HRIC Weekly Brief
October 21, 2025
Top News 头条
Ten years after his abduction, HRIC calls on the Chinese government to release Gui Minhai immediately. On October 17, 2015, Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai was kidnapped by agents of the Chinese government while vacationing in Thailand. Gui, a Swedish citizen and Hong Kong Causeway Bay Books publisher, had published books critical of Chinese leadership. Gui reappeared in 2016 in a forced confession on Chinese state television, claiming to have “turned himself in” for a traffic accident from years earlier. In February 2020, without access to legal representation, Gui was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a secret trial for “illegally providing intelligence to foreign entities.” As of today, there has still been no outside contact with Gui, and his daughter has not been allowed to visit him. The Swedish government, the European Union, and international human rights organizations, in a joint statement signed by 90 organizations, continue to call for Gui Minhai’s immediate release.
Also: HRIC contributed to a new report from the International Federation for Human Rights, which found that “over the past five years there has been no significant shift towards the abolition of the death penalty in Asia.” Notable developments in China included an increase in death penalty sentences for officials convicted of bribery and corruption charges, as well as official guidance indicating that “diehard Taiwan independence separatists” could face the death penalty.
Law & Policy 法律与政策
NPCSC Session Watch: Procuratorate-Initiated Public Interest Litigation, Community Governance, Cybersecurity, Arable Land Protection & Environmental Code: The 14th NPC Standing Committee will convene for its eighteenth session from October 24 to 28, which will consider 9 legislative bills, including the draft amendment to the Cybersecurity Law, and hear 7 oversight reports.
Related: Chinese leader Xi Jinping outlines 5-year plan at closed-door Communist Party meeting. According to a Xinhua editorial, the next five-year plan for national economic and social development, which will cover 2026-2030, will focus on “high-quality” development and technological innovation, while also emphasizing national security.
In China, climate litigation starts with the state, shutting out NGOs, activists: Instead of a movement led by activists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), climate litigation in China is dominated by state prosecutors seeking to enforce existing regulations. NGOs cannot sue the government or officials, only companies. However, where state prosecutors are deterred from bringing certain cases over economic or political pressures, independent organizations may step in.
Cyber Security & Digital Rights 网络安全与数字权利
CDT’s “404 Deleted Content Archive” Summary for September 2025: Topics targeted for censorship in September included Nepal’s Gen-Z protest movement, the right to observe criminal trials and broader pressure on citizen journalism, and problems in official news coverage.
_China_Chatbot_30 ---> The Language Loophole: The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) have jointly issued guidelines for using AI models in governance, including monitoring public opinion and “assisting law enforcement.” Also: a new report on key trends in Chinese AI in 2025 found that dataset quality issues such as poor-quality data labeling have become “a core bottleneck” for Chinese AI.
Lexicon: How China talks about ‘agentic AI’: What do Chinese developers mean when they say “agentic AI”? According to this analysis, “the concurrent use of several different terms across Chinese-language discourse indicates that the discursive definition of an agentic AI system is still underway as the technology matures.” 2025’s policy direction both emphasizes application-oriented development and calls for greater government regulation, monitoring, and control.
Agent 012339 Reports for Duty: China’s Ministry of State Security has launched an AI-generated news anchor, Agent 012339, who appears in full uniform to deliver cautionary tales about national security threats.
Microsoft: Russia, China increasingly using AI to escalate cyberattacks on the US: Microsoft’s new annual digital threats report details show how countries like China are adopting new and innovative tactics in their efforts to weaponize the internet as a tool for espionage, disruption and disinformation.
Hong Kong phone scams triple since real-name SIM card registration required: Despite the Hong Kong government’s claim that a real-name SIM card registration system would help crack down on fraud, police received 9,204 reports of phone scams in 2024, more than three times of phone scams in 2022.
Diaspora Community & Transnational Repression 海外社群和跨国镇压
Exiled Hong Kong dissidents fear UK plan to restart extraditions will put them in danger: Despite verbal assurances from the UK government, dissidents and advocates still fear that the Hong Kong authorities could exploit the ad hoc process to target political figures.
China’s soft power looms over former Tibetan President Lobsang Sangay’s event in France: The organizing team faced months of difficulty planning the event due to reluctance among institutions, schools, and companies to host the Tibetan leader.
China’s Attempts to Silence the Uyghur Diaspora Across Borders Are Becoming a Global Threat: The author argues that Chinese transnational repression is not merely a human rights violation, but a direct threat to global democratic values and the sovereignty of host countries, and that the international community should formulate a more effective and coordinated response to confront this global problem.
China threatens UK with ‘consequences’ over delayed London mega embassy: The final decision on the proposal, which has been met with extensive protests over concerns of transnational repression and Chinese surveillance, has been pushed to December 10. According to a British government spokesperson, the delay is due to “the detailed nature of the representations that have been provided, and the need to give parties sufficient opportunity to respond.”
Related: Chinese embassy approval could be unlawful if UK ministers gave advance assurances. One legal expert says that if Keir Starmer or his team made promises to the Chinese government regarding the status of the proposed embassy, it could constitute “actual or apparent predetermination” of the planning application.
China conducted ‘large scale espionage operations’ against UK, top official warned in collapsed spy case: Written evidence from British deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins in a recent high-profile espionage case stated that China’s intelligence services are “highly capable and conduct large scale espionage operations against the UK to advance the Chinese state’s interests and harm the interests and security of the UK.”
Human Rights Defenders & Civil Society 人权捍卫者与公民社会
中國錫安教會遭大抓捕 金明日牧師女兒 Grace Jin Drexel：家庭教會不欲被黨控制 望眾為義人祈禱 [China’s Zion Church faces mass arrests. Pastor Jin Mingri’s daughter, Grace Jin, stated: “House churches do not want to be controlled by the Party. We urge the public to pray for the righteous.”]: Grace Jin Drexel said that she knew her father’s work would be targeted but had not expected the arrests of 20 other church pastors. She urged the Chinese diaspora in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas to pray for the church and her father.
Related: China arrested 30 Christians. Some fear it’s the start of a bigger crackdown. New laws had been recently passed in China which appear aimed at curbing underground church activity, and increasing pressure had been exerted by authorities on church members in recent months.
荷兰留学生胡洋暑假回国被捕已85天 会见律师权利被无理剥夺 [Netherlands international student Hu Yang was arrested after returning to China for summer break and has been unreasonably deprived of his right to meet with a lawyer for 85 days.]: Hu Yang’s mother said: “Several lawyers I hired made appointments online for meetings on July 29, early August, and on August 23 and 25. The system indicated approval for each meeting. However, when the lawyers arrived at the Zhengzhou City No. 3 Detention Center, they were told they were not allowed to meet with him.”
New UN report highlights China’s alleged targeting of human rights activists: Two Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and a Uyghur linguist are among the cases compiled by the secretary-general between May 2024 and 2025.
谢阳案已被秘密开庭 律师的辩护权遭剥夺 谢阳健康出现大问题 [Xie Yang’s case has been heard in secret, his lawyer’s right to defend him has been denied, and Xie Yang is experiencing serious health problems.]: Xie Yang’s defense lawyers, Li Guobei and Li Guisheng, were not allowed to participate in Xie’s secret trial. Xie is now experiencing serious health problems, and can no longer walk steadily.
Tibetan singer Ah Sang remains in custody despite reports of release: Ah Sang and his music collaborator Palchung were reportedly arrested and disappeared in early July after they paid tribute to the Dalai Lama on his 90th birthday.
Rights group renews call for monastic leader in critical condition following torture: Gonpo Tsering was allegedly tortured in custody following his involvement in peaceful protests against the construction of a large hydropower dam in Dege, in the traditional Tibetan province of Kham.
Hong Kong press freedom rebounds slightly from historic low, reflecting ‘resilience,’ journalists’ union says: While the press freedom index had remained “extremely low” and did not reflect “any substantive improvement in Hong Kong’s press freedom landscape… journalists [have adapted] to the current media environment while simultaneously seeking ways to navigate challenges to press freedom.”
Hong Kong lawyer denied bid to overturn conviction over jailed activist’s prison complaint at top court: Solicitor Phyllis Woo’s bid to take her case to the Court of Final Appeal was denied by High Court Judge Judianna Barnes. Woo was fined HK$1,800 last year for bringing a prison complaint form out of Lai Chi Kok detention center on behalf of pro-democracy activist Owen Chow.
HKFP Monitor Oct 18, 2025: Exodus of Hong Kong lawmakers; city’s leader preaches ‘effective democracy’: “Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for semi-official Beijing think tank the Chinese Association of Hong Kong & Macao Studies, said that Beijing’s wish for a younger LegCo was clear, and consistent with the central government’s introduction of younger leaders.”
West Kowloon Cultural District axes LGBTQ play after complaints it ‘defames Hong Kong’: The production team of the play We Are Gay, written by award-winning playwright Candace Chong, said the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority notified them of the cancellation two hours before tickets were to go on sale, with no reason given.
China’s Reach & Internal Control 中国: 内控与外扩
Xi directs quashing of Chinese feminists even as he praises advances at women’s conference: While Xi hailed a “glorious chapter of women’s progress,” Chinese feminists have found it increasingly difficult to advocate for, or even speak about, women’s rights, as they continue to be silenced for “promoting gender antagonism.”
Molding the Message: According to the author, China’s journalism profession exists not to hold power accountable, but to serve what Xi Jinping calls “the Party’s news and public opinion work.”
China seizes 60,000 maps over ‘mislabelled’ Taiwan: The “problematic” maps, which also did not contain the nine-dash line or mark the maritime boundary between China and Japan, were confiscated for endangering China’s “national unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
International Responses 国际反应
EU-China Parliamentary Dialogue Resumes After 7 Years, EU Urges China to Release Panchen Lama: The European Parliament and the Chinese National People’s Congress delegation held the 42nd EU-China Parliamentary Dialogue in Brussels on October 16, the first dialogue between the two sides since 2018. After the meeting, the EU side highlighted the deterioration of human rights in Tibet and other areas, and urged China to release the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.