HRIC Weekly Brief
November 18, 2025
Top News 头条
November 8 was China’s National Journalists’ Day. The day is often an occasion for mixed feelings among China’s independent journalists, who continue to mourn the decline of investigative reporting in the country. On November 14, the Independent Chinese PEN Center annual award ceremony was held in London, with the “Liu Xiaobo Courage in Writing Award” presented to Chinese human rights lawyer Ding Jiaxi and rights defender Zhang Haitao, and the “Freedom to Write Award” presented to veteran journalist Gao Yu.
Last Thursday, a court upheld a 7-year espionage sentence for journalist Dong Yuyu, a senior columnist at the state-run newspaper Guangming Daily, who was initially detained in February 2022. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the court’s ruling an “unconscionable decision.” Dong is a prolific journalist who has had his work published in the Chinese editions of the New York Times and Financial Times. He also won a prestigious Nieman fellowship at Harvard University in 2006 and has been a visiting scholar at two Japanese universities.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
Double Wage Rules in China: Key Updates Under Judicial Interpretation II on Labor Disputes: The Judicial Interpretation II on the Application of Law in Labor Dispute Cases, along with a set of illustrative cases, were issued August 1 and took effect on September 1. This interpretation aims to unify judicial standards in labor disputes and clarify several long-standing ambiguities under the Labor Contract Law.
Carbon Copies: China Moves to Regulate Plagiarism: Provinces across China have reported problems with internal governmental plagiarism since 2017. According to experts, document plagiarism often stems from a promotion system overly reliant on paperwork, as well as a lack of time, personnel, and budgeting for on-the-ground research.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
AI firm claims it stopped Chinese state-sponsored cyber-attack campaign: The US-based AI firm, Anthropic, said its coding tool Claude Code was “manipulated” by a Chinese state-sponsored group to attack 30 entities around the world in September, achieving a “handful of successful intrusions.”
Related: Anthropic warns of AI-driven hacking campaign linked to China. This is the first reported use of artificial intelligence to direct a hacking campaign in a largely automated fashion.
MaskPark and the Silence around China’s Gender-Based Violence Online: China lacks the transparent, rights-based system necessary to handle cases such as “MaskPark,” in which the rights of tens of thousands of women were violated in a group chat meant for non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit content. In the face of widespread concern and mobilization against online sexual violence, the Chinese government moved quickly to reframe and suppress the discussion: “posts linking MaskPark to systemic failures in gender protection were deleted; feminist accounts that called for coordinated action found themselves suspended,” and the term ‘MaskPark’ vanished overnight from China’s digital sphere.
Commerce and Moral Compromise in Contemporary China: A new book by Patrick McGee delves into the complex multi-decade relationship between Apple, its suppliers and fabricators in China, and the Chinese government. As McGee explains, not only has Apple continued to work in a totalitarian environment and aid the CCP’s digital surveillance efforts, it actually benefits from Xi Jinping’s crackdown on human rights: “The authoritarian crackdown enabled by companies like Apple, which choose to target the Chinese marketplace for economic benefit, means there are no localized voices to call attention to the poor working conditions in its factories.”
AI Cop Signals VPN Crackdown: China’s Ministry of State Security is using videos of an AI-generated “policeman” to discourage use of VPNs, with the message that “digital freedom…is actually a trap that threatens both your bank account and the nation.” The video warns that browsing non-Chinese websites “without any precaution” will make you vulnerable to “fraudulent information, extremist ideology, and political rumors”; and the consequences of that can transform “curious browsing” into “active participation” in illegal activities.
CDT’s “404 Deleted Content Archive” Summary for October 2025, Part One: Topics targeted for deletion in October included the sentencing of officials over the death of a detainee, environmental issues, the deadly crash of a Xiaomi SU7 electric vehicle in Chengdu, and the re-sentencing of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan.
Asio accuses Chinese hackers of seeking access to Australia’s critical infrastructure: Mike Burgess, the director general of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation, said Australia faces a threat of “high-impact sabotage” from Chinese hacking units like Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Germany deported Uyghur woman to China in bureaucratic bungle: Reziwanguli Baikeli’s deportation order stated that she should be sent to Turkey, where she had lived previously, according to official guidance to protect Uyghurs. Local officials explained that because Baikeli had a Chinese passport, immigration officials had “put her on a plane to China as the BAMF order did not explicitly prohibit them from doing so.”
突厥無家｜土耳其不再安全 政府標註限制代碼 維吾爾人面臨遣返中國風險 [Türkiye No Longer Safe, Government Labels Uyghurs with Restriction Codes, Facing Risk of Repatriation to China]: Since relations between Turkey and China warmed, Uyghurs who fled from Xinjiang to Turkey now face the loss of their safe haven, or being detained by the Turkish government under inhumane and degrading conditions. They are also subjected to arbitrary “restriction codes” on police and immigration records, treated as “threats to public safety,” forced to sign voluntary repatriation agreements, and could potentially be deported at any time to third countries with extradition treaties with China.
Related: Protected No More: Uyghurs in Türkiye. A new report by Human Rights Watch estimates that approximately 50,000 Uyghurs live in Turkey. However, the lack of protections for Uyghurs in Turkey means that Uyghurs must now turn to other countries to accommodate them, including those holding Turkish residency or asylum status.
Ex-NY governors’ aide goes on trial on charges she sold influence to China, got kickbacks for masks: Linda Sun, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, held numerous posts over a roughly 15-year career in state government, including as deputy chief of staff to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and deputy diversity officer under former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
China issues wanted notice for two Taiwanese influencers for ‘separatism’: Taiwanese influencers Pa Chiung and Chen Po-yuan, a rapper also known by his stage name Mannam PYC, were accused of publishing and “inciting separatist views.”
3 arrested over online posts allegedly urging boycott of ‘patriots only’ legislative elections: Two men and a woman, aged between 55 and 66, were arrested for allegedly “circulating messages online to incite others not to vote” in the patriots-only Legislative Council election.
Hong Kong woman, 19, jailed for 1 year over filming ‘seditious’ videos for Canada-based group: Lan Fei was sentenced to one year in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to appearing in two videos from April and May of this year to promote an election for the “Hong Kong Parliament” group.
Hong Kong couple jailed for over a year for helping fugitive protesters evade authorities: Yu Hin-lam and Ng Shuk-wai had helped provide temporary refuge to four protesters, including hiding them in a hotel in Tsuen Wan and in two flats in an industrial building in Kwai Chung, between November 2020 and July 2022. They pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 17 and 13 months, respectively.
Hong Kong court rejects jailed media tycoon’s bid to file new evidence in libel suit against Beijing-backed paper: Jimmy Lai had asked the court to admit 101 articles published by Ta Kung Pao between June 2013 and February 2021, saying they were evidence of the state-backed newspaper’s “long-standing malicious intent.”
Hong Kong broadcasters give way to gov’t-organised election forums – reports: TVB, i-Cable, and Now TV traditionally organized election forums ahead of each Legislative Council election, which take place every four years, allowing candidates to openly debate their political platforms.
Jailed Hong Kong democrat Albert Ho suspended as notary public for 7 years over unauthorised assembly convictions: The notice for the suspension stated: “[Ho] has engaged in conduct, whether in pursuit of his notarial work or otherwise, which is prejudicial to the administration of justice, or which is dishonest or otherwise discreditable to a notary public; or which is likely to bring the profession of notary public into disrepute.”
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
China sharpens its language on Taiwan as part of ‘longer-term’ strategy: In recent weeks, China has released a series of statements, articles and photos that analysts say signal an escalation in the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s approach to Taiwan.
China uses ‘robot wolves’ in staged beach invasion as it tests new war tactic: The People’s Liberation Army revealed it is working on a new warfare tactic involving military-purpose robots, which it first unveiled at an air show in 2024, amid growing fears that it is preparing for an invasion of Taiwan.
International Responses 国际反应
Demonstration Held to Call for Release of Hong Kong Political Prisoners: On November 9, a rally was held in Taiwan to call for the release of Hong Kong political prisoners Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung. Taiwan is now the only place in the Chinese-speaking world that can openly commemorate the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Japan and China in growing row after PM Takaichi says Taiwan conflict could trigger military deployment: Beijing reacted angrily after Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, said an attack on Taiwan could trigger the deployment of Japanese self-defense forces if the conflict posed an existential threat to Japan.
Related: China tells citizens not to visit Japan and threatens military response as Taiwan row escalates. The Chinese foreign ministry said that the new Japanese prime minister’s “blatantly provocative remarks on Taiwan” had “further damaged the atmosphere for people-to-people exchanges.”
Canada says Russia and China are ramping up spy efforts in Arctic region: Dan Rogers, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, flagged mounting concerns over Chinese and Russian activities in the Arctic: “It is not a surprise that CSIS has observed both cyber and non-cyber intelligence collection efforts targeting both governments and the private sector in the region.”