- Resisting China’s Campaign of Transnational Repression-2
The diverse tactics of transnational repression include assassinations, renditions, unlawful deportations, assaults, digital surveillance and harassment, and coercion of family members and friends in the home country. The chilling effects of these attacks ripple out beyond the individual target, deterring dissent across diaspora communities. Direct, unilateral attacks, like the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents at a consulate in Istanbul, tend to grab headlines.
However, it is far more common for authoritarian actors to accomplish their goals with the help of governments in the countries where exiles reside, either through overt bilateral cooperation or the manipulation of host country agencies and institutions. Given its significant economic and geopolitical clout, the Chinese government has been especially adept at securing cooperation from a wide range of foreign governments.
Chinese officials have been able to manipulate countries as diverse as Serbia, Egypt, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and Nepal to detain and sometimes repatriate targeted individuals. Authorities in Turkey, long a relatively safe haven for Uyghurs, increasingly pressured them during 2021 as the country’s economic and diplomatic relationship with China grew closer.
Turkish officials arrested several groups of Uyghurs and threatened them with deportation after they participated in protests outside Chinese diplomatic facilities in the country. Authorities in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have similarly facilitated Beijing’s transnational repression.
Despite growing awareness of the issue, the Chinese regime continues to abuse Interpol Red Notices, employing them to detain and repatriate people from countries including Cambodia, Poland, South Korea, and Kenya. Last year, Beijing was able to detain a Uyghur activist, Idris Hasan, in Morocco despite the fact that Interpol canceled its notice shortly after he was arrested. Hasan is now awaiting extradition to China.
The Chinese government has concluded 34 extradition treaties and has more under consideration, including with Turkey. Even if they do not result in expulsions, these agreements can interfere with people’s ability to claim asylum. In 2020, the Chinese embassy in Kyiv petitioned the Ukrainian migration service to deny the asylum claim of Ersin Erkinuly, an ethnic Kazakh who had fled Xinjiang, and return him to China. He has since fled to Europe and most most recently detained in Germany for “illegally crossing a border.”
