HRIC Weekly Brief
April 8, 2025
Top News 头条
Activist and citizen petitioner Chen Mingyu has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison for “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” for attending a dinner in May 2024 in Chongqing to mark the inauguration of Taiwanese president Lai Ching-te. Another Chongqing resident told reporters that expressing opinions about any foreign affairs issues, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is increasingly being treated as a punishable offense by the authorities.
In top reads this week, a new report on freedom of information in China from Resilience Innovation Lab provides a comprehensive multi-stakeholder analysis of China’s information environment, including impacts on business and civil society, and predicts future challenges to internet freedom.
Also: Chinese political artist Badiucao revealed that he had managed to take part in Hong Kong’s Art Week with billboards of the artist mouthing a Mao Zedong quote, “you must take part in revolution.” Following this reveal, the billboards were removed and the Italian organizers lashed out at Badiucao, calling him “disrespectful” and saying that they “are not political campaigners and we respect all forms and governmental rules, we have no interest in disseminating political views.” In a statement, Badiucao said: “There is no true creativity without freedom. Anything less is subpar, consumerist, and for the purchase of vapid billionaires and oligarchs. It is thus an indictment of Art Basel when it continues to stage its event in Hong Kong at a time when freedom of expression is under assault in the territory.” Ironically, Hong Kong’s new police chief, Joe Chow, claimed in a press conference last week that his recent statements opposing “soft resistance” in the arts sector would not create a chilling effect on artistic expression or impact “creative freedom,” because many artists will not get involved in national security issues.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
Hong Kong: The city's first cybersecurity law is expected to take effect on 1 January 2026: Baker McKenzie provides a brief summary and comparative analysis of Hong Kong’s new cybersecurity law, which did not undergo significant changes during the second and third readings and is set to take effect early next year.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
China has a thriving black market for personal data: According to the Economist, China’s “surveillance state is good at collecting information but bad at keeping it safe.”
Related: Gov’t cyber office requests ‘urgent’ precautionary review amid reports of Oracle Cloud data breach.
Following Myanmar Quake, Chinese State-Owned Contractor Under Scrutiny for Bangkok High-Rise Collapse: The latest target for Chinese censors is the collapse of a high-rise building in Bangkok during a recent earthquake, which was under construction by a Chinese state-owned company at the time. Reports on shoddy building materials and poor construction standards have been entirely buried.
Related: China muzzles online debate on construction standards after Bangkok building collapse.
Taiwan says China using generative AI to ramp up disinformation and 'divide' the island: Taiwan’s National Security Bureau says that the Chinese authorities are using gen-AI to increase the scale and efficiency of their disinformation campaigns aimed at the Taiwanese public.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Exiled Hong Kong activists write to Foreign Secretary on UK sanctions policy: Following the United States’ sanctions on Hong Kong officials last week, ten exiled Hong Kong activists wrote a joint letter urging the United Kingdom to follow suit.
Canadian MP quits election race amid Hong Kong activist bounty remark controversy: MP Paul Chiang apologized for suggesting that his opponent, Joseph Tay, be turned over to the Chinese consulate for his HK$1,000,000 bounty.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
Tibetan Buddhist leader missing for 8 months has died, monastery confirms: Tibetan Buddhist abbot and educator Tulku Hungkar Dorje has been confirmed dead, eight months after he disappeared shortly after giving a teaching. The Chinese authorities reportedly informed Lung Ngon Monastery, where Tulku Hungkar Dorje was abbot, of his death last week but failed to provide a cause of death or any further details.
Sustaining the #MeToo Story: Reporting on sexual violence is a unique and sensitive challenge, even before government repression and censorship enters the picture. Here, Chinese-language journalists discuss some of the lessons learned and the obstacles they face when reporting on gender issues.
Man jailed for 10 months for sedition, criminal damage over graffiti on Taiwan independence, Chinese Communist Party: 53-year-old Ernest Lee has been sentenced to ten months in prison for “committing acts with seditious intention” and “criminal damage” for using a marker to write “Taiwan independence” and criticisms of Xi Jinping and the CCP on elevator doors around Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s top court overturns ex-lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting’s acquittal over disclosing ICAC probe: Lam had revealed publicly that a police superintendent was under investigation for his actions during the 2019 Yuen Long subway station attacks. The court stated that this disclosure “fell within the scope of the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance,” thus overturning the lower court’s ruling that the ordinance should not be interpreted broadly.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Netizens demand China reinstate Tibetan language use in schools: A recent white paper from the Chinese government claims that Tibetan and Mandarin are both used and taught throughout Tibet. However, Tibetans quickly pushed back, pointing to Beijing’s shuttering of schools, removal of Tibetan as a language on the college entrance examinations, censorship of Tibetan publications, and regulations mandating the use of Mandarin as the primary medium of instruction as further evidence of the Chinese government’s push to “forcibly assimilate minorities.”
China's Monologue Machine: China’s push for global propaganda through international communication centers (ICCs) relies on a formula that enlists universities, think tanks, and overseas liaison offices to support an army of local level propaganda teams, underscoring the leadership’s prioritization of political messaging and influence through sheer scale.
New Hong Kong police chief to increase security work despite US sanctions: Hong Kong’s new chief of police, Joe Chow, indicated that national security was his “most important” priority and stated that the recent sanctions from the United States on Hong Kong officials were indicative of the national security policies’ success.
International Responses 国际反应
RFA radio transmissions to China, Tibet halted: Radio stations owned or leased by the U.S. government have fully halted all shortwave radio broadcasts from the Radio Free Asia Mandarin, Tibetan, and Lao language services, with severely limited broadcasts in other languages.
US report says human rights further curtailed in Hong Kong, as city slams ‘slanders and smears’: The U.S. report specifically pointed to the erosion of judicial independence and the rule of law in Hong Kong, as exemplified by the authorities’ efforts to prevent overseas witnesses from testifying in certain national security cases.