HRIC Weekly Brief
September 2, 2025
Top News 头条
Is there a new “Sitong Bridge Incident”? On August 29, the night of the Qixi Festival, huge projected words suddenly appeared on the exterior of a building wall at Chongqing University: “Without the Communist Party, there would be a new China; freedom is not a handout, it must be fought for. Rise up, people who refuse to be enslaved, rise up and resist to reclaim your rights. Down with red fascism, overthrow the Communist tyranny! No lies, we want the truth; no enslavement, we want freedom; tyrannical Communist Party must step down!” The projection was up for at least 50 minutes before five police officers finally found the hotel room where the projection equipment was located and turned off the device.
The man behind the protest is 43-year-old Qi Hong, who revealed that he had been inspired by the likes of Peng Lifa at Sitong Bridge, the White Paper Movement, and Mei Shilin, who hung political banners at a Chengdu overpass. In a creative use of technology that turned surveillance back against the Chinese state, Qi had set up the projector to be triggered remotely and left a surveillance camera to capture the police as they arrived to discover his letter criticizing the CCP. Although Qi and his immediate family reached London before he turned on the projection, his family and relatives were implicated: his elderly mother in the countryside was questioned and his brother taken away by the police. Nonetheless, Qi shared photos and videos of his protest with well-known online dissident “Teacher Li,” whose initial post on the topic reached over 18 million people.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
China’s Revised Law of Public Order Offenses (Part 2): Key Changes in General Principles, Offenses, and Procedures: The revision has added approximately 30 new offenses and modified two dozen existing ones. One of the key revisions includes extending the law’s limited extraterritorial jurisdiction to reach any violation on foreign vessels and aircraft under the relevant international treaties.
NPC Calendar: September 2025: The 14th NPC Standing Committee will convene for its 17th session from September 8 to 12 and review a record 16 bills, including the draft Public Health Emergency Response Law and the draft amendment to the Cybersecurity Law.
Related: NPCSC Session Watch: Cybersecurity, Environmental Tax, Bankruptcy, Arbitration & Mandarin Chinese Promotion: In addition, the NPC Standing Committee will hear eight oversight reports, including the State Council’s three reports on the management of government debt in 2024; and will also hear its General Office’s report on NPC components’ efforts to conduct preparatory research for the formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
Roundup: Chinese Surveillance Tech and Norms Spread Abroad: Chinese surveillance exports in the form of commercial products have become instruments of norm diffusion, as surveillance-related institutional practices are reshaped through institutions like China’s Global Security Initiative. Recent reports have highlighted this phenomenon around the globe, such as Serbia’s recent secret expansion of Chinese surveillance software for facial and license plate recognition.
International coalition calls out three Chinese companies over hacking campaign: Three companies, Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology, Beijing Huanyu Tianqiong Information Technology, and Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie Network Technology, have allegedly assisted China’s Ministry of State Security to carry out global hacking activities.
Fight Over “Correct” Historical Memory Permeates China’s War Anniversary Commemorations: As China is scheduled to host a large-scale “Victory Day” military parade on September 3 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, China and Japan’s diverging narratives around the war have generated tension between the two countries. Chinese internet users who commented on the explicitly anti-Japanese bent of some of the propaganda content have been met with censorship.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
HRIC on Twitter/X: On July 26, Netherlands-based student Hu Yang returned to China to visit family but was taken away by police at Shanghai Airport on charges of "picking quarrels and provoking trouble." He has been detained at the Zhengzhou No. 3 Detention Center for over 35 days.
HRIC on Twitter/X: As described by a student target, Chinese government entities posing as students (or actual students) at top universities like Stanford have begun contacting students, particularly those studying AI or robotics, and enticing them to travel to China with sponsored trips and/or large sums of money.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
HRIC on Twitter/X: Artist Gao Zhen, who was detained and convicted last year over artwork from 20 years ago, wrote a letter from the Sanhe Detention Center in Hebei to exiled artist Ai Weiwei urgently seeking help and calling for international support.
Media Freedoms Report 2024: ‘New Red Lines’: According to a 2024 report by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China, state controls on independent reporting are being institutionalized amid economic pressures and heightened geopolitical tensions, resulting in an alarming expansion of “off-limit” topics and growing unpredictability in the boundaries Chinese authorities deem sensitive.
Interview with Dr. Gyal Lo: Tibetan Children Are Becoming “Strangers in Their Own Homes”: Following a groundbreaking 2021 report by the Tibet Action Institute on the extensive use of colonial boarding schools to indoctrinate and forcibly assimilate Tibetan children into Han Chinese culture and society, a recent follow-up report details the widespread abuse and the use of boarding preschools for children as young as four.
Final arguments conclude in Jimmy Lai national security trial in Hong Kong: Closing arguments wrapped up last week in Lai’s lengthy national security trial. One of the designated judges overseeing the case said the verdict would be announced “in good time.”
Hong Kong student given community service order for insulting national anthem during World Cup qualifier: Lau Pun-hei, 19, was given a non-custodial sentence of 180 hours of community service on Wednesday at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts.
Hong Kong’s opposition Democratic Party to hold disbandment vote, sell office in December: The 30-year-old party with over 400 members was once the largest opposition force in Hong Kong’s legislature.
Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts accused of ‘cancelling’ playwright in anniversary campaign: Candance Chong has been a vocal critic of Hong Kong’s closing civic space and environment for artists, as authorities vow to crack down on “soft resistance,” a vague term referring to national security threats in areas such as arts and the media.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Still no accountability for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, three years after major UN report: Following a historic assessment by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in August 2022, which concluded that serious human rights violations in the Uyghur region “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity,” the Chinese government continues to intimidate and silence victims’ families and maintain repressive laws and policies in the region.
China’s Xi seeks expanded role for Shanghai Cooperation Organization at Tianjin summit: Xi Jinping announced that China plans to accelerate the creation of a development bank and set up an international platform for energy cooperation, together with Russia and India.
Related: China, Russia pledge new global order at Shanghai Cooperation summit: Xi outlined a new “Global Governance Initiative” that seeks to create a parallel global governance system outside the US and European-led global order. The idea of an “alternative” global order has often been used to justify the minimization of human rights standards and norms.
Central Media and the Local Soft Power Push: In China, there has been an increasing trend of central-local coordination in state-led soft power attempts, illustrating the important role of central CCP-run media outlets in China’s international messaging efforts.
Revealed: Major NBA brands linked to forced labor in China: The United States’ National Basketball Association (NBA) and brands like Nike have been linked to allegations concerning the forced labor of Uyghurs. China is said to be a multibillion-dollar market for the NBA, which is also a huge platform for Chinese brands like Li-Ning to advertise themselves to the world.
Dozens of police officers deployed near Prince Edward MTR Station on sixth anniversary of 2019 clashes: Jerome Lau and Lee Ying-chi, both often seen in public on dates regarded as significant to the pro-democracy protests, were stopped and searched outside the MTR station. Reporters were also checked, and various individuals were told by police to leave the area.
International Responses 国际反应
Taiwan has ‘right to remain free’, US senator says in visit criticised by China: U.S. Senators Roger Wicker and Deb Fischer visited Taiwan last week and met with President Lai Ching-te. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun protested against the visit, saying it “undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”