdown, China’s biggest crackdown on human rights lawyers in modern history. A decade later, lawyers and activists say that the Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) control over the legal profession has tightened, making rights defense work harder, and almost impossible. A joint statement that HRIC has signed reveals how Beijing’s attack on the legal profession helped facilitate a broader and more sustained attack on human rights: affecting how LGBT+ individuals can find community; how workers can seek remedy; and how women, migrants and persons with disabilities can combat violence and discrimination.
Tomorrow, Zhou Fengsuo, Executive Director of HRIC, will present the China Human Rights Lawyer Award at a civil society event commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 709 crackdown, streamed free online at 7am Eastern / 11am GMT and featuring 9+ distinguished speakers. In a disappointing turn of events, YouTube removed the link to the livestream 24 hours before the event was scheduled to begin, but event organizers issued an updated link as of July 8, 5pm ET. (Note: if this link goes down, please check @YaxueCao on X/Twitter).
For those in Washington D.C., families of survivors, human rights lawyers, and journalists affected by the 709 Crackdown will gather on July 9 to share their personal stories, struggles, and testimonies. The event will be conducted in Chinese and offers a rare opportunity to hear first-hand accounts from those who have lived through this pivotal moment in recent Chinese history. Anyone interested in attending should sign up through this link.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
Hong Kong: National Security Law analysis shows vast majority unjustly arrested: A new briefing paper by Amnesty International suggests that more than 80% of the 255 people convicted under the National Security Law have been wrongly criminalized and should never have been charged in the first place.
Hong Kong proposes tightening prison rules to restrict visiting of inmates on national security grounds: The new rules would allow the Correctional Services Department to restrict or even ban a person, even religious leaders and lawyers, from visiting an inmate based on certain grounds including “safeguarding national security.”
Hong Kong legislature’s proposed new code of conduct seeks to prohibit members from ‘vilifying’ gov’t: The new code, with a five-tier sanctions system, would not explicitly restrict legislators’ speech, but they must act carefully, “not cross the red line,” and should not “deliberately undermine or weaken the effectiveness of executive-led governance.”
Hong Kong government proposes to legally recognize same-sex couples registered abroad: The proposal is limited to matters relating to healthcare and death, such as hospital visits, making medical decisions, and collecting the body of a deceased partner, but does not constitute a recognition of same-sex marriage.
Related: Hong Kong lawmakers oppose gov’t proposal to recognise limited rights to same-sex partnerships. Some lawmakers have called the proposal “an attack on the institution of marriage” and accused the government of lacking consultation.
Related: LGBTQ activists say Hong Kong’s proposed same-sex union framework insufficient for safeguarding rights. Activists said the criteria that couples must be registered overseas first is a “very big barrier,” as not all LGBT+ couples would be able to afford to be married overseas.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
China is rushing to develop its AI-powered censorship system: A key concern is the impact of millions of people all over the world using AI systems deliberately designed to reflect and reinforce Chinese government perspectives.
_China_Chatbot_24: Western AI chatbots including ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have begun repeating CCP propaganda lines and prioritizing language preferred by the Party rather than providing accurate translations.
China's AI Sweep Fizzles: The Chinese authorities’ “Clear and Bright” campaign to reduce AI abuses online has proven ineffective against the ubiquity of deepfake tools.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Censor-busting dissident shines light on overworked Chinese students: 611Study.ICU, a crowd-sourcing website, was launched by exiled Chinese pro-democracy activist Li Ying, also known on the social media platform X as “Teacher Li is not your teacher,” as an alternative to China’s ineffective petition process that would actually give people a chance to have their grievances heard.
China's Italian Job: The launch of a television series promoting Xi Jinping across dozens of Italian networks is part of China’s strategy to promote “state-led narratives of political legitimacy and civilizational grandeur through geopolitical posturing dressed up as cultural exchange.”
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
HRIC on X/Twitter: On June 30, well-known performance artist “Brother Nut” went missing in Kunming. He is likely to have been forcibly disappeared, and his whereabouts are unknown. He and his longtime collaborator Zheng Hongbin, who was detained by police in Xi'an the same day, had been working to expose the harm caused by natural gas wells and coal mining in Xiaohaotu, Shaanxi. According to their investigations since 2018, local groundwater has been contaminated, and the town’s residents experienced abnormally high rates of skin diseases, kidney stones, and cancer, as well as significant rates of livestock death. After his disappearance, Brother Nut's 12 investigative articles on the topic were deleted and the pair's public accounts are no longer searchable.
HRIC on X/Twitter: Shocking revelations by Chinese company employees who have been accused of being “being disobedient to management” reveal that they are being sent to “Internet addiction schools” run by illegal institutions collaborating with these companies.
Hong Kong activist Lui Yuk-lin stages solo protest on Handover anniversary: Plainclothes and uniformed police officers followed and filmed Lui as she walked through a park with a sign in Chinese reading, “Hong Kong people are very sad.”
Hong Kong delivery workers’ rights group ceases operations: The Riders’ Rights Concern Group did not give any reason for its cessation of operations, just days after an opinion piece in the Hong Kong Economic Journal suggested that lawmakers had been warned not to discuss delivery workers’ rights.
Hong Kong court rejects Lingnan University student’s challenge to council election disqualification: The court supported the election officer’s allegation that Isaac Lai, vice chair of the Lingnan University Students’ Union, had “disobeyed” the university’s election rules.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Dalai Lama defies China to say successor will be chosen by Tibetan tradition: The CCP has insisted that a Qing dynasty ritual in which names are drawn by lot from a ceremonial vessel is the only legitimate method for recognizing reincarnated lamas, who must be approved by the Party. On his 90th birthday, the Dalai Lama conversely stated that the Gaden Phodrang Trust would oversee the search for his successor according to Tibetan tradition. “I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he said.
Related: The Dalai Lama celebrates his 90th birthday with thousands of Tibetan Buddhists. The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, has become one of the world’s most recognizable figures while leading a Tibetan diaspora through their struggle for autonomy and opposition of China’s control of Tibet.