Top News 头条
On the morning of August 25, a court in Sanhe, Hebei, sentenced artist Gao Zhen to the maximum statutory penalty of three years’ imprisonment for “infringing upon the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs.” Only two of his brothers were permitted to attend the sentencing as observers, while personnel from the U.S. Embassy were denied entry. Gao Zhen, who holds a U.S. permanent resident card, was originally detained and his artworks seized in 2024 when he returned to China with his wife and child to visit family. Considering time served, Gao’s sentence will run until August 25, 2027. His wife remains restricted from leaving China on grounds of “national security,” and their young son, a U.S. citizen, is still unable to return to school in New York. HRIC calls on the Chinese authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Gao Zhen, lift the exit restrictions on his family members, and return all seized works.
On August 21, the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court in Hong Kong ruled that the already-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China (the Alliance), former chairman Lee Cheuk-yan, and former vice-chairperson Chow Hang-tung were guilty of the charge of “inciting others to subvert state power.” Another defendant, former vice-chairperson Albert Ho, had previously pleaded guilty and will be sentenced separately. This conviction highlights the erosion of freedoms in the territory under the National Security Law. Human rights groups say the law’s broad provisions have been used to dismantle much of Hong Kong’s organized political opposition and restrict individual freedoms that once distinguished the territory from mainland China. The foreign ministries of France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Australia have also released official statements condemning the conviction.
Speaking about Chow Hang-Tung, former Hong Kong lawyer Kevin Yam stated: “She’s not afraid of anything or anyone… For a lot of us who are outside Hong Kong now and sometimes feel a bit dispirited by things, her example and her inspiration is a big factor in us not losing hope and keeping our spirits up.” Meanwhile, Tang Ngok-kwan, another former member of the Alliance, continues to personally and discreetly commemorate June Fourth.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
NPCSC Session Watch: Cross-Border Corruption, Traffic Regulation, Legal Profession, Defense Mobilization & Agriculture: China’s top legislature convenes from August 25–28 to review ten bills, including a new draft Anti–Transnational Corruption Law targeting cross-border corruption and asset recovery, alongside returning bills on healthcare security, farmland protection, defense mobilization, and regulation of lawyers. A new draft revision to the Road Traffic Safety Law would also add rules governing autonomous-driving vehicle testing.
USALI This Week in Asian Law August 16 – August 22: Shanghai authorities released the city’s latest Five-year Plan for Women’s and Children’s Development with calls for employers to create “family-friendly” workplaces.
China Proposes New Personal Information Registration and Oversight Committee Requirements for Large Companies: China’s cyberspace regulator proposed draft rules requiring “large-scale” personal information processors to register with the CAC and establish independent oversight committees to supervise data-protection compliance, consolidating two earlier draft regulations into one regime.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
HRIC Digital Rights Report - July 2026: In July, China expanded both its international influence over AI governance and its domestic capacity for digital information control. The launch of a new global AI alliance came as Chinese AI models continued to reflect political and ideological restrictions, raising concerns about how these standards may influence AI systems beyond China. At the same time, new surveillance and censorship technologies showed that the Chinese authorities are developing new ways to monitor digital activity and identify tools used to bypass online restrictions.
Translation: “Extreme Security” at Tiananmen Landmark in the Maddening Summer Heat: A censored WeChat post described, in a matter-of-fact tone with no overt political criticism, the exhausting gauntlet of ID checks, pat-downs, and bag searches required just to visit Beijing’s Zhengyangmen gate near Tiananmen Square, illustrating how even non-political commentary on daily inconveniences gets scrubbed.
Translation: “You Can’t Address Sexual Assault at Banquets Without Addressing the Nature of Power”: A censored WeChat post examines two recent cases of alleged sexual assault by Chinese officials, arguing that piecemeal responses to individual scandals fail to address the systemic issue: the lack of institutional checks on official power that enables such abuse to recur.
In Hong Kong, mourning a stray dog killed in mainland China means walking a fine line: Hundreds of Hong Kongers and mainland visitors gathered to mourn Wang Wang, a stray dog tortured and killed by minors in Guangdong, but organizers faced censorship hurdles from rejected bus ads to shuttered memorial displays, reflecting how even largely apolitical grief can run into Hong Kong’s shifting speech restrictions.
Nvidia senior manager linked to Supermicro scheme smuggling AI servers to China: Taiwan indicted nine people, including a senior Nvidia manager and two Supermicro employees, for allegedly forging documents to smuggle 74 AI servers with restricted B300 chips to China via Japan, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, evading US export controls.
Hanging a Banner for Chinese AI: People’s Daily recently ran a symmetrical, parallel-column front page proclaiming Xi Jinping’s “concern” for both domestic AI development (”beneficial, safe, equitable”) and China’s role in bridging the global AI divide for developing nations. CMP explains: “The unusual column design, with its carefully conceived symmetry—a propaganda appropriation of the traditional parallel saying, or duilian (对联)—is meant no doubt to be a powerful parallelism announcing the Chinese Communist Party leadership’s twin convictions on artificial intelligence, for the country and for the world.”
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
HRIC on Twitter/X: The German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution released a 16-page brochure, including a hotline for assistance, aimed at individuals exiled in Germany who are threatened by their home regimes. The target audience includes people who have fled to Germany seeking asylum from authoritarian countries such as China, Russia, and Iran, encompassing dissidents, journalists, and those at risk due to SOGI minority status.
Gwangju Biennale Controversy Reflects Chinese Pressure on Taiwan in the Art World: Ten Taiwanese artists accused South Korea’s Gwangju Biennale of political censorship after it dropped “Taiwan” from their exhibit’s promotional branding in favor of “NTMOFA,” despite prior agreement on a “Taiwan Pavilion” name; Korean artists and Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture both condemned the move as capitulation to Chinese pressure.
Human rights and diaspora groups urge UK Prime Minister to act on reported use of prohibited weapons at Chinese Embassy in London: Nineteen human rights and diaspora groups wrote to UK PM Andy Burnham demanding action after Chinese Embassy personnel allegedly used prohibited weapons (stun guns) against peaceful mourners at a vigil for Tibetan activist Lobga Rangzen, urging the government to treat such intimidation as a national security matter.
Thousands rally in Dharamsala to mark 49th day since Pawo Lobga Rangzen’s self-immolation: Over 5,000 Tibetan exiles, led by CTA President Penpa Tsering, marched in Dharamsala to mark the 49th day (a significant milestone in Tibetan Buddhist tradition) since activist Lobga Rangzen’s self-immolation, demanding China repeal its “Ethnic Unity and Progress Law” and calling for UN intervention.
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
HRIC on Twitter/X: Gao Pu, son of Zion Church Senior Pastor Gao Quanfu, revealed on social media that the Zion Church case has been transferred to the Beilin District People’s Court in Xi’an. After the pre-trial meeting on August 10, the family publicly released the indictment and sentencing recommendation for Gao Quanfu’s case: he has been charged with “fraud” and recommended a fixed-term imprisonment of 12 to 13 years, along with a fine.
HRIC on Twitter/X: Guangxi rights defender Lu Huihuang was released on August 18, after serving 4 years and 6 months’ fixed-term imprisonment for “inciting subversion of state power.” Lu’s friends were reportedly detained for questioning by police when they visited his home seeking information about his time of release.
HRIC on Twitter/X: Currently imprisoned human rights defender Du Bin’s mother is reportedly critically ill. His family submitted a request to allow Du Bin to go home to see her, but the request was denied. Procuratorate personnel said there will be a verdict by the end of the month, but if there is an appeal, family visits will not be allowed. The family believes the prosecution is indirectly using this situation to coerce Du Bin not to appeal.
HRIC on Twitter/X: Former Xinhua photographer Tang Shizeng, who captured numerous photos of the 1989 Democracy Movement, passed away at 65. Through Tang Shizeng’s lens, a piece of history was preserved.
China investigates comedian after he altered a revolutionary song lyric onstage: China’s best-known xiangsheng comedian Guo Degang is under investigation and has had multiple shows canceled after changing a lyric in a revolutionary 1950s war song from “Weishan Lake” to “the Forbidden City” during a July Wuhan performance, after a complaint accused him of “distorting” and “vulgarizing” a patriotic classic.
Related: Netizen Voices on the Investigation of Comedian Guo Degang for Riffing on a “Red” Tune: “The Cultural Revolution Never Ended”. Chinese netizens reacted with alarm and cynicism to the Guo Degang investigation, with many calling it a politically motivated overreaction reminiscent of Cultural Revolution-era persecution of performers, and recalling Guo’s own history of being targeted in a 2010 “anti-vulgarity” campaign.
China tightens restrictions on online advocacy, prison visits for imprisoned Tibetan businessman: Chinese authorities continue denying prison visits and deleting online posts advocating for Dorjee Tashi, a Tibetan businessman serving a life sentence since 2008 on contested “loan fraud” charges. His family has been prevented from visiting since 2024 and his lawyers faced retaliation for raising abuse allegations.
University of Hong Kong to convert ‘Democracy Wall’ into digital display: The University of Hong Kong fenced off its long-empty “Democracy Wall” bulletin board—stripped of protest posters since 2021—to convert it into a digital display, part of a broader digitization of campus notice boards following the university’s 2021 split from its student union.
Hong Kong court orders now-defunct Apple Daily to pay HK$1.5 million to couple in defamation lawsuit over 2019 articles: A Hong Kong court ruled that the now-defunct, Jimmy Lai-founded Apple Daily newspaper defamed businessman Xiang Xin and his wife in 2019 by branding them Chinese spies, ordering HK$1.5 million in damages after the paper, now a “prohibited organization,” presented no evidence in its defense.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
China Expands Religious Scrutiny Into Chengdu Schools, Hospitals: Leaked documents show that Chengdu authorities now require hospital employees to disclose religious affiliations and schools to record students’ and families’ religious backgrounds, part of Beijing’s “Sinicization of religion” push extending beyond traditionally targeted Tibetan and Uyghur regions into the wider Han population.
Tibetan representation shrinking under centralized Beijing rule: A new ICT “2026 Tibet Leadership Report” found that only 25.8% of 240 senior positions in Tibetan areas are held by Tibetans, describing an emerging “seventh generation” of officials whose careers are shaped by Party loyalty and the new Ethnic Unity Law rather than genuine Tibetan representation or autonomy.
The Chinese Communist Party has banned Tibetans from making pilgrimages to Jizhong Lhakhang Monastery in Sangri County: Chinese authorities banned Tibetans from making pilgrimages to Jizhong Lhakhang Monastery as part of a broader, long-running pattern of restricting religious travel and monastery access across Tibetan areas, especially during politically sensitive periods.
Beijing resumes demolition of major Tibetan Buddhist academy, satellite imagery shows: Satellite imagery shows that the Chinese authorities have cleared roughly 2.5 acres of monastic residences at Larung Gar Buddhist Academy since mid-July. The academy, once home to 40,000 monastics, has now been reduced to about half its peak size.
Related: China Deploys Troops and Tightens Controls at Larung Gar as Demolitions Continue. Chinese authorities have deployed troops and intensified security at Larung Gar as demolitions continue, restricting visitor and pilgrim access alongside the destruction of monastic residences under the new Ethnic Unity Law framework.
China ‘likely’ ran targeted campaign to align Pacific with its latest five-year plan: A new report from The Alliance Futures Initiative found that China “very likely” ran a coordinated diplomatic campaign since October 2025 with over 30 documented instances of pressuring Pacific nations to align their development strategies with Beijing’s five-year plan, using persuasion focused on green development and economic partnership to deepen dependency and erode Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic ties in the region.
Indonesia and China discuss increasing defense cooperation and energy security: Indonesian and Chinese officials agreed to deepen defense cooperation, including a joint munitions factory with Chinese technology transfer starting 2027.
Related: Chinese Maritime Activity Aimed at Reinforcing Claims Over Taiwan Continues. Taiwan pressed Indonesia to clarify planned joint naval exercises with China’s PLA east of Taiwan, seen as reinforcing Beijing’s territorial claims.
International Responses 国际反应
US demands China release ‘wrongfully detained’ American held on spying charges: The U.S. State Department formally designated Min Zin as wrongfully detained after nearly 11 weeks of “interrogations, isolation and detention,” with officials saying the case has chilled other scholars’ willingness to engage with China for fear of similar entrapment.
Related: China denies US citizen held since June is wrongfully detained. China rejected the US State Department’s designation of detained Myanmar scholar Min Zin as “wrongfully detained,” insisting that he is under investigation for endangering national security. Min was arrested in June after traveling to Yunnan at Beijing’s invitation for an academic conference, becoming the second American given this designation alongside seismologist Youlin Chen.
HRIC on Twitter/X: The U.S. House Select Committee on China sent a letter this week to FDA Acting Commissioner Kyle Diamantas, urging the agency to stop accepting trial data from China in new clinical trials and drug applications. The letter mentions three recently exposed subject death incidents, two of which involved children, all occurring in investigator-initiated gene-editing trials (IIT) conducted within China.
Pentagon orders audit of 30 universities’ partnerships with foreign institutions: The U.S. Department of Defense has ordered Harvard, MIT, Johns Hopkins, and 27 other U.S. universities to audit and terminate “problematic” partnerships with 130 blacklisted foreign institutions (mostly Chinese) within two weeks or risk losing federal research funding, as part of intensified scrutiny of academic ties to China.
HRIC on Twitter/X: U.S. Representative Chris Smith, Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), released a statement condemning reports that CCP officials pressured the U.S.-China Catholic Association to remove Purdue University professor Yang Fenggang from its conference.
Australian Senator urges targeted sanctions on Chinese leaders enforcing transnational Ethnic Unity Law: Senator Dean Smith called on Australia to recognize transnational repression as a national security threat and impose sanctions on Chinese officials enforcing the Ethnic Unity Law, warning it could criminalize Australian Tibetans’ basic activities like voting in exile elections or supporting the Dalai Lama.
Taiwan proposes a record $35B defense budget for 2027 as China’s military pressure grows: Taiwan proposed a record NT$1.12 trillion (US$35 billion) defense budget for 2027, an 18% jump, amid growing Chinese military and political pressure.
Japanese lawmakers visit Beijing seeking to mend ties after fallout from Takaichi’s Taiwan remark: A cross-party group of Japanese lawmakers traveled to Beijing seeking dialogue after PM Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could justify Japanese military intervention triggered a diplomatic rupture and economic fallout; Takaichi has not retracted the comment.
Current Events 热点新闻
Chinese court sentences founder of troubled property developer Evergrande to life in prison: Hui Ka Yan, founder of the collapsed property giant Evergrande, was sentenced to life in prison by a Shenzhen court for large-scale financial fraud, with the group fined $2.3 billion and dozens of executives sentenced up to 18 years, marking a milestone in China’s most consequential corporate collapse.
The floodgates are open after another Chinese company lands a reusable rocket: A second Chinese launch company successfully landed an orbital-class reusable rocket booster within a month of China’s first successful attempt, with the Zhuque-3 capable of carrying over 17,600 lbs to low-Earth orbit.
Related: China scraps ambitious launch of Chang’e-7 lunar mission due to need for ‘absolute success’. China abruptly postponed its ambitious Chang’e-7 mission, designed to search for water ice at the lunar south pole, citing a “comprehensive assessment” and the principle of ensuring “absolute success,” with the mission now delayed until at least 2027.