Civic space in China is rated as ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. China’s authoritarian state ruled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has systemically repressed fundamental freedoms. Human rights defenders and activists report harassment and intimidation; unfair trials; arbitrary, incommunicado and lengthy detentions; and torture and other ill-treatment for exercising their fundamental rights.
Human Rights Watch said in its annual report released in January 2024 that ten years into President Xi Jinping’s rule, repression has deepened across the country. Through laws and regulations, criminal punishment, harassment, intimidation and the use of technology, the government operates one of the world’s most stringent censorship regimes. Human rights defenders and government critics continue to face persecution. The government continues its abusive policies against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, which amount to crimes against humanity.
China’s human rights record was reviewed at the 45th session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 23rd January 2024. CIVICUS and the Asia Democracy Network (ADN) submitted a joint stakeholder submission ahead of the UPR where our organisations highlighted a range of issues.
During the review, China denied the scope and scale of violations of human rights documented in UN reports, while offering up its anti-human rights approach as a model for other countries.It also presented their repression of Uyghurs as an effective counter to terrorism and their suppression of civic space in Hong Kong as providing stability in the city. Despite this, ISHR said that at least 50 states made numerous, specific and detailed recommendations to Beijing on urgent issues.
In recent months, the courts upheld the detention of two human rights lawyers, Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi; convicted Li Qiaochu, a women human rights defender, for subversion; and sentenced Shangguan Yunkai, an anti-corruption journalist to 15 years in jail. A prominent human rights lawyer, Tang Jitian, has been detained incommunicado; a documentary director Chen Pinlin was charged for a film on the anti-COVID restriction protests; while the Nanjing police detained Zou Wei, an activist who spoke out about the death of a journalist. Hundreds of Tibetans were arrested protesting a dam project while a former 'white paper' protester experienced torture in police custody.
Association
Court upholds verdict of detained human rights lawyers
Chinese authorities should quash the convictions of Xu Zhiyong & Ding Jiaxi. They were sentenced to long prison terms on baseless charges. The closed door trials have had myriad due process concerns including allegations of mistreatment. https://t.co/nB1qzJO4cF
— Elaine Pearson (@PearsonElaine) November 23, 2023
On 24th November 2023, the Shandong Provincial High Court announced its decision to uphold the first-instance verdict and sentence against human rights defenders and lawyers Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi.
As previously documented, in April 2023, a court sentenced Xu Zhiyong to 14 years in prison and Ding Jiaxi to 12 years after convicting each for the crime of “subversion of state power.” Their trials were conducted behind closed doors with numerous procedural problems and allegations of mistreatment.
Xu, a former lecturer at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, was a co-founder of the now-banned legal aid centre Open Constitution Initiative and the New Citizens’ Movement, a non-governmental group advocating for civil rights, government transparency and education equality. Ding, a former commercial lawyer, played key roles in both groups.
Activist Li Qiaochu jailed for subversion
#China
— Front Line Defenders (@FrontLineHRD) February 7, 2024
Woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu has been sentenced to 3 years and 8 months in prison and 2 years of “deprivation of political rights''.
We strongly condemn the ongoing judicial harassment of Li Qiaochu and call on Chinese authorities to quash the conviction… pic.twitter.com/irXzZlRsMv
On 5th February 2024, the Linyi Intermediate People’s Court convicted woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu for “subversion of state power” and sentenced her to three years and eight months in prison, including time served, as well as two years’ deprivation of political rights.
Amnesty International said: “The unjust conviction of Li Qiaochu is the culmination of the Chinese government’s cruel campaign to silence her. It is shameful that the Chinese authorities have jailed Li for speaking out against torture and ill-treatment rather than properly investigating the allegations she made.”
As previously documented, Li Qiaochu was detained on 6th February 2021, following her disclosure of the torture of her partner and human rights defender Xu Zhiyong and her advocacy actions. Li Qiaochu may also have been targeted in retaliation for her engagement with UN mechanisms. In September 2020, she was involved in an online meeting with two experts from the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).
According to Front Line Defenders, Li Qiaochu is a feminist, researcher and human rights defender who has advocated for the rights of workers, migrants, women and human rights defenders detained in China.
Prominent human rights lawyer detained incommunicado
The Chinese Government urged to promptly release Lawyer Tang Jitian & allow him to travel out of the country for his daughter’s funeral
— 唐吉田律师关注组 (@freelawyertang) February 21, 2024
(21 Feb 2024) We were shocked to learn that Tang Zhengqi, the daughter of human rights lawyer Tang Jitian, died of illness at in Tokyo … pic.twitter.com/1QQB3TixRB
On 4th November 2023, while en route to a family member’s funeral, human rights lawyer Tang Jitian became uncontactable. He is believed to be detained by police in an undisclosed location in Jilin province.
On 21st November, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that Tang was being detained in a hotel in Yanbian city. Tang has a round-the-clock detail of state security police sleeping in the same room and eating all meals with him.
According to Frontline Defenders, Tang Jitian has taken on human rights cases across a range of areas, including land rights, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association. As a result of his persistent activism, his licence to practise law was revoked in 2010.
Previously, in December 2021, while en route to an event in Beijing commemorating Human Rights Day hosted by the European Union’s Delegation in China, he was taken by police and was held in secret detention for more than a year until 14th January 2023, when he was released back to his home town in Jilin province.
Expression
Documentary director charged for film on anti-COVID restriction protests
On 18th February 2024, Chinese authorities charged director Chen Pinlin, who published a documentary on anti-COVID restriction protests in late 2023, with “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said, on 5th January, Shanghai police arrested Chen, who published work under the pseudonym Plato, and detained the filmmaker at the Baoshan Detention Center.
As previously documented, unprecedented protests erupted across China due to widespread public frustration with the “zero-COVID” policy, lockdowns and other restrictions. The protest often featured demonstrators holding pieces of blank white paper - a metaphor for the critical social media posts, news articles and outspoken online accounts that have been wiped from the internet - as thousands of people took to the streets.
Chen posted the documentary “Not the Foreign Force” on the first anniversary of the White Paper Movement on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) in late November 2023. The documentary compiled extensive protest footage, translated social media posts demanding freedom of expression, and reported that some protesters remained detained. Chen’s X account and YouTube channel were deleted within the same week.
Anti-corruption journalist sentenced to 15 years
#China 🇨🇳: Authorities have detained investigative journalist Shangguan Yunkai for allegedly ‘selling counterfeit medicine’, with some claiming his arrest is related to his coverage of corruption allegations across the province. @IFJGlobal https://t.co/ccOLWnsVri
— IFJ Asia-Pacific (@ifjasiapacific) May 18, 2023
Chinese journalist Shangguan Yunkai was sentenced to 15 years in jail on 5th January 2024. Activists believe his prosecution was likely a form of political retaliation for his reporting.
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a district court in the central city of Ezhou handed down the sentence after Shangguan was convicted for selling fake medicine, picking quarrels and provoking trouble, fraud, false imprisonment and bigamy.
As previously documented, in April 2023, police in the central city of Ezhou arrested Shangguan Yunkai on the charge of “selling fake medicine.” The day before his arrest, he had published an article about police in an Ezhou courtroom beating a plaintiff in 2021.
Shangguan has covered alleged corruption for the state-run newspaper Legal Daily and in his microblogs “Life in Queensland” and “Huangxiao Native Egg” in and around Hubei province for more than 20 years.
China is the worst jailer of journalists in the world, according to CPJ, with 44 journalists in prison. Nearly half of the journalists behind bars in the country are Uyghurs who reported on the persecution of the mostly Muslim group in Xinjiang.
Censors ban protest song lauding decades of dissent
RFA reported in December 2023 that Chinese censors have blocked access to a Mandarin protest anthem lauding political activists, protesters and dissidents who have pushed for freedom, justice and democracy over the past three decades, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and during the 2023 "white paper" protests.
The song titled "It's my Duty" is a reference to a young man's reply when asked by a journalist why he was cycling off to Tiananmen Square in 1989.
The song was written and performed by film music student Yinfi on YouTube. In a recent interview with RFA Mandarin, Yinfi said the song has been widely circulated outside China since he released it on 23rd June.
Nanjing police detain activist who spoke out about death of journalist
Authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing detained dissident Zou Wei on 20th November 2023vwho spoke out about the death of outspoken journalist Sun Lin after state security police broke into his home.
RFA quoted the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders group stating family members and supporters have been warned to keep quiet or face persecution if they question police conduct or seek accountability. Zou was taken away "for raising a placard to speak out" protesting Sun's death. Government censors have also blocked any discussion of Sun's death on Chinese social media.
Nanjing dissident journalist Sun Lin, aged 70, who used the pen name Jie Mu, died following a raid by state security police on his home on 17th November. At the hospital, Sun Lin's family requested to see his body, but the state security police refused. Medical staff at the hospital said his clothes were torn and he had suffered head injuries, indicating he was beaten to death.
Peaceful Assembly
Hundreds of Tibetans arrested protesting dam project
"Chinese authorities have long been hostile to public protests, but their response is especially brutal when the protests are by Tibetans and other ethnic groups. Other governments should press Beijing to free these protesters" - @wang_maya of @hrw #derge https://t.co/mXepgL2FlG
— International Campaign for Tibet (@SaveTibetOrg) February 28, 2024
Police arrested hundreds of Tibetans on 22nd February 2024, including monks from at least two local monasteries, in southwestern China’s Sichuan province after they protested the construction of a dam expected to destroy six monasteries and force the relocation of two villages.
According to RFA, the arrested individuals – both monks and local residents – are being held in various places throughout Dege county in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Those arrested have been forced to bring their own bedding and tsampa – a staple food for Tibetans that can be used to sustain themselves for long periods of time.
Human Rights Watch said: “The Chinese authorities’ mass arbitrary detention of peaceful protesters highlights grave concerns about the effects of further dam construction on Tibetans’ heritage, culture, and livelihoods. The government needs to view genuine participation by the affected population as essential for carrying out major infrastructure projects.”
On 22nd February, the authorities deployed specially trained armed police in Kardze’s Upper Wonto village region to arrest more than 100 Tibetan monks from Wonto and Yena monasteries along with local residents, many of whom were beaten and injured. Following news of the mass arrests, many Tibetans from Upper Wonto village who work in other parts of the country returned to their home town and visited the detention centres to call for the release of the arrested Tibetans. They, too, were arrested.
The arrests followed days of protests and appeals by local Tibetans since 14th February for China to stop the construction of the Gangtuo hydropower station.
Former 'white paper' protester describes torture in police custody
In December 2024, RFA reported the torture and ill-treatment experienced by a protester involved in the "white paper" movement who had fled overseas.
Huang Guoan, a 30-year-old software programmer who had attended a protest in the southern city of Guangzhou in November 2022, where he was living at the time, was detained and taken to a detention centre where police accused him of circulating an essay criticising the ruling Chinese Communist Party published on a website run by the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement.
During his 15-day detention, RFA said that Huang cooperated with police and "confessed" following repeated interrogations during which he was tortured with sleep deprivation through bright lights, and with pepper spray.
Huang received his visa for New Zealand in early May 2023, just before he was detained and interrogated. In July, after his release, Huang boarded a flight to New Zealand.
Now a political asylum-seeker in New Zealand, Huang said his motivation for joining the "white paper" movement stemmed from the suffering he witnessed and the hardship he endured while under lockdown during the “zero-COVID” era that ended shortly after the "white paper" protests in late November 2022.