HRIC Weekly Brief
March 18, 2025
Top News 头条
On Monday, the Chinese government announced that Taiwanese publisher Li Yanhe (pen name Fu Cha, or “Fuschia”) has been convicted of “inciting secession” by a mainland court. Li, who disappeared in Shanghai two years ago and has been detained ever since, is well-known as the editor-in-chief of Taiwan's Eight Banners publishing house, which frequently releases books on Chinese history that do not comply with the CCP’s official viewpoint. According to HRIC’s analysis, “Li's case is emblematic of the CCP's systematic suppression of Taiwan's publishing, academic, and cultural circles, intending to create a chilling effect through intimidation.”
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong authorities seem to be trying their hand at a new strategy of transnational repression. Last week, we learned that Hong Kong police had reportedly sent letters to people living near “wanted” pro-democracy activists Tony Chung and Carmen Lau in the United Kingdom and offered money to anyone who could provide information on the activists or “take [them] to Chinese embassy.” This week, similar letters were sent anonymously to residents of Melbourne, Australia, offering a bounty for pro-democracy activist Kevin Yam. The extent of this letter-writing campaign is still unknown.
In more Hong Kong news, a recent controversial tell-all from a former Facebook employee claims that Facebook had developed a censorship tool specifically aimed at Hong Kong, since Hong Kong user data “appeared to be one of the possible negotiating chips that Meta thought it was holding” in negotiations with the Chinese government. While Meta never managed to strike a deal to operate in China, it did not clarify when asked in 2024 whether it still follows its 2020 promise not to hand Hong Kong user information over to the Chinese authorities. Furthermore, Facebook recently announced that it will start deleting archived video and livestream content from its servers, spurring the Hong Kong Journalists Association to urge journalists and others to download any content related to the 2019 protests, which relied heavily on Facebook for news and organizing.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
NPC 2025: Documents and Votes: The third session of China’s 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) concluded on Tuesday, March 11. The NPC Observer has collated a list of relevant reports.
Measures for Labeling of AI-Generated Synthetic Content: All types of data created by AI, including text, images, videos, audio, and even virtual scenes, must be labeled as AI-generated under the new rule. App stores also need to verify whether the apps they host follow the regulations.
National security hearings excluded from Hong Kong top court’s 2-year livestream pilot programme: From April, the Court of Final Appeal is set to start livestreaming appeal hearings, with the notable exception of national security and high-profile political cases.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
_China_Chatbot_16: Manus, a new gen-AI model from a Beijing-based company, claims to be the first “general AI agent” that can carry out tasks for users. Also, Hong Kong is developing its own locally-produced LLM built off a localized version of DeepSeek.
Chinese officials look to limit social media and screen time in China: New government proposals are aimed at regulating the time young Chinese people spend online and on social media sites, but concerns remain over the lack of freedom they face online.
Weibo, WeChat Censor Coverage of Chinese Student’s UK Rape Conviction: After Zhenhao Zou was found guilty of raping three women in the United Kingdom and seven in China, with dozens more speculated victims, news articles about the conviction were censored on the Chinese internet. Some commenters speculated that the deletions were related to Zou’s family, who are believed to be wealthy CCP members.
Amid Broad Public Support for Proposed Abolition of Divorce “Cooling-off” Period, Weibo Censors Related Hashtag: Following the Two Sessions meetings, a popular proposal to abolish the 30-day “cooling-off period” for those seeking divorce has instead resulted in the authorities’ censorship of the issue.
China's Baidu launches two new AI models as industry competition heats up: Baidu has launched two new artificial intelligence models, including a new reasoning-focused model, ERNIE 4.5, that it claims rivals DeepSeek's model.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Exploring Strategies of Resistance at RightsCon: In late February, Human Rights in China hosted a session on “Strategies of Resistance & Empowering Narratives of Hope” at RightsCon in Taipei. The session brought together experts and activists from around the globe to discuss successful strategies and propose effective approaches to empowering digital rights activism.
Uyghur activists in France re-file transnational repression case in Paris court: Dilnur Reyhan and Gulbahar Jelilova claim that individuals organized by the Chinese Embassy attacked a protest during Xi Jinping’s visit to France in May 2024, and later surveilled Jelilova’s home and tried to take her hostage.
Thousands rally against China’s ‘mega-embassy’ in London: In the second mass protest in five weeks, an estimated 6,000 people rallied against the plans for China’s largest embassy in the world. Protestors argued that Beijing would use the building to harass and monitor dissidents living abroad.
Missing Chinese professor returns to Japan, university says: Hu Shiyun, a Chinese literature and linguistics professor at Kobe Gakuin University, had disappeared while visiting his hometown in 2023. Hu is one of many Chinese academics in Japan who have disappeared in recent years.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
中国全国人大闭幕 异议人士: “刀把子”维稳历年之最 [China's National People's Congress closes, dissidents: "Knife-handle" stability maintenance is the worst in history]: The 2025 National People’s Congress saw almost zero opposition during the week-long session, which once again demonstrated China's "rubber stamp" democracy. Dissidents who were forced to take “vacations” during this time were once again allowed to return home after the end of the sessions.
Hong Kong retrial convicts social worker over role in 2019 protests: Jackie Chen had been previously cleared of rioting after she said she attended protests to call for restraint, but the case had been appealed by government prosecutors.
3 jailed for rioting during 2019 Yuen Long mob attack file bid to appeal: Yip Kam-sing, Marco Yeung, and Wan Chung-ming have filed a bid to overturn their convictions and jail terms, after they were found guilty last month of rioting in Yuen Long MTR station.
2 jailed ex-Hong Kong lawmakers sentenced to weeks in prison over legislature clash six years ago: Eddie Chu and Raymond Chan were sentenced to 14 and 32 days in jail, respectively.
Nearly half of Hongkongers dissatisfied with opposition-free legislature: Among the 1,000 people polled between January and February, around 48 percent of the respondents were unhappy with the Legislative Council, while 41 percent were dissatisfied with the government.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
China's Campus Propaganda Pipeline: Chinese universities are now partnering with state propaganda centers, as academic institutions become tools in Chinese influence strategies but threatens academic independence.
Chinese state media celebrates Trump’s cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia: Chinese state-owned media published editorials celebrating Trump’s funding cuts to VoA and RFA this week, particularly criticizing the outlets’ reporting on human rights in Xinjiang. RFA’s union stated that the U.S. administration’s efforts to shut them down would “hand a victory to the Chinese Communist party, which harbors a particular disdain for free media and truth.”
Influencer Diplomacy: Influencer trips, organized from the central level down to a new generation of state-run local “international communication centers,” are part of a sophisticated Chinese soft power strategy to reshape its image in Southeast-Asian countries like Indonesia.
Related: Foreign bloggers help China spread propaganda, analysis finds. One expert pointed out that the CCP has always used foreigners to “voice its propaganda for added credibility.”
China pushes patriotic education in Tibet with propaganda movies and storytelling: The renewed push for patriotic education is the latest example of Beijing seeking to eradicate Tibetan culture and assimilate all ethnic groups into the majority Han Chinese culture.
International Responses 国际反应
US imposes sanctions on Thai officials after Uyghur men are deported to China: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to impose visa restrictions on current and former Thai officials responsible for or complicit in the deportations.