Protesters rally in Tokyo to support the victims of a recent fire in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang region, November 30, 2022. © 2022 Hiro Komae/AP Photo
Beijing’s Transnational Repression Hinges on Threats Against Families in China
October 9, 2024, HRW
(Tokyo) – Chinese authorities are seeking to intimidate people from China living in Japan who take part in activities critical of the Chinese government, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Chinese government’s harassment of people from China, including those from Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia, and their family members back home, appears aimed at deterring members of the diaspora from protesting against the government or engaging in events deemed politically sensitive. The Chinese authorities have also sought out diaspora members to provide information on others in Japan.
“Chinese authorities appear to have few scruples about silencing people from China living in Japan who criticize Beijing’s abuses,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer at Human Rights Watch. “The Japanese government should make clear to Beijing it won’t tolerate the long arm of China’s transnational repression in Japan.”
Between June and August 2024, Human Rights Watch interviewed 25 people from Hong Kong and mainland China, including from Xinjiang, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia, who were living in Japan. All had been involved in peaceful activities that the Chinese Communist Party deems unfavorable or threatening to one-party rule; such as holding public events to raise awareness about crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, promoting Tibetan culture, or having a reading club discuss a book by an activist from Inner Mongolia.
Most of those interviewed said that the Chinese police have contacted them or their relatives back home, pressuring them to end their activities in Japan. Several provided logs of messages from the Chinese social media platform WeChat, recordings of video calls, and CCTV footage that corroborated their accounts.
One person said they stopped participating in any politically sensitive in-person and online activities after receiving a call from Chinese authorities in 2024. Another who initially agreed to be interviewed later decided not to participate out of fear that Chinese authorities would retaliate.
Several ethnic Uyghurs from Xinjiang said that Chinese authorities contacted them through their relatives back home. The police then called them on WeChat and told them to either stop their anti-Chinese government activities in Japan or pressed them to share information about Japan’s Uyghur community, including the members of the advocacy group Japan Uyghur Association.
Several people from Inner Mongolia involved in promoting language rights and peaceful self-determination for Inner Mongolians, an ethnic minority, said that Chinese authorities had contacted them, often through their relatives back home.
A person from Tibet who promotes Tibetan culture in Japan said that when they went to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo to renew their passport, embassy officials told them they needed to return to Tibet to do so. A person from Taiwan previously involved in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activism in a third country said the Chinese embassy sent them multiple invitations to “retrieve important documents.” Both people said they rejected the embassy’s recommendations, fearing they would be detained or face punishment.
Chinese authorities have violated the rights of Chinese nationals who return home. In 2023 Hong Kong police arbitrarily arrested a 23-year-old Hong Kong woman upon her return to the city for pro-democracy comments she posted online while studying in Japan.
Several people said they did not seek help from the Japanese police as they did not believe Japanese authorities could provide any remedy, or feared reprisals or making the situation worse for themselves and their relatives back home.
Human Rights Watch shared its findings and wrote to the Chinese embassy in Japan for comment, but they have not responded. Japan’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment, and the National Police Agency did not respond to a Human Rights Watch letter requesting information about their response to China’s efforts at repression in Japan.
In recent years, the Japanese government has become increasingly vocal about the Chinese government’s human rights violations, including raising the issue with Chinese officials, and with resolutions in parliament to monitor the cases.
The term “transnational repression” is increasingly used to refer to state actors reaching beyond their borders to suppress or stifle dissent. Nationals or former nationals living in another country, members of diaspora communities, and those living in exile are particularly vulnerable.
The Japanese government should recognize the threat posed by the Chinese government’s repression of Chinese nationals abroad, and help protect their basic rights by establishing a system for residents in Japan to report such incidents, Human Rights Watch said.
Such a system should have appropriate safeguards for individuals’ privacy, facilitate criminal investigations in cases in which Japanese law has been violated, and protect people who have contacted the authorities to report credible cases from deportation and extradition. People who face such pressure should be advised of their right to seek asylum or other forms of protection.
The Japanese government should call on the Chinese government to end its surveillance and threats against those living in Japan. On June 26 Japan joined 54 countries from all regions at the UN Human Rights Council in condemning transnational repression and pledging to hold those responsible to account. Japan should also coordinate with other governments and UN bodies to protect those at risk.
“Japan should review its policies to establish support mechanisms to help those facing Chinese government harassment,” Kasai said. “Japan should promptly establish a national system to investigate cases of transnational repression with appropriate safeguards for individuals’ privacy.”
For select accounts of Chinese government harassment of Chinese nationals living in Japan, please see below.
The names, dates, and personal information of those interviewed have been withheld for their protection.
Pressuring Relatives in China
A.B. is from Inner Mongolia, a region of northern China where ethnic minority Mongols who mainly speak Mongolian comprise 17 percent of the population. A.B. came to Japan for work in 2018 and said he joined peaceful protests in Japan against the Chinese government’s policy of replacing Mongolian with Mandarin Chinese at schools. He said:
In response to the language issue, I felt that if I didn’t say anything myself, we [eventually] wouldn’t be able to do anything, so I started expressing my opinions against the Chinese government, against Beijing…. At first, I didn’t disclose my name and face, I wore a mask. My [relatives] were worried about me. I wasn’t sure about my future, I didn’t have capacity to think about it…. I eventually found a job [in Japan], and that’s when I went public with my face and name.
Since going public, A.B. said that officials of the local public security bureau – China’s police – in Inner Mongolia have visited his relatives, who are not politically active. Two CCTV videos both timestamped on the same date in 2022, provided by A.B. and verified by Human Rights Watch to have been filmed in Inner Mongolia, show a car with sirens marked “public security bureau” driving up to his relative’s home. Three men, one apparently wearing a local public security bureau uniform, enter the home of A.B.’s relatives. A few minutes later, the three men are seen escorting A.B.’s relatives from their home:
The officials told my [relatives] they wanted to ask a few questions about some photographs, but that they couldn’t show [the photographs] to them there, so they asked my [relatives] to come to the closest public security bureau office. They showed my [relatives] photographs posted online by an Inner Mongolian group [in Japan] and said I was in them. My [relative] just said these are probably fake.
Subsequently, A.B. said the local public security bureau told his relatives to sign documents declaring that A.B. would not participate in any protests in Japan, which they refused to do:
At the time, my [relatives] just told [the authorities] they couldn’t read the Chinese characters…. [My relatives] told me at the time that these documents may be unfavorable to me because I’m participating in protests…. They knew what the document said to a certain extent.
A.B. said that while he does not believe he is doing anything wrong by participating in protests, at times he feels afraid. Worst of all, he said, is that he feels guilty that the local police are questioning and threatening his relatives in Inner Mongolia because of his activities in Japan:
In Japan, it’s normal for people to interact with the police, including when they lose their belongings. But in Inner Mongolia, you don’t interact with the police unless there’s a serious incident. My [relatives] tell me they’re afraid of the pressure they’re feeling [from the police], and that has been tough on me.
F.G., who is also from Inner Mongolia, has lived in Japan for about two decades and has been participating in public protests since the early 2000s. He said that in 2019, as he prepared to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s attendance at the G20 leaders’ summit in Osaka, Japan, police officers visited his relatives back home:
They intimidated my relatives, asking them to tell me that I’m committing a crime against the [Chinese] state. They took down all of my relatives’ contact information. My [relative] was afraid, telling me, “So many police officers came to our house because of you. Our [relatives] are getting older, could you please stop?” … Since then, my [relative] cut off contact with me.
R.S. moved to Japan from Xinjiang in the early 2000s and began participating in protests in 2009. Since then, R.S. said that the Chinese police have contacted his relatives in Xinjiang a number of times, who then urged him to stop his activities in Japan.
R.S. said such harassment has taken a mental toll on his family. In early 2024, a police officer in Xinjiang again called his relative back home, asking for details about him and his family in Japan:
They called my [relative], asking for details such as where we live and what we’re doing.… My [relative] was panicking, saying “We already told them once, isn’t that good enough? What else do they want?” They called my [relative] again twice…. Apparently, they spoke to my [relative] in a terrible manner, and my [relative] couldn’t take it so [the relative] threw the phone, breaking it into pieces.
S.T., who is also from Xinjiang and moved to Japan in the early 2000s, said he began privately supporting a local advocacy group in 2008 to raise awareness of human rights issues in Xinjiang. He said he was regularly in touch with his relatives back home, but the situation changed in 2017, when his relatives suddenly began asking him to come home. S.T. said:
One day, I was having another phone call with a [relative], rejecting his request for me to come home, and a police officer got on the phone. He told me, “Listen to your [relative], or I can’t guarantee what happens to your family.” That’s when I realized they were being forced to tell me to come home.
S.T. said that was the last time he spoke to that relative. Subsequently, in 2018, S.T. said a police officer repeatedly messaged him on WeChat:
I asked him, “What do you want?” He said, “Don’t have such a negative attitude and instead show loyalty to the central [Chinese] government.… If you provide information about activists in Japan, I can solve the issue involving your family very quickly.” I told him, “I’m not going to cooperate with someone who won’t let me contact my family, so don’t call me,” and I hung up.
After his interaction with the police officer, S.T. said he tried calling his relatives, but no one picked up. He believes his relatives were afraid of picking up a phone call from a foreign number.
Restricting Freedom of Movement
A.B. said that Chinese authorities have restricted his relatives’ freedom of movement, presumably because they are related to A.B.:
Last May, I invited my [relatives] to Japan, so I asked them to get passports. They went to the local public security bureau, and when they typed my name into their system, the word “national security personnel” came up in red.… They couldn’t have their passports issued.
In 2024, A.B. said Chinese authorities again blocked his relatives from getting their passports:
When my [relative] found out their passport couldn’t be issued, I think they were crying. So I told them, you don’t need to come [to Japan]. I told them it’s okay. That’s when I had the realization that maybe I won’t be able to see them again.… The last time I saw them was in 2018 before I came to Japan.
A.B. says he cannot visit Inner Mongolia to see his family as he believes Chinese authorities will detain him: “I’ll be detained if I return so I don’t have any plans, this is something I’m mindful about.… My [relatives] told me, ‘We’ll kill ourselves if you’re detained.’”
Targeting Commonplace Activities
Chinese authorities have been targeting and attempting to shut down commonplace activities in Japan, such as a reading club. J.K., from Inner Mongolia now living in Japan, said that a local police officer reached out to his relatives back home after he began organizing a reading club in 2024 that focused on a book written by an academic and activist from Inner Mongolia. He said:
The police told my relatives that I was part of a reading club that was discussing a book by a well-known academic and activist from Inner Mongolia, and that it’s an “anti-China” gathering.… My relatives were very nervous, asking me why I’m not simply focusing on my research and why I’m participating in “anti-China” activities. They asked me if I’m a “Han traitor.” I told them, “How could you call me that?” and I got very upset. We fought. I asked my relatives, “Which law am I breaking here?” And they told me, “Laws are meaningless, if the [Chinese] government says someone is bad, then that person is bad.” They told me they just want to live safely and told me not to do anything dangerous.
Subsequently, the same police officer added J.K. on WeChat:
I spoke to him on WeChat. I asked him, “What do you want to talk about?” and he simply said “Talk.” I asked him, “Please ask me a question,” and he said, “Did you host this reading club?” I told him I did, and he said I should just pretend I didn’t, so he asked me to clarify in writing that I did not host it. The police officer told me what to write.
Fearing for the safety of his relatives, J.K. sent a written statement to the police officer on WeChat. He also said that the police officer effectively asked him to spy on others, including by attending events, taking photographs of others, and sending information to him, which he refused.
J.K. said that he did not consult Japanese police about this incident because he fears the situation could get worse, and his relatives back home could face retribution.
Repressing Freedom of Expression and Assembly
X.Y., who is from mainland China, said that he moved to Japan in 2023 as he felt the Chinese government’s increasing repression against those in the arts.
X.Y. said that after he moved to Japan, a Chinese police official reached out to his family in China in 2024, asking for the details of his WeChat account. Fearing for his family’s safety, X.Y. told his family to have the officer reach out to him directly:
[The officer] initially called my family [in China]. My family asked me, “Do you know why the public security agency wants your phone number?” At the time, the authorities didn’t know I was in Japan, so they called my family thinking I was with them. I don’t know if they were intending on intimidating my family, but it had an impact on them.
Subsequently, a public security official contacted X.Y. on WeChat and asked him to refrain from certain activities online, which Human Rights Watch is withholding for his security. X.Y. said the call changed his behavior in Japan, and that he still fears for the safety of his family in China:
I haven’t received a call from them since, but I think this is because I stopped uploading material on sensitive topics and limited my activities.… I’m still affected by this. My family is in China, so there’s a possibility they’re being threatened as well.… Although I came to Japan, I don’t think my freedom of expression is being protected.
X.Y. said that he did not ask Japanese authorities for help, as he believes that may put his family at greater risk of Chinese government retaliation:
Even if there were a hotline [to ask for help], I don’t think I would use it. My family is still in China, and there’s not much the police in Japan can do regarding what China’s public security agency does. If I were to coordinate with the Japanese police, or not pick up a call from Chinese authorities, there’s a possibility the situation may get even more complicated.… I don’t know what will happen when I go back to China next time to see my family.
In late November 2022, thousands of people in China’s cities took to the streets in what became known as the “White Paper” protests, to demonstrate against the government’s “Zero Covid” measures and, for some, the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian rule. People from China held similar protests in Japan. M.N., who was involved in organizing one of the protests in Tokyo, said that he received a call from an official at the Chinese embassy in Japan before one of the gatherings, asking him to cancel the protests. M.N. said:
When the “White Paper” protests were happening in China, we decided to also organize protests in Japan…. The Chinese embassy saw a poster about it, and they called me, asking me to stop.… Afterward, they called the Japanese language school I was attending and told them to stop my activism…. My teacher is from China, and he told me, “Please stop any political activities, or quit the school yourself.”… I quit and now attend a vocational school to learn about the internet.
M.N., who was detained several times in China for participating in human rights activism, said that after he moved to Japan in 2022, a police officer visited his family in China. Police also called M.N. directly on WeChat in late 2022. M.N. provided a recording of the video call between him and two men, one of whom is wearing a police uniform with a visible six-digit identification number. The police officer asked M.N. if he was still in Japan, about his studies, and about his social media activities. They told him he should “focus on himself” and “study well.” M.N. said: “After the call with the police, my family called me and told me to stop my activism, to study well, get into a Japanese university, and not participate in anything political.”
