HRIC Weekly Brief
August 26, 2025
Top News 头条
The Chinese government’s use of exit bans to punish detainees' families as a form of collective punishment—illegal under international law—has led a 7-year-old American, Gao Jia, to be trapped in China for almost a year due to an exit ban preventing him and his mother from returning to New York, disrupting his schooling and causing immense hardship to the family. His father, Gao Zhen, was detained in China last August under accusations of “infringing on the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs” with political artworks he had created fifteen years earlier. Art is a form of free expression, which is an internationally recognized human right. HRIC joins the Human Rights Foundation in calling for the immediate release of Gao Zhen.
In Hong Kong, the sedition trial of prolific pro-democracy Apple Daily media mogul and activist Jimmy Lai, 77, who faces up to life in prison if convicted under the National Security Law, continues in the final stage of closing arguments. Lai’s barrister Robert Pang said: “It is not wrong to support freedom of expression. It is not wrong to support human rights. . . Nor is it wrong not to love a particular administration or even the country, because. . . you can’t force someone to think in one way or another.” Lai has already been imprisoned for 1700 days, mostly in solitary confinement.
Meanwhile, Tiffany Yuen is the 12th of the “47 Democrats” to be released after being convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion in Hong Kong’s largest national security case. She had served more than four years in prison.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
Mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers: UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Satterthwaite wrote to the Chinese government in June 2025, following her message in February, to express concern regarding the targeting of legal professionals and specifically draw attention to the cases of Ding Jiaxi, Yu Wensheng, Xie Yang, Lu Siwei, and Xu Zhiyong. No response from the Chinese government has been released.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
HRIC on Twitter/X: Five overseas blockchain practitioners were criminally detained for 34 days in June and had $6 million USD of assets seized, despite having no charges filed against them. This case demonstrates the risks for blockchain in China, which views decentralized finance both as a political threat and as a pool of resources it can tap at will.
Sensitive Words: Intense Online Censorship of Video and Hashtags About Mass Protests in Jiangyou, Sichuan Province: Following rare mass protests that broke out in the city of Jiangyou in response to the bullying of a 14-year-old girl, China Digital Times editors have tracked unusually intense online censorship of related videos, photos, hashtags, articles, comments, and other content.
Related: Jiangyou City Residents Explain Why They Turned Out to Protest in Support of Bullied Girl and Her Family. As one resident explained: "People from the countryside might not have education or connections… but no matter how powerful those officials are, we ordinary folks outnumber them. It’s not like they can wipe out tens of thousands of us in one fell swoop."
China Issues Approved News Source List: The 2025 list from the Cyberspace Administration of China issued on August 14 includes 1,456 government-run media outlets whose content can be legally republished by other websites and news platforms. All digital media platforms are forbidden from republishing news stories that originate from other sources like international media as well as public accounts on major platforms like WeChat and Weibo.
Navigating Chinese Censorship in Podcasts, Publishing, Scholarship, and Social Media: Increasingly, podcasts have emerged as a popular and to some extent less censored alternative medium for discussing societal issues, in contrast to the extensive censorship in publishing and academia.
No AI Too Small: The safety test for an AI-powered children’s toy shows that when it comes to national security, no AI application, however small, is exempt from learning and toeing the Party line.
_China_Chatbot_27: The Chinese government has launched a covert campaign to stop Chinese tech companies using AI chips from US-based company Nvidia; also, AI-generated propaganda is on the rise to mark a WW2 anniversary.
China-linked hackers targeted diplomats in Asia, Google says: Google’s Threat Intelligence Group reports that a China-affiliated hacking group, UNC6384, had “breached targets’ Wi-Fi networks, and then abused that access to dupe diplomats into downloading malware disguised as Adobe plug-in software.”
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
How China Influences Elections in America's Biggest City: With the support of the Chinese Consulate in New York, social groups such as “hometown associations” have mobilized to unseat and intimidate candidates for office who have supported Hong Kong democracy, spoken critically of the Chinese government, or otherwise failed to fall in line with CCP policy. Targeting even small-scale elections is a strategy to prevent dissent in the Chinese diaspora and limit the careers of politicians who might cross Beijing.
Exhibition on 1989 Democracy Movement Opens in Lübeck, Germany: On August 18, the exhibition “China is not far away!” opened to the public. The exhibit, originally conceived by the Axel Springer Freedom Foundation in cooperation with HRIC and other partner organizations, explores the democracy movements of 1989 in the PRC and East Germany, and the ongoing struggles of democratic dissidents in the PRC today.
Kmart supply chains under scrutiny for potential Uyghur forced labour links in Australian court case: Despite Kmart claiming a commitment to human rights, the company has worked with Guotai, a factory known for brutal working conditions of Uyghur workers.
Solicitor-activist Kevin Yam barred from practising in Hong Kong over ‘grave’ misconduct linked to sanctions call: The Australia-based lawyer and founder of the Progressive Lawyers Group was struck from the roll of by a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal over accusations that Yam had of urged foreign countries to impose sanctions on judges and prosecutors in Hong Kong, presumably during a hearing by the US Congress’ Congressional-Executive Committee on China in May 2023.
Artist in UK after alleged China censorship ‘doesn’t feel safe at all’: Burmese artist Sai, who curated the exhibition “Constellation of Complicity: Visualising the Global Machinery of Authoritarian Solidarity” at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre before its recent censorship at the behest of the Chinese government, describes his choice to flee Thailand in fear that he could be deported to Myanmar and targeted for his activism. He said, “Thailand has long been a refuge for dissidents. This is a chilling signal to all exiled artists and activists in the region.”
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
Young Chinese Scholar Missing Since 2018 After Conducting Research on Uyghur Culture: Once celebrated in Chinese media as an incredibly gifted young scholar, Feng Siyu was arrested and disappeared in 2018 after gaining recognition for her research on Uyghur culture. Feng and other targeted academics must be released immediately.
Timeline: Hong Kong civil society’s mysteriously axed venue bookings: Aside from dwindling political room, finding literal, physical spaces for opposition parties and activists’ events and fundraisers has also become complicated. Recent bookings by these groups have been cancelled at the last minute, citing reasons like urgent maintenance work, while others provided no explanation for the cancellations, or alluded to official pressure.
Bloomberg journalist latest to be denied Hong Kong work visa ‘without reason,’ as press groups raise concerns: Senior Bloomberg journalist Rebecca Choong Wilkins was denied a work visa renewal by the Hong Kong Immigration Department, with no reason given.
Woman, 19, charged in ‘Hong Kong Parliament’ subversion case denied bail: Lan Fei is accused of filming promotional materials for the “subversive” group “Hong Kong Parliament” between March and May 2025.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Life Has Gotten Surreal in China: In an effort to control all aspects of society, the Chinese government in recent years has increased its censorship to a level of “incessant crackdowns” on anything perceived as potentially threatening, from Labubu mystery boxes to tech entrepreneurship. This increasing intrusion into daily life and micromanagement of ordinary people’s beliefs and behavior has led to a widening divide between lived reality and the politically approved line.
China’s Xi Jinping pushes development, ethnic unity in rare visit to Tibet: Xi’s visit was officially to recognize the sixty-year anniversary of Chinese control over Tibet, but also coincides with potential tensions over the succession of the 90-year-old Dalai Lama and concerns over the massive Yarlung Tsangpo dam, which began construction in July and has displaced dozens of Tibetan villages and religious sites.
International Responses 国际反应
Ministers delay planning decision on Chinese ‘super-embassy’ in London: UK ministers have delayed a decision on whether to grant planning permission to a proposed Chinese “super-embassy” in London amid concerns about redacted drawings in the building’s plans. The deputy prime minister was expected to make a decision on September 9, but has pushed the date back to October 21.