HRIC Weekly Brief
October 28, 2025
Top News 头条
Right after China’s Fourth Plenum concluded on October 25, 2025, a protester hung two banners in Beijing’s Sanlitun district, denouncing the CCP and calling for freedom, humanity, and rule of law. Signed “pque2025,” it deliberately echoed Peng Lifa’s 2022 Sitong Bridge protest. The banners read: “The Communist Party is in essence an anti-human cult. It will inevitably bring endless disasters to China,” and “Remove the ban on political parties, allow for free party formation, free competition, free choice, and establish a new China based on freedom, humanity, and the rule of law.” Also coinciding with the Plenum, a group of anonymous hackers accessed multiple Chinese government websites and news websites, including the Baoding Municipal Justice Bureau, the Commercial Industry Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, and the China and Foreign News Network, and posted messages such as “the 15th Five-Year Plan is a scam.”
At the Plenum itself, key areas of discussion included AI, tech and space; competition with the US; China’s low birthrate; a crackdown on “involution”; and personnel changes within the Party. The National People’s Congress also created a new holiday called the “Day of Taiwan’s Restoration” in an effort to support its sovereignty claims over the island. October 25 is the day in 1945 when Taiwan, at that time a Japanese colony, was handed over to an official of the then-Republic of China.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
September 2025: China’s New National Law on National Parks: Of particular note is the Public Health Emergency Response Law, enacted post-COVID, which will take effect on November 1.
Provisions on Lawfully Regulating the Application and Oversight of Residential Surveillance in a Designated Location: China Law Translate has posted an English translation of China’s new legislation on Residential Surveillance in a Designated Location, aka RSDL, which was originally promulgated on June 30, 2025.
China Releases Certification Measures for Cross-Border Data Transfers – The Last Piece of the Regulatory Puzzle: The Certification Measures will take effect on January 1, 2026, imposing new rules on how businesses must monitor certification institutions, standards, and application procedures in cross-border data transfers.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
Netizen Voices: “Stop Complaining, Hu Xijin. You Played a Part in This.”: Hu’s recent remarks on the state of the Chinese internet caused heated debate among Chinese netizens, many of whom believe Hu is complicit in shaping the very online environment he is now bemoaning, while others noted that constraints on free speech must be truly dire for a privileged public figure like Hu to complain.
China’s AI ambitions target US tech dominance: With Chinese AI platforms now nearly matching US capabilities, China aims to lead global artificial intelligence by 2030, despite lacking top-tier chips and actively working against freedom of expression.
New police plan to expand AI-enabled CCTV blanket to public housing estates raises questions over privacy: A new Hong Kong police plan to expand the AI-enabled SmartView CCTV system to places managed by other departments, including 10 public housing estates, has drawn mixed reactions from Hong Kong residents.
Translations: “How Can a Country That Blocks the Nobel Website Hope to Win a Nobel Prize?”: Chinese netizens also mocked the state media’s tendency to downplay Nobel Prizes won by other countries, particularly by Japan.
Keeping Taiwan’s Internet Free: Inside the Open Culture Foundation’s Fight for Transparency and Rights: The Open Culture Foundation fights against cyberattacks and promotes rights discourse in Taiwan, where websites are often defaced with pro-China propaganda and inboxes are filled with phishing emails designed to infiltrate activist networks.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
HRIC on X/Twitter: China’s “long-arm censorship” extends to Switzerland. Even websites registered and operated abroad can still be blocked by CCP authorities through “reporting” tactics: from Swiss registrars to overseas platforms, China’s long arm of censorship is expanding its speech control across the global internet by pressuring third-party service providers.
‘They told me not to speak out’: the woman who took on China – and won her husband’s freedom: Idris and Zeynure Hasan had joined thousands of others who fled to Turkey in the 2010s, but they were not as safe in exile as they had thought. When China used Interpol’s “red notice” system to target Idris, Zeynure fought back and drew international support for her husband’s case.
‘I wanted to do something more meaningful’: the Chinese nationals fighting for Ukraine: Chinese volunteers speak about how disillusionment with China has led many to defy the Chinese government and public opinion and risk their lives fighting against Russia in Ukraine.
China spy row: Berry knew some of his contacts were non-commercial, messages suggest: In August 2022, one of the men accused of espionage, Christopher Berry, sent a voice note saying that “they want me to work for them directly instead of going through the company.” He had reported to a Chinese company with clients that wanted to develop trading links with the UK.
Australia ‘increasingly alone’ in countering China’s influence in Pacific, aid report shows: China has moved away from loan-financed infrastructure projects to grants and smaller community initiatives to strengthen political and grassroots ties: “China now spends less than it did a decade ago, but its aid reaches far deeper into Pacific communities.”
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
Why is China again targeting underground ‘house churches?’: While the mass arrest of church leaders and ministers has sparked fear among church members, life under prolonged surveillance has already made many mentally prepared for the worst: “Most believers are aware that this could happen sooner or later … even succession plans within the church leadership have been prepared.”
Related: HRIC on X/Twitter. Zion Church preacher Sun Xue has been detained since October 12 without no legal documents provided regarding the arrest. On the evening of the 12th, police in Zhengzhou, Henan, forcibly broke in and arrested Sun.
Decolonizing the Chinese narrative on Uyghurs: The mission of sociologist Dilnur Reyhan: Reyhan argues that decolonizing mindsets must begin with recognizing the colonial relationship between China and East Turkestan.
获刑1年6个月的山东省平度市法轮功学员李坤芳女士的案情及简历 [The case and resume of Ms. Li Kunfang, a Falun Gong practitioner from Pingdu City, Shandong Province, who was sentenced to one year and six months in prison.]: Li was arrested on May 12, 2025 when she went to hang a banner promoting Falun Gong. She was subsequently placed under criminal detention, arrested, and prosecuted.
Veteran Tibetan activist Jamyang Tenzin resumes seventh solo cycling campaign for Tibet: 65-year-old Jamyang Tenzin’s “solo-cycle rallies have become a symbol of perseverance and grassroots activism within the Tibetan movement.”
National security trial of Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil group delayed again to January: According to Judiciary records retrieved on Friday, the High Court has now set January 22, 2026, as the start date for the trial of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Members of the group, who are currently imprisoned, include lawyer Chow Hang-tung and former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho.
4 more Hong Kong lawmakers sit out legislative race as pro-Beijing party unveils election candidates: A total of 21 lawmakers have announced they will not seek re-election, which would bring a significant change to the 90-seat Legislative Council.
Related: Lawmaker Regina Ip bows out of upcoming ‘patriots-only’ legislative election.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Translations on Chikungunya and Mosquito Eradication in Guangdong: “Hand Over Your Keys or We’ll Pick the Locks!”: Most residents expressed a willingness to cooperate with disease control and mosquito abatement efforts but considered the “hand in your keys” policy an intrusive form of local government overreach that brought back traumatic memories of three years of extreme “zero-COVID” policies.
Pen Names and Power Plays, Behind a China-Korea Media Event, and a Talent Visa Backlash: China’s southern cities are playing a growing role in national propaganda efforts. The Overseas Chinese New Media Alliance, for example, is a content syndication network centered in Zhuhai that is designed to provide “normalized and institutionalized” distribution of Chinese state media content through international channels.
Chinese authorities raid monasteries, homes in Amdo, confiscate Dalai Lama photos: The confiscation of the Dalai Lama’s photos is part of a broader and long-standing policy by the Chinese government to suppress reverence for the Tibetan spiritual leader, under the guise of “maintaining political stability” and “fighting separatism.”
International Responses 国际反应
Ma Chih-wei Case Sets Precedents for Cases of China Funding Political Candidates in Taiwan: Ma Chih-wei was found guilty of accepting Chinese money for her campaign. She is accused of accepting approximately US$34,322 in cash and cryptocurrency. The case could set a precedent for future rulings related to Taiwanese political candidates who accept funding from the CCP as part of China’s United Front efforts in Taiwan.
US and China reach ‘final deal’ on TikTok sale, treasury secretary says: The deal is estimated to be valued at $14 billion. The majority of US and international investors will own about 65% of the company, with ByteDance and Chinese investors owning less than a 20% stake.