HRIC Weekly Brief
November 5, 2024
Top News 头条
On October 23, He Fangmei, who was detained in 2020 and tried in 2022 for protesting on behalf of her daughter, was officially sentenced to five years and six months in prison. Earlier this year, He Fangmei's two daughters, aged 7 and 3, disappeared inexplicably from the mental hospital where He was being kept, and their whereabouts are still unknown.
On November 2, Liang Xingguo, a law professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, was prevented from leaving mainland China when he attempted to board a flight to Hong Kong together with his wife. This is reportedly related to Liang’s contributions to an article in Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao two years ago, that had criticized the Party’s lack of term limits. Chinese authorities have increasingly been using travel bans to restrict the freedom of movement of human rights defenders, activists and intellectuals.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
NPC Calendar: November 2024: The 14th NPC Standing Committee will convene for its 12th session from November 4 to 8. Meantime, the revised Emergency Response Law has taken effect on November 1.
NPCSC Session Watch: Fiscal Stimulus(?), People’s Congress Reforms, Energy, Arbitration, Maritime Law & Sci-Tech Popularization: If a fiscal stimulus package had been submitted for approval, it might be revealed in the official readout of the session’s opening meeting on November 4.
No time limit for prosecuting remaining 7,000 arrested over 2019 protests, Hong Kong officials say: After five years and counting, more than 70% of the 10,000 people arrested in connection with the 2019 anti-extradition protests have still not been charged.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
The Crimes and Punishments of China's "Internet Auditors": A translation of a piece originally published in Mang Mang, about the Internet censors within China and how they navigate the morality and ethics of their work.
Inside a Firewall Vendor's 5-Year War With the Chinese Hackers Hijacking Its Devices: UK cybersecurity firm Sophos went so far as to track down and monitor the specific devices on which hackers were testing their intrusion techniques, surveil the hackers at work, and ultimately trace that to a single network of vulnerability researchers in Chengdu, China.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Documentary Screening and Fundraising Event — FLY TO TRANSCEND: A screening will be held in New York on Sunday, November 10, of “Fly to Transcend,” a documentary telling the story of a young woman who jumped from Foxconn’s worker dormitory and survived.
Hong Kong ‘running local political influence campaign’ on US soil: According to a new report by advocacy group Hong Kong Democracy Council, Hong Kong’s government is pushing ahead with a coordinated political influence campaign across the United States.
PRC’s New York Consulate Under Scrutiny Over Influence Efforts: The second installment of a two-part investigation by Jamestown Foundation discussed how PRC consulates in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago have been serving as platforms for broader political influence operations and raise concerns about data handling and surveillance.
看看选举到底是圆的还是扁的：重谈乌坎事件「共笔」[Seeing what an election looks like: a discussion of the Wukan democratic election]: On October 18, youth activist organization Star Shiner held a screening in Berkeley of a documentary on the Wukan democratic elections. Several attendees submitted written commentary on the event: “Wukan's democratic attempt is the best rebuttal to the idea that “China is not suitable for democracy.’”
Chinese student convicted in US returned to China: Xiaolei Wu, a Chinese student who had been serving a nine-month prison sentence for threatening pro-democracy activists in Boston, received an early release on September 16 and returned to China. There is speculation that Wu was traded for the release of American pastor David Lin.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
HRIC on Twitter/X: Lawyer Wang Yu was released from Wei County Detention Center on November 1, but is currently unable to speak or walk due to a 10-day hunger strike to protest against inhumane treatment.
Chinese transgender celebrity is refused permission to stage play: Well-known choreographer and dancer Jin Xing had been hoping to stage an adaptation of a play in Guangzhou in December, but authorities rejected her request, raising new questions over censorship and the status of the LGBT community in China.
Tibetan activist detained for exposing illegal sand, gravel mining: Tsogon Tsering, a Tibetan man who recently made a WeChat post exposing a company for illegally extracting sand and gravel from a river in his community, has been detained by the authorities. His status is currently unknown.
China's bid to boost births doesn't make sense for many young women: Young Chinese women are battling inequalities and patriarchal attitudes that still run through family life, not to mention the sheer economic cost of raising a family.
Can Men in China Take a Joke? Women Doing Stand-Up Have Their Doubts: In China, female stand-up comedians face backlash from some anti-feminist men who take umbrage at their jokes. Most recently, e-commerce site JD.com dropped comedian Yang Li due to complaints about the partnership.
Hong Kong woman denied bail after allegedly damaging 55 National Day banners and posters: Lam Ho-yan, a 64-year-old retiree, faces eight charges of criminal damage to property and one count of possession of an instrument fit for unlawful purpose.
4 Hong Kong men sentenced up to 3 years in jail over rioting in July 2019: The judge had cut their sentences because of the long delay in bringing them to justice: two of them had not been brought to court until October 2022, more than three years after their arrests.
6 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists fined for unauthorised fundraising, as 4 plead not guilty: They were members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats who had been fined up to HK$1,000 for raising funds and displaying banners without a permit.
3 Hong Kong men jailed for 28 days over squirting water at police, TVB reporters at Songkran festival: The Thai celebration typically sees revellers splash and squirt water on each other as a way of washing away sins and bad luck. A video of the men squirting water at police officers and TVB reporters had been shared on a YouTube channel.
Hong Kong man jailed for 2 years over online comments linked to stabbing of police officer in 2021: The judge had ruled that the comments 25-year-old Yung Cheong-ming left on discussion forum LIHKG amounted to directly challenging the police and posed a serious threat to Hong Kong’s security.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
HRIC on Twitter/X: Despite the Chinese government’s best attempts to ban Halloween, young people still used the holiday as an opportunity to dress up, go out on the streets, and express their political and social commentary.
Cloaking What China Says: In pursuing Xi Jinping’s latest goal to “innovate internet propaganda,” clocked official accounts run by state media and provincial and city-level international communication centers have become a critical part of the strategy.
Muted Public Response to State Council’s New Slate of Policies to Promote Parenthood: Online commenters have pointed to the many factors deterring people from having more children, such as economic uncertainty, high youth unemployment rates, and family-unfriendly corporate policies.
International Responses 国际反应
US blacklists 3 more Chinese textile firms over Uyghur slave labor: The latest listing now brings the total companies on the Entity List to 78.