Top News 头条
June 30, 2025 marks the fifth anniversary of the promulgation of Hong Kong’s National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020. In only five years, the city has undergone a drastic transformation. Human Rights Watch argues that through the law and subsequent legislation, like the homegrown Article 23 national security law and a recent revision that prevents individuals convicted of national security offences from organizing unions, the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have “largely dismantled freedoms of expression, association and assembly, free and fair elections, fair trial rights and judicial independence, and ended the city’s semi-democracy.” The crackdown on dissent is still expanding, hitting restaurants, bookstores and other small businesses once associated with the largely subdued pro-democracy movement. National security terms have also become increasingly common in official guidelines, permit applications, and licenses issued by government departments and semi-official bodies across different sectors, including education, labor, social welfare, arts and culture, and the environment. This stands in stark contrast to the pro-democracy sentiment that had become synonymous with Hong Kong since the handover on July 1, 1997, when Beijing pledged to give the city broad autonomy under "one country, two systems."
In the mainland, a promising development for criminal defendants’ rights: new guidance from the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate states that criminal defendants must be allowed to meet with both a government-appointed attorney and any attorney appointed by their family or representatives. If the defendant chooses to be represented by the family-appointed attorney, the government-appointed one must be removed from the case. The authorities routinely use government-appointed lawyers to prevent detainees, particularly in “sensitive” cases, from seeing their preferred attorneys in the detention center, and to take up space in the courtrooms to prevent their chosen attorney from entering (only two lawyers are permitted per defendant). This new guidance is a significant step towards protecting defendants’ right to representation in criminal court; however, it remains to be seen whether the authorities will follow the law and respect defendants’ rights in so-called “sensitive” human rights cases.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
Public Security Administration Punishments Law (2025): The revised legislation, effective as of January 1, 2026, includes a landmark proposal to seal the records of minor public security violations for all individuals, a move that could remove barriers to education and employment in the future.
NPC Calendar: July 2025: The NPC Standing Committee is seeking public comment on a number of bills through July 25, including the draft Law on Publicity and Education on the Rule of Law and the draft Public Health Emergency Response Law.
Measures for Categorizing Online Information that Might Impact Minors' Physical and Psychological Health (draft for soliciting opinions): The draft is available for public comment through July 19.
Implementation Plan for Further Improving the Credit Repair System: The new document provides clarifications regarding the credit repair process, specifically the credit repair application and appeal processes.
China’s top prosecutor vows crackdown on torture in rare admission: In an unusual acknowledgement of the ubiquity of torture as part of investigations, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate has declared that it will create a new investigation department to target judicial officers who “infringe on citizens’ rights” through unlawful detention, illegal searches and torture to extract confessions, in light of recent cases involving the mistreatment of suspects.
Unpacking Proposed Changes to the State Council’s Regulation-Making Procedures: The changes would require administrative regulations to be more responsive to central policies and public concerns, enhance adherence to the State Council’s annual legislative plans, and require drafting agencies to offer additional justifications for their legislative proposals throughout the process.
Hong Kong judge refuses to allow challenge against prohibition on encouraging invalid ballot: The appellant says the prohibition violates the right to free expression protected by the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, arguing that convincing the public to abstain from voting is a form of political expression covered by the right to free expression.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
The Locknet: How China Controls Its Internet and Why It Matters: China’s online censorship regime affects not just people living in China but around the world: its network-level censorship, service-level censorship, and even self-censorship all spill out over its borders.
Rights Defenders Criticize Upcoming Rollout of National Internet ID System: According to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, the new national ID system would negatively affect human rights defenders as a result of increased state surveillance and reduced anonymity, privacy concerns, lack of government accountability, and state control without borders.
【404媒体】北美最大华人LGBTQ组织华人彩虹联盟（CRN）公众号清空 [The public account of the Chinese Rainbow Network (CRN), the largest Chinese LGBTQ organization in North America, has been emptied]: Under the guise of "cracking down on pornography and illegal publications," the CCP's targeting of LGBT+ groups continues. On June 22, all content on the WeChat public account of the Chinese Rainbow Network (CRN), the largest Chinese LGBTQ organization in North America, was deleted from the site. CRN had issued a statement emphasizing that CRN “is for overseas patriotic Chinese” and “firmly opposes any use of sexual minority issues to incite, divide and confront,” but this statement attempting to express a political stance was also deleted.
AI and Data Voids: How Propaganda Exploits Gaps in Online Information: The structural vulnerability of AI’s absorption and repetition of information plays directly into the hands of China and other countries which have both the intent and the state-level resources to pollute the digital ecosystem at scale.
Related: DeepSeek’s Democratic Deficit. Without proper safeguards, DeepSeek's accessibility could transform it from a democratizing force into a vehicle for authoritarian influence for the institutions that have been quick to adopt it.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Chinese authority scams fleece international students in Australia of $5m in five months: As a side effect of China’s transnational repression efforts, scammers have begun mimicking the authorities by calling international students in Australia and pretending to be Chinese law enforcement officers, who then accuse students of criminal wrongdoing and demand that personal information or money be transferred to them.
US-funded Radio Free Asia halts Cantonese service in face of Trump’s funding cuts: On July 1, the 28th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain to China, RFA’s Cantonese service will cease after 27 years of operations.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
Between Sisterhood and Surveillance: How the 4B Movement Came to China: Amidst constant surveillance, the 4B Movement originating in South Korea offers Chinese feminists a radical yet quiet strategy to subvert state-prescribed notions of womanhood.
'Every word has come back to haunt me': China cracks down on women who write gay erotica: Although authors of heterosexual erotic fiction have been jailed in China, observers say the genre is subjected to far less censorship, while LGBT+ work of the same nature has been the target of a severe crackdown resulting in over a hundred arrests, mostly of young educated women seeking to make money to support their families.
The last Hong Kong pro-democracy party that held street protests disbands: The League of Social Democrats has announced its disbandment due to “immense political pressure.” The group had been the only remaining pro-democracy party in Hong Kong that still staged small street protests from time to time and held street booth activities for advocacy.
‘It has been so long’: Hongkongers acquitted in 2019 protest cases face lengthy legal battle after gov’t appeals: Many Hong Kongers charged in relation to the 2019 protests and later acquitted by the court, like Chan Lok-sun, now face prolonged, additional legal proceedings following the government’s appeals.
Man under post-jail supervision order files legal challenge after being blocked from leaving city to study abroad: The Correctional Services Department’s Supervision Case Review Committee argued that To Kai-wa holds a British National passport and could apply for British citizenship during his studies in the U.K., and abscond from the supervision of Hong Kong authorities.
Hong Kong public libraries receive 140 reports on ‘objectionable content,’ including nat. sec violations: “Objectionable content” extends to a wide range of content, including exaggerated violence, pornography, vulgarity, and more controversially, content that endangers national security.
Hong Kong court to hear former Stand News editor’s appeal application against sedition conviction in Sept 2026: The three-day hearing of former acting chief editor Patrick Lam will begin on September 22, 2026, according to the Judiciary’s court diary.
Hong Kong man who challenged local security law after being denied early prison release loses appeal: Ma Chun-man had lodged the first legal challenge to Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law, Article 23, after being barred from early prison release on national security grounds.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
China's Go-Local Vision of Global Messaging: Xi Jinping’s multi-stakeholder strategy that aims to coordinate government, media, enterprises and social forces to reshape China’s global communication is undermined by the need for all stakeholders to contribute equally.
International Responses 国际反应
The top US diplomat in Hong Kong criticizes China and the city for curtailing freedoms: U.S. Consul General Gregory May specifically pointed to the case of jailed prominent activist Jimmy Lai.
Canada confirms Hongkongers applying for permanent residence via ‘lifeboat’ scheme can await results abroad: The Canadian government issued clarification in response to complaints from applicants in recent months saying the wait was longer than expected.
Germany data commissioner orders Apple and Google to remove DeepSeek over data concerns: The order is on the basis that DeepSeek is illegally transferring user data to China, and that Chinese data protection standards are not on par with the EU, which is governed by the European General Data Protection Regulation.