Top News 头条
Devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border last week were met with censorship from the Chinese authorities, who minimized information about casualties and hampered damage assessment in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy that has left over 1,000 people confirmed dead and thousands missing. Much of the information emerged through Nepal, while on the Tibetan side, the authorities tightly controlled information about the scale of the destruction and state media emphasized rescue efforts and the government’s response. Reporting indicates that eyewitness footage disappeared from Chinese social media platforms and that authorities used “image-recognition technology” and “saturated information” tactics to suppress or drown out independent accounts of the disaster.
Tibetan advocacy groups said that information they gathered from sources on the ground suggested a toll “far higher” than official figures. Meanwhile, Chinese authorities penalized 10 people accused of spreading online claims that casualty numbers were significantly higher than the official count. Responding to allegations that information about the disaster had been suppressed, China’s Foreign Ministry responded, stating “malicious smearing and sensationalism using the disaster situation will not receive popular support.” However, suppression of information around tragedies is par for the course for the Chinese government, with many well-documented cases including the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and multiple mass attacks by drivers last year.
In Hong Kong, former organizers of the city’s annual Tiananmen vigils, Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan, and Albert Ho, returned to court on Friday, August 28, for mitigation proceedings after being convicted of subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law in connection with commemorating the Tiananmen Massacre. While Chow Hang-tung was stopped by the judge after reading only the opening sentences of her mitigation statement in court, her full statement was later published on her Patreon page and subsequently translated into English and simplified Chinese by Human Rights in China from the original Cantonese. In the statement, Chow argued that the pursuit of democracy had effectively been turned into a crime, that people’s beliefs cannot legitimately be controlled by law, and that genuine rule of law must be grounded in morality and justice.
The proceedings were accompanied by further signs of restrictions surrounding public discussion of the case. A woman who had been waiting in line for a public-gallery seat to witness the verdict proceedings was arrested outside the court on suspicion of sedition.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
Chinese Legislature Seeks Public Comment on 5 Bills: The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s national legislature, is seeking public comment on draft versions of Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, Banking Supervision and Administration Law, Water Law, Road Traffic Safety Law, and Anti–Cross-Border Corruption Law through September 26, 2026.
China Considers New Legal Tool to Pursue Corruption Suspects and Assets Abroad: The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress started its review of a draft Anti-Cross-Border Corruption Law, which would formalize existing practices used by Beijing to track down and pursue former officials who have fled overseas.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
HRIC on Twitter/X: A Proton investigation published on August 27 surveyed more than 7,000 mobile VPN apps worldwide and found that of the 390 available for download in the United States, 64 are owned by Chinese companies, and 31 of those conceal that ownership behind shell entities registered in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UK. US-based users downloaded these apps over 3 million times in June alone. Under Chinese law, companies must hand over user data to the government on request—an app marketed as a privacy tool may, therefore. sit inside the very surveillance system its users are trying to escape. The report also found that 85% of VPNs available in the US contain trackers, and 64 apps collect users’ physical location through GPS and other geolocation data, accounting for roughly a fifth of all downloads studied.
HRIC on Twitter/X: HRIC highlights a recent piece in The China Quarterly by Christian Göbel, a scholar at the University of Vienna, which uses 274,721 Weibo posts to reconstruct the brief online dissent—quickly erased—from the four days following the 2022 Urumqi fire, which was a spark behind the White Paper protests. The study finds that it wasn’t necessarily the disaster itself that ignited public outrage, but the authorities’ response. In an environment where opinion leaders were silenced or co-opted, and ordinary accounts had almost no visibility, netizens’ tactic was to attach criticism directly to the topic tags and retweet chains of official accounts, leveraging the massive follower bases of state media for dissemination. The author calls this “disruptive amplification.”
HRIC on Twitter/X: X’s Global Government Affairs team released results of the investigation on Chinese inauthentic accounts suspected of participating in influence operations. According to X, 200,000 fake accounts located in China had been identified which used the social media platform to manipulate public opinion on U.S. AI data centers and energy policies. X emphasized that the platform will take efforts to suspend accounts violating their authenticity policy and prevent attempts which undermine the integrity of the global public square.
App Life in China: A piece published in China File states that while life in China has become extremely convenient due to being highly digital, with apps like WeChat and Alipay making transportation, shopping, food delivery, and payments extremely convenient, the total reliance on these two platforms also comes with serious downsides. You must have a “mobile phone tied to a verified identity to use Alipay and WeChat Wallet, and these are the only digital wallets that work.” Cameras and facial-recognition systems track people’s movements, and people easily risk losing access to WeChat or Alipay if they violate rules related to online behavior, which in turn makes everyday life extremely difficult as so many services depend on those apps.
HRIC on Twitter/X: Cybersecurity researcher NetAskari recently disclosed that a hacker group calling itself SnowSoul infiltrated the computers of the blue team members in the 2026 Qinghai Province “Cyber Shield” cybersecurity exercise, and publicly released a large batch of internal document lists.
Taiwan steps up AI defenses as China election interference fears grow: After Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party warned that Beijing could use AI, deepfakes, social media impersonation, and fabricated recordings to influence the upcoming November 28 local elections, the Taiwanese Central Election Commission began establishing a specialized task force and an online platform through which candidates can report suspected deepfakes.
US says Chinese-linked hackers attacked NASA, Senate, and gov’t agencies: On August 26, the US Department of Justice announced that it had disrupted a Chinese-linked hacking attempt targeting sensitive US government bodies, including the Department of Justice, NASA, the Federal Reserve, and the US Senate. The operation reportedly dismantled two hacking platforms, QScan and QTRouter, which were used to compromise internet-connected devices and hide the source of attacks.
Taiwan prosecutors probe Unimicron over relabeling of China-made PCBs: The Taiwanese government has launched an investigation into leading printed circuit board maker Unimicron Technology Corp. over allegations that the company mislabeled products manufactured in China and later shipped to Taiwan as “locally made” products.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Canada ends Hong Kong ‘lifeboat’ immigration scheme launched in the wake of national security law: The Canadian government announced that the “lifeboat” immigration scheme launched in 2021 in response to Hong Kong’s national security crackdown, which allows Hongkongers to gain permanent residency in Canada, closed to new applicants from August 31, 2026. Anyone who applied on or before that date may remain in Canada while their application is processed.
Hong Kongers with settled status in the UK still denied access to their MPF savings: Hong Kong Watch reports that “Hong Kongers who have obtained Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) in the UK are still being blocked from withdrawing their Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) savings, despite meeting the legal threshold for early withdrawal on the grounds of permanent departure from Hong Kong.” The MPF is a Hong Kong compulsory retirement savings program.
Gen Z ‘Chinamaxxers’ fantasise about life in China. This journalist and this artist can never go back there: Chinese Australian artist Badiucao and Chinese American journalist Melissa Chan’s new graphic novel, “You Must Take Part in Revolution,” avoids lecturing young people who “feel defeated” about their own countries, but hopes to spread the message that authoritarianism is bad no matter where it is. Chan hopes that the book “can get a few people thinking about resistance movements both present and in the past.”
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
HRIC on Twitter/X: In July, 440 recent graduates joined Changzhou Xingyu Automotive Lighting Systems, a major Chinese supplier to European carmakers. Just weeks later, 107 had their contracts terminated under coercive pressure to “voluntarily” resign. In response, the trainees compiled recordings, labor contracts, and interview evidence, and submitted these materials to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, EU compliance channels, and supply chain reporting portals for European clients like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and Volkswagen. Within days of involving overseas compliance mechanisms, local investigations suddenly progressed and the company issued an apology, raising questions about the relative effectiveness of Chinese labor laws and implementation.
HRIC on Twitter/X: Last week, a Chinese court sentenced artist Gao Zhen, aged 70, to three years in prison for multiple sculptural works from nearly 20 years ago that satirized Mao Zedong. Less than a day after the verdict was announced, the news spread rapidly across North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Latin America, and Africa. Mainstream media outlets, major art publications, international human rights organizations, and governments issued public condemnations of the decision.
Related: China: Dissident artist jailed for satirical Mao sculptures. “‘We feel outraged,’ Gao’s wife Zhao Yaliang told the Reuters news agency. ‘Ever since I learned of the verdict, I haven’t been able to recover from it. It’s devastating.’”
Hong Kong’s independent bookstores, a refuge for Chinese readers, are under threat: Arrests over “seditious” books and harassment of independent bookstores and their associates has led to the closure of multiple prominent bookstores in Hong Kong this year. Readers mourn the loss of these spaces and the access to information that comes with them, and express concern that Taiwanese publishing generally may become more inaccessible in the future.
Blank Walls on Hong Kong Campuses: The University of Hong Kong (HKU) was once known for its politically active student union and its “Democracy Wall,” where students could freely post political messages and pro-democracy posters. In July 2021, after the introduction of Hong Kong’s national security law, HKU stopped recognizing the student union, took away its control of the wall, and removed the posters and messages displayed there. By 2026, the university had built panels around the once-famous Democracy Wall and announced plans to replace it with a digital display.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
China Sinicizing Tibetan education in move to implement Ethnic Unity Law: The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy reports that Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan provinces are reportedly revising Tibetan language textbooks and course materials in a move to promote Mandarin language and Han Chinese culture. In Tibet, new textbooks on national unity have also been introduced under China’s recently implemented Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress (Ethnic Unity Law).
China seeks public tips on procurement violations in elite Rocket Force: China has launched a campaign inviting the public to submit tips about irregularities in procurements in areas such as supplies and services, engineering projects, supplementary food supplies, medical equipment, and consumables.
China Pushes Ahead with Media Diplomacy with Africa: The Seventh China-Africa Media Cooperation Forum (第七届中非媒体合作论坛) hosted representatives from 45 countries last week in Beijing in an apparent move to get African media aligned with Chinese political narratives. Attendees reportedly signed a joint declaration, the text of which is not public, but reportedly contains a commitment to “work together to present a true, multi-dimensional and comprehensive image of China-Africa development to the international community.”
International Responses 国际反应
MAC advises caution for ‘high-risk nationals’ traveling to China: After a Taiwanese national was interrogated in Shanghai over his alleged links to Amnesty International, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council issued a travel warning to its citizens. His father alleged that Shanghai authorities questioned him for six hours about his work with international non-governmental organizations, including advocacy related to China, Hong Kong, Uyghurs and Tibet. He was also asked whether he had any contacts with politicians or human rights activists. He was released only after giving up his plan to enter China and returned to Taiwan the same day.
Leaders of China, Russia and India are among heads of state meeting to counter US influence: Chinese, Russian and Indian leaders gathered in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on August 31 ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. On the sidelines of the gathering, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
As India-China Talks Resume, Tibet’s Unresolved Question Lingers Behind the Line: India and China resumed high-level border talks in Beijing, with Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi leading the 25th round of the Special Representatives talks. In a preliminary statement, the Indian Embassy in Beijing said the discussions focused on maintaining peace and tranquility along the volatile border, amid renewed tensions along the Line of Actual Control.
Trump moves toward levying new tariff on China for flooding market with cheap goods, AP sources say: According to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to AP News, U.S. President Donald Trump is considering imposing a new 7.5% tariff on China, a move designed to work around a Supreme Court ruling that struck down his broader high-tariff plan.
Current Events 热点新闻
Translations: Surprise Viral Hit “Niu Lai” Represents “a Revenge-Vote by Chinese Filmgoers” Amid Ban Rumors: The ultra low-budget Chinese animated film titled “The Cow Comes” or “Here Comes the Cow” has become a surprise hit of the summer. Although the movie sold fewer than 300 tickets in its first 10 days in theaters, its budget later surpassed 40 million yuan ($6 million) in box-office revenue among rumors that it the authorities may even ban it. Commentator Wang Yongzhi “argues that “The Cow Comes” has a kind of clumsy sincerity, an authenticity that audiences seem to appreciate—especially compared to the often preachy, disingenuous, or inauthentic state-approved films frequently promoted at the box office.”