HRIC Weekly Brief
December 26, 2023
Top News 头条
Today, on the fourth anniversary of the “12·26 Xiamen Gathering Case,” Human Rights in China is releasing a serialized feature dedicated to Luo Shengchun, a human rights advocate, as a tribute to her unwavering efforts. This feature acknowledges her relentless dedication to seeking justice for Chinese prisoners of conscience, including her husband, Ding Jiaxi, and advocating for human rights and freedom for the Chinese people. The feature will be divided into five parts, unveiling various facets of Luo Shengchun, and published weekly. Read the first part here.
A special thank you to Luo Shengchun for generously sharing intimate details of her life, allowing us to see her not only as a courageous and conscientious civic activist but also as a wife, a mother, and a woman with voice and attitude.
The "12·26 Xiamen Gathering Case," also known as the "12·26 Citizen’s Case,” refers to the mass arrests of human rights defenders carried out by the Chinese authorities in 2019. On December 7, 2019, more than 20 lawyers, scholars and human rights activists gathered in Xiamen to discuss China’s future. On December 26, the authorities began carrying out mass arrests related to the private gathering. Human rights lawyers Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, and Chang Weiping were all tortured while in detention and handed years-long prison sentences for "subversion of state power.” Li Qiaochu, a labor and women’s rights activist, was also charged with “inciting subversion of state power” for speaking out about the others’ treatment, and now awaits sentencing. Human Rights in China calls on the Chinese authorities to abide by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and international human rights law and unconditionally release Xu Zhiyong, Ding Jiaxi, Chang Weiping and Li Qiaochu.
Announcement: HRIC is recruiting interns for summer 2024!
Law & Policy 法律与政策
NPCSC Session Watch: Chinese-Style Constitutional Review, Legislative Oversight, Charity Regulation, Border Health, Emergency Management & Mineral Resources: Among the bills on the agenda of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee this week are amendments to the Criminal Law and a draft “Decision on Improving and Strengthening the System of Recording and Review,” an oversight system which may be used to challenge the legitimacy of lower-level legislation.
U.S.-Asia Law Institute – This Week in Asian Law: The Supreme People’s Court has clarified its announcement on legal databases: the existing database, China Judgement Online, will remain accessible but “with stricter management,” while of the two new databases, the publicly available one will also be tightly curated.
Chinese scholar Jiang Ping, who helped lay legal foundation for market economy, dies at 93: Famed legal scholar Jiang Ping, known for his advocacy for the rule of law, has passed away in Beijing.
Hong Kong judiciary to test run live broadcasts of hearings at top court in January: Two test hearings will feature live broadcasting, but recording and sharing the broadcast will not be allowed. Not all hearings will be available—a task force will be in charge of determining whether the cases are “suitable” for streaming, and in-progress national security trials will be excluded.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
China is shoring up the great firewall for the AI age: China’s approach to making sure consumer AI follows the party line involves strict registration procedures and rigorous testing, to check whether it sticks to the permitted script. Enterprise AI, on the other hand, does not face the same level of restrictions.
China's imports of Dutch chip-making equipment surged tenfold in November after Washington tightened restrictions: Despite implementing export restrictions on chipmaking technology to China this summer, the Netherlands and Japan make up most of China’s imports of chip-manufacturing equipment. However, exports from the Netherlands increased significantly in October and November, after the United States strengthened its own export bans.
China is winning online allies in Okinawa’s independence movement: China’s strategy for winning over public opinion abroad involves the participation of online influencers. But what does that look like on the ground? In Okinawa, a pro-independence influencer perplexingly sings China’s praises on its treatment of ethnic minorities.
Hong Kong gov’t to launch text message registration system to combat scams by identifying telecom service providers: Hong Kong’s government has announced a text message registration system which will cover 23 telecommunications providers and give them identifying IDs which include a hashtag. Text messages coming from hashtag-containing IDs that are unregistered will be blocked.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
How Beijing is changing the way it involves itself in Taiwan’s election: As part of its “multi-pronged” strategy to influence the Taiwanese elections, Beijing has resorted to targeting individuals as well as politicians—one woman describes a call from an unknown number, who stated that they obtained her information from a book order she made recently and wanted to warn her to vote for the (pro-China) Kuomintang rather than the (pro-independence) Democratic Progressive Party.
China Sanctions US Company, Two Researchers Over Xinjiang Work: China has issued sanctions on two U.S.-based researchers and the risk analysis firm Kharon over their work uncovering Uyghur forced labor in the supply chain.
Ex-Liberal candidate found guilty of using donation to attempt to influence Morrison government for China: Businessman Di Sanh Duong has been found guilty of using a $37k donation to attempt to sway an Australian politician in favor of the Chinese Communist Party.
Escaping Xi’s China by paddleboard: ‘I rushed into the water and thought if they catch me, they catch me’: Dissident Li Cheng En recently fled from China to Taiwan on a paddleboard, where he waits to move on to a third country—but his passport has recently expired.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
HRIC Joins UPR Pre-Review Session in Geneva: In the last week of November 2023, HRIC went to Geneva to attend the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) pre-review session of China, where we engaged with government missions, civil society organization representatives, and other human rights defenders. The official UPR review session of China is scheduled for January 23, 2024.
Rights activist Li Qiaochu stands trial in Shandong for subversion: Li Qiaochu’s trial has been suspended after the authorities refused to allow one of her lawyers to enter the courtroom, and refused her other lawyer’s requests to “summon defense witnesses, to gain access to evidence held by the prosecution, and to seek the recusal of officials with perceived conflicts of interest.”
Christian Group, Family Decry Detention of Another 'House Church' Elder in China: Ding Zhongfu, an elder of a house church named Ganquan, and four others from the same church have been detained by the Chinese authorities on suspicion of fraud. In recent years, house churches have been a target under Xi’s crackdown on non-officially sanctioned religious activity.
Hong Kong court rejects bid to get Jimmy Lai's sedition charge dropped: On the third day of Jimmy Lai’s trial, three national security judges ruled that the charge is not time barred, despite the six-month statute of limitations on sedition cases in Hong Kong. Therefore, the defense’s withdrawal application has failed. The trial will continue on January 2, 2024.
Hong Kong media summit forced to go online after venue cancellations, as organiser suggests self-censorship to blame: WeMedia Summit 2023, a conference about independent media in Hong Kong initially scheduled to be held on December 9 & 10 was forced to move online after multiple venues cancelled. The organizer believes the reason was self-censorship from the venue providers.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Ministry of State Security Warnings Against Economic Pessimism Cast a Pall: Increased censorship of frank economic discussion and official warnings against casting China’s economy in a negative light have caused concerns among many economists and analysts.
Escaped North Koreans urge China to stop the ‘genocide’ of forced repatriation: China’s policy is to forcibly return North Korean escapees who flee into Chinese territory. Those who have survived such repatriation describe torture and horrific treatment for those who are returned, and call on the Chinese government to cease the practice as demanded by international human rights law.
Current Events 热点新闻
China earthquake death toll rises to 149, two still missing after a week: Last week, at least 149 people were killed in an earthquake in China’s Gansu province. The area that was hit the hardest is in a region largely populated by the Hui Muslim minority, an ethnic group that has faced religious and ethnic persecution from the Chinese government.
Zhu Ling: Woman dies decades after unsolved China poisoning: Zhu Ling, Tsinghua student who was the victim of a high-profile thallium poisoning at Tsinghua University that left her paralyzed, has passed away at age 50.