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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Report: Transnational Repression—from China and Elsewhere—Is a Growing Threat to Global Democracy
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Dozens of governments around the world systemically employ violence against exiles and diasporas, reaching beyond national borders to silence dissent. China’s campaign in the largest.
Human rights activists, dissidents, and their families face a worldwide pattern of violence and intimidation perpetrated by the authoritarian regimes they hoped to avoid by fleeing abroad, according to a new Freedom House report published February 4 that details the immense scope of such “transnational repression.”
“The scale and violence of these attacks underscore the danger that people face even after they flee repression,” said Freedom House president Michael J. Abramowitz. “Exiles around the world describe surveillance, assault, or even kidnapping and assassination as a constant threat that limits their ability to speak freely. Stopping transnational repression is vital to protecting democracy and rolling back authoritarian influence.”
The key findings of the report—Out of Sight, Not Out of Reach
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—include the following:
There have been at least 608 cases of direct, physical transnational repression since 2014, including assassinations, abductions, assaults, detentions, and unlawful deportations.
At least 31 origin states on every inhabited continent have carried out such acts against victims in 79 host countries for a total of 160 unique pairings between origin and host countries. Victims have been targeted in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other established democracies.
An estimated 3.5 million people have been affected by either direct attacks or secondary tactics of intimidation and coercion that ripple through communities around the world.
China’s authoritarian regime is conducting the most sophisticated, comprehensive, and global campaign of transnational repression. Freedom House’s conservative catalogue of direct, physical attacks during the coverage period includes 214 cases traced to China
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, far more than any other country.
Five other states that are particularly robust and violent in their practice of transnational repression are: Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia, and Turkey.
In addition to global analysis, the report includes in-depth case studies on these five counties and China. An overview of key China-specific findings in below and the full case-study is available here
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. The remainder of the report can be found here
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China
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China conducts the most sophisticated, global, and comprehensive campaign of transnational repression in the world. Efforts by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to pressure and control the overseas population of Chinese and members of minority communities are marked by three distinctive characteristics. First, the campaign targets many groups, including multiple ethnic and religious minorities, political dissidents, human rights activists, journalists, and former insiders accused of corruption. Second, it spans the full spectrum of tactics: from direct attacks like renditions, to co-opting other countries to detain and render exiles, to mobility controls, to threats from a distance like digital threats, spyware, and coercion by proxy. Third, the sheer breadth and global scale of the campaign is unparalleled. Freedom House’s conservative catalogue of direct, physical attacks since 2014 covers 214 cases originating from China, far more than any other country.
These egregious and high-profile cases are only the tip of the iceberg of a much broader system of surveillance, harassment, and intimidation that leaves many overseas Chinese and exile minorities feeling that the CCP is watching them and constraining their ability to exercise basic rights even when living in a foreign democracy. All told, these tactics affect millions of Chinese and minority populations from China in at least 36 host countries across every inhabited continent.
The extensive scope of China’s transnational repression is a result of a broad and ever-expanding definition of who should be subject to extraterritorial control by the Chinese Communist Party.
First, the CCP targets entire ethnic and religious groups, including Uighurs, Tibetans, and Falun Gong practitioners, which together number in the hundreds of thousands globally. Over the past year alone, the list of targeted populations has expanded to also include Inner Mongolians and Hong Kongers residing outside the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
Second, China’s anticorruption drive has taken a broad, global view, targeting what may be thousands of its own former officials living abroad, now designated as alleged embezzlers.
Third, China’s overt transnational repression activities are embedded in a broader framework of influence that encompasses cultural associations, diaspora groups, and in some cases, organized crime networks, which places it in contact with a huge population of Chinese citizens, Chinese diaspora members, and minority populations from China who reside around the world.
Fourth, China deploys its technological prowess as part of its transnational repression toolbox via sophisticated hacking and phishing attacks. One of China’s newest avenues for deploying repressive tactics overseas has been via the WeChat platform, a messaging, social media, and financial services app that is ubiquitous among Chinese users around the world, and through which the party-state can monitor and control discussion among the diaspora.
Fifth, China’s geopolitical weight allows it to assert unparalleled influence over countries both near (Nepal, Thailand) and far (Egypt, Kenya). This produces leverage that the CCP does not hesitate to use against targets around the world.
Finally, China asserts control over non-Chinese citizens overseas, including ethnic Chinese, Taiwanese, or other foreigners, who are critical of CCP influence and human rights abuses. While not the focus of this report, China’s attempts to intimidate and control foreigners in response to their peaceful advocacy activities is an ominous trend.
Due to China’s growing power internationally, its technical capacity, and its aggressive claims regarding Chinese citizens and noncitizens overseas, its campaign has a significant effect on the rights and freedoms of overseas Chinese and minority communities in exile in dozens of countries. Additionally, the CCP’s use of transnational repression poses a long-term threat to rule of law systems in other countries. This is because Beijing’s influence is powerful enough to not only violate the rule of law in an individual case, but also to reshape legal systems and international norms to its interests.
In addition to global analysis, the report includes in-depth case studies on these five counties and China. An overview of key China-specific findings in below and the full case-study is available here
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. The remainder of the report can be found here
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