Transnational repression by China refers to efforts by the government of the People's Republic of China to exert control and silence dissent beyond its national borders. Transnational repression targets groups and individuals perceived as threats to or critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The methods include digital surveillance, physical intimidation, coercion, and misuse of international legal systems. [1] [2] [3] [4]
According to Freedom House, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was responsible for 253 of 854 physical incidents of transnational repression from 2014 to 2022, making it the most extensive practitioner of transnational repression. [5] [6] [7] [8] In a statement for the US Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Freedom House said that the estimate was conservative, "since these numbers do not include pressure put on the China-based relatives of targeted individuals, digital tactics like harassment and surveillance, or foiled attempts at physical violence". [9] Transnational repression conducted by China also escalated since 2014 under Xi Jinping. [1] [10] [4]
In 2024, Amnesty International stated that the PRC is increasingly threatening overseas activists' family members in mainland China with loss of jobs, retirement benefits, and physical freedom in order to gain compliance. [11]
The Chinese government's transnational repression of Uyghurs includes diplomatic pressure for extradition from countries like Thailand, [12] [13] [14] Turkey, [15] and Egypt, [16] often without due process. [17] Domestically, Uyghurs face passport confiscations in Xinjiang, limiting their travel. Abroad, they encounter digital surveillance and intimidation, with their families in China sometimes being used as leverage. [18] These actions are part of China's larger strategy in dealing with the Uyghur community under what it describes as terrorism, infiltration, and separatism. [4]
According to professor of East Asian Studies David Tobin, the Chinese government threatened a UK university for an academic's work on Uyghurs, leading to an institutional review that discussed whether to permit publicizing of any research on the region. [19] Professor Steve Tsang has testified that the University of Nottingham closed its School of Contemporary China Studies under pressure from Beijing. [19]
According to the International Campaign for Tibet, Tibetan communities in countries like the United States, Sweden, and the Netherlands report surveillance and intimidation from the Chinese government. Chinese agents are involved in monitoring and threatening Tibetans, affecting their ability to criticize China's policies towards Tibet. Family members in China are sometimes used as leverage. The Chinese government also disrupts traditional Tibetan refugee routes in Nepal to India, increasing the risk of repatriation. [20] [21] [22]
Freedom House reported in 2021 that Hongkongers abroad are "relatively new targets of transnational repression". [1]
In 2016, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was detained on arrival in Thailand. He had been invited to speak about his Umbrella Movement experience at an event hosted by Chulalongkorn University. [23] A Thai student activist, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, said that Thai authorities had received a request from the Chinese government earlier regarding the visit. [24] After nearly 12 hours' detention, Wong was deported to Hong Kong. [23] Wong claimed that, upon detention, the authorities would say no more than that he had been blacklisted but, just prior to deportation, they informed him that his deportation was pursuant to the Thai Immigration Act. [25] [26]
The 2020 Hong Kong national security law (NSL) garnered attention to its Article 38, which states that the law also applies to offenses committed against Hong Kong "from outside the Region by a person who is not a permanent resident of the Region." [27] [28]
In a 2021 report, Freedom House (citing news articles from the Hong Kong Free Press, Deutsche Welle and the South China Morning Post ) wrote:
After large-scale prodemocracy protests broke out in Hong Kong in 2019, advocates traveling to Taiwan were followed, harassed, and attacked with red paint by pro-CCP groups, prompting police protection to be assigned to them. A Singaporean activist was jailed for 10 days in August 2020 for "illegal assembly" because of a Skype call he convened with Joshua Wong in 2016 during a discussion event in Singapore. With Beijing's imposition of a National Security Law on Hong Kong in June 2020, the net around Hong Kongers globally tightened. The law includes a provision with vast extraterritorial reach, potentially criminalizing any speech critical of the Chinese or Hong Kong government made anywhere in the world, including speech by foreign nationals. [1]
The Freedom House report cited a news piece from The Guardian to name Samuel Chu "among those who received the first round of arrest warrants under the new law". [1] [29] Chu was born in Hong Kong and is a US citizen residing in Los Angeles since 1996. [30] He was charged for his advocacy work within the US-based Hong Kong Democracy Council that pushed the US government to impose sanctions against Chinese officials deemed responsible for the erosion of basic freedoms in Hong Kong. [31] Freedom House concluded: "Chu and others like him now must not only avoid traveling to Hong Kong, but also to any country with an extradition treaty with Hong Kong or China." [1] Further arrest warrants under the new law were issued against the following pro-democracy Hongkongers now living abroad:
In 2025, The Guardian reported that attorneys for Hong Kong publisher and activist Jimmy Lai have been targeted by phishing attempts linked to the PRC, rape threats, and death threats. [48]
According to Freedom House and the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM), practitioners of Falun Gong globally face intense scrutiny under the PRC's transnational repression efforts. Notably, instances of detention involving Falun Gong adherents have been reported in several countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, etc. [49] A 2021 IRSEM study alleged 79 separate instances of transnational repression targeting Falun Gong practitioners. [50]
Operation Fox Hunt and Operation Sky Net are part of Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign after he came into power in 2014. Their stated goal is to repatriate Chinese fugitives that fled abroad. The operation spans across 56 countries, including countries where China does not have extradition treaties, such as the United States and Canada. [51] According to Safeguard Defenders, kidnappings and other forms of coercion have been used to repatriate individuals. [52]
China targets the broad group of people with harassments, coercion, disinformation, and threats of violence and death. According to a CNN report on a Chinese online operation, "Victims face a barrage of tens of thousands of social media posts that call them traitors, dogs, and racist and homophobic slurs. They say it's all part of an effort to drive them into a state of constant fear and paranoia." [53] Loyalist diaspora groups have also been used to target dissidents. [3]
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)While there was aggression from both sides, the most extreme violence was instigated by pro-CCP activists and carried out by coordinated groups of young men embedded among them, verified videos show.