HRIC Weekly Brief
December 12, 2023
Top News 头条
On December 12th, HRIC joined the Congressional-Executive Commission on China for a press conference on the violence against human rights defenders during the APEC summit and on the CCP's transnational repression. HRIC Executive Director Zhou Fengsuo told reporters: “The CCP uses violence as a tool of transnational repression because they want to intimidate us, they want to silence us, and they do not want our voice to be heard. They do it because they can, with the help of negligence from law enforcement on the ground…That is why we will not be silent. We will stand firm, and we will speak up. The CCP cannot be allowed to violently silence free speech.”
A new Freedom House report lists China among the 26 countries that have increased their efforts in recent years to silence criticism from journalists on a global scale. But repression doesn’t stop at journalists and activists. The British lawyer for Jimmy Lai, media mogul currently imprisoned in Hong Kong, says she regularly receives harassment, and even death and rape threats, for making appearances abroad. In addition, the CCP regularly harasses the family members of “troublemakers” in China. One Twitter user reported that the police even traveled thousands of miles to threaten his 80-year-old mother-in-law, solely to put pressure on her family who lives abroad. Human rights group Safeguard Defenders says China has increased its use of “collective punishment” against family members and others connected to human rights defenders in recent years, including exit bans and increasingly severe harassment.
Special Feature: HRIC Pays Tribute to Gao Yaojie 向伟大的中国女性高耀洁医生致敬
Dr. Gao Yaojie, prominent AIDS activist and public health whistleblower, passed away in New York on December 10, 2023, at the age of 95. As a gynecologist turned human rights defender, she bravely and tenaciously fought for the communities in rural China who were decimated by AIDS, despite house arrest and harassment from the government. She exposed blood-selling schemes in Henan which led to the rapid spread of AIDS, and countered the official narrative when the authorities claimed to have shut them down. Friends described her as “the nation’s conscience.” When publishers refused to release her books on the AIDS crisis, she published them herself, in order to ensure that the critical information was able to reach those in need.
In 2009, she fled China due to increasing pressure from the government, and settled in New York, where she continued to write, raise money, and engage in AIDS activism from afar. When HRIC Executive Director Zhou Fengsuo visited her, he found that she was very sharp and engaged with current affairs. Dr. Gao won numerous awards for her work, but all the prize money was used for AIDS relief and AIDS prevention education.
On April 20, 2007, the International Astronomical Society named asteroid 38980 after Gao Yaojie. HRIC honors the memory of this selfless, kind, and courageous woman, which will live on through her incredible legacy.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
中共裁判文书网变“文书库”仅内部查阅 学者: 大倒退 [The CCP’s Judgment Documents Network has been transformed into a “document library” for internal review only by scholars: a huge setback]: China’s top court has announced a new database for court judgements to replace China Judgments Online, a platform launched in 2013 to improve transparency but that has begun to face increasing censorship as judgments are removed. While the announcement is intentionally vague, it implies that moving forward, judgments will be stored on an internal database that is no longer open to the public generally.
Related: Notice on the Construction of a National Court Judgment Document Database.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
China’s cyber army is invading critical U.S. services: Chinese hackers have successfully infiltrated the systems of around two dozen “critical” utility providers, ports, and pipelines in the United States, U.S. officials say.
U.S. must take tougher approach on tech to China, says U.S. House committee: A report released on Thursday by the U.S. House of Representatives calls for stricter export controls on technology to China, arguing that existing restrictions have had little effect.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Taiwan intelligence says China leadership discussed election interference: Recent reports have found a concerted effort from the Chinese government to sway the Taiwan elections. Reuters says these efforts have been coordinated by top officials in Beijing.
Related: In Taiwan, China is covertly preparing for battle.
Inside a Beijing-linked Chinese help center in Tanzania: China offers services to its citizens abroad through “help centers,” which offer everything from immigration to employment assistance. But the centers serve a secondary purpose: surveilling Chinese citizens and reinforcing the CCP’s political aims.
‘I’m concerned about my personal safety’: Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow speaks about life in exile: Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow says she is afraid of facing the CCP’s transnational repression in Canada, despite the fact that Canada is “a democratic country.” Chow says Chinese security police have called her several times since she arrived in Toronto.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
Chinese censors ban protest anthem lauding decades of dissent: A new protest song by student Yinfi has circulated widely outside China, but it was quickly caught by Chinese censors—the song’s lyrics tie together decades of activism and government repression, from Tiananmen to Hong Kong to the White Paper Movement.
HRIC on Twitter/X: A young Mongolian Christian man was imprisoned at 18 for a crime he says he didn’t commit. When he was injured by a guard and sought an investigation, he was instead tortured and placed in solitary confinement. Now, he faces retaliation for his family's attempts to seek help.
Hong Kong protester shot by police appears in video 'confession': A 22-year-old Hong Kong former protestor who was shot by police in 2019 has appeared in a televised “confession” produced by Hong Kong authorities, in the style of the forced video confessions that are common in the Mainland.
Hong Kong activist Koo Sze-yiu arrested for sedition over plan to protest against ‘unfair’ District Council race: 77-year-old veteran Hong Kong activist Koo Sze-yiu has been arrested at his home “on suspicion of attempting or preparing to do an act with a seditious intention.” Koo, who had intended to protest the “patriots-only” district council race, was denied bail.
Related: Arrests and low turnout as Hong Kong holds first ‘patriots-only’ election.
見山書店明年3月底結業 貼文指神秘人投訴「每周收各部門問候」[Jianshan Bookstore’s closing post at the end of March next year refers to a mysterious person’s complaint resulting in “receiving greetings from various departments every week”]: Independent Hong Kong bookstore Mount Zero has announced that it will close for good at the end of March, 2024. The store, which had already come under fire recently for allegedly occupying government land, mentioned incessant complaints and letters from government departments, which amounted to harassment of the store manager.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
‘Substantial volume’ of clothing tied to Uyghur forced labour entering EU, says study: A new report found that a “substantial volume” of clothing produced through a supply chain including Uyghur forced labor is currently entering the EU. The investigation found that suppliers of dozens of well-known brands, including H&M, Zara, and Primark, are implicated.
China requires job applicants in Tibet to denounce Dalai Lama: Applicants for public sector jobs in Tibet are mandated to denounce the “separatist” Dalai Lama. The requirement violates China’s own laws on freedom of religion.
International Responses 国际反应
US sanctions Chinese officials over Uyghur abuse: On Human Rights Day, the United States announced new sanctions on Chinese officials who have links to “serious human rights abuses” against Uyghurs, as well as import bans on three companies with links to forced labor.
Pillar of Shame sculpture at centre of Hong Kong controversy included in London show: Jens Galschiøt has created a replica of his famous Pillar of Shame sculpture, which commemorates the June Fourth Massacre, to include in a London exhibition on human rights in Asia. The original sculpture was on display in Hong Kong until 2021, when it was seized by the Hong Kong authorities.
Jailed Uyghur academic Ilham Tohti nominated for Nobel Peace Prize: A large group of international academics and government officials have jointly nominated Ilham Tohti for the Nobel Peace Prize. Tohti is a Uyghur economics professor who has been sentenced to life in prison for “separatism,” due to his outspokenness against the Chinese government’s persecution of Uyghurs in Xinjiang.