President Xi Jinping has ruled China for more than a decade, tightening repression nationwide in an effort to consolidate control. There is no independent civil society in China, and freedoms of expression, association, assembly, and religion are absent. Human rights defenders and others perceived as government critics are systematically persecuted. The Chinese government treats Tibetans and Uyghurs—whose cultures and ethnic identities differ sharply from the Han majority—as threats and imposes particularly harsh repression on them. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs remain imprisoned as part of the government’s crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. The Chinese authorities have also crushed Hong Kong’s long-protected civil liberties. Despite knowing that China’s human rights record continues to deteriorate, foreign governments have largely failed to confront Beijing over these abuses.
Freedom of speech
The Chinese government controls all major channels of information, including television, radio, and print publications. Its “Great Firewall” blocks the public in China from accessing information commonly available on the global internet.
Although most people in China have long grown accustomed to self-censorship, certain information—so long as it does not challenge the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party—occasionally reaches a wider public audience. A July investigative report by a Chinese media outlet on contaminated cooking oil, as well as an August post by lawyer Yi Shenghua exposing the illicit sale of human corpses, both drew significant public attention. Yet both were swiftly censored and suppressed by the authorities.
There were numerous incidents of censorship throughout the year. In January, Shanghai police arrested Chen Pinlin (online name: Plato), the director of a documentary about the 2022 “white paper” protests.
Chinese authorities continued to strengthen censorship and surveillance systems to tighten control. In February, revisions to the Law on Guarding State Secrets were completed, and its implementing regulations were issued in July, further expanding the law’s already overly broad scope. In July, the Chinese government also proposed a new national online identity verification system. Although framed as voluntary, this digital ID would significantly enhance the state’s ability to track individuals both online and offline.
Topics that were previously tolerated have now been pushed into forbidden territory. As China’s economy declines, the government has begun banning commentary on its economic policies and punishing dissenting voices. In September, a leading economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences disappeared after criticizing President Xi’s economic policies in a private WeChat “Moments” post. That same month, Beijing police arrested U.S.-based artist Gao Yan on charges of “insulting the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs”; his work is known for criticizing former Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Until recently, both subjects—China’s economic policies and the legacy of Mao’s rule—could still be discussed openly in China.
The Chinese government’s tightening of information control has also had international repercussions, as authorities increasingly target critics of China living abroad as well as foreign citizens. “Teacher Li,” who collects information and videos from across China and reposts them on his X account, reported being harassed in his place of residence in Italy, while several of his followers inside China were summoned by police. In August, investigative reports revealed details of how individuals affiliated with the Chinese government intimidated and assaulted Chinese, Hong Kong, and Tibetan protesters during Xi Jinping’s earlier visit to San Francisco.
The Chinese government sentenced Taiwanese political activist Yang Chih-yuan to nine years in prison on charges of “secession,” and imposed a suspended death sentence on Australian citizen and writer Yang Hengjun for “espionage,” drawing widespread concern from the countries involved. In February, the prestigious Hugo Awards were found to have engaged in self-censorship, deliberately excluding certain authors in order to accommodate the 2023 awards ceremony being held in China.
Freedom of religion
The Chinese government allows people to practice only five state-sanctioned religions and only in officially approved venues, while continuing to maintain control over clerical appointments, publications, finances, and the establishment of religious institutions.
Since Xi Jinping introduced the policy of “Sinicizing” religion in 2016, the authorities have sought to reshape religious practice to promote loyalty to the Party and to Xi personally. Officials have intensified ideological training for religious leaders. They have also removed “unauthorized” religious content from the internet — taking down religious apps and videos — and harassed individuals who produce or share such materials.
Police routinely arrest, detain, and harass leaders and members of various “illegal” religious groups—including Catholic and Protestant communities that refuse to join state-sanctioned churches, often referred to as “house churches”—and interfere with their peaceful activities. Throughout 2024, many individuals from such groups were prosecuted and convicted on fabricated charges. In July, Zhang Chunlei, an elder of the Ren’ai Reformed Church, was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and “fraud.” The Chinese government continues to classify certain religious groups, particularly Falun Gong, as “evil cults,” subjecting their members to harassment, arbitrary detention, and torture.
In October, the Holy See extended the 2018 Sino-Vatican agreement for a third time, granting Chinese authorities the power to nominate bishops within China, despite the government’s continued persecution of the underground Catholic Church and its leaders, including Bishop Cui Tai.
In September, the Chinese government released David Lin, a Chinese American pastor who had been imprisoned for nearly 20 years.
Human rights defenders
In China, human rights defenders are frequently subjected to harassment, torture, and imprisonment. Police also harass their family members, including young children. Some human rights defenders remain forcibly disappeared, such as lawyer Gao Zhisheng and Peng Lifa, the “Bridge Man” who displayed anti-government banners on the Sitong Bridge.
In February, feminist activist Li Qiaochu was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for speaking out against the detention conditions of her partner and fellow rights advocate Xu Zhiyong. Having been arrested and held since 2021, she completed her sentence and was released in August. In October, Xu Zhiyong staged a hunger strike to protest the inhumane treatment he faced in prison.
In May, Chinese authorities released citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who had served a four-year prison sentence for reporting on the Covid-19 outbreak. In late August, she was detained again, and in November, she was formally arrested on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”
In June, feminist journalist Huang Xueqin and labor rights activist Wang Jianbing were sentenced to five years and three and a half years in prison, respectively, on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” for their involvement in promoting the #MeToo movement.
In October, human rights lawyer Yu Wensheng and activist Xu Yan, a married couple, were convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” and sentenced to three years and 21 months in prison, respectively. They had been detained in April 2023 while en route to meet with a visiting European Union delegation.
Women’s rights
Gender discrimination in employment remains widespread, and shocking cases of violence against women and sexual harassment have continued to draw public attention in recent years.
China’s declining birth rate has prompted the government to abandon its restrictive birth policies and instead urge women to marry and return to “traditional virtues” in ways that undermine gender equality.
The Chinese government’s efforts to raise the birth rate are limited to married heterosexual couples. In a landmark case, Xu Zaozao (a pseudonym) lost her appeal to freeze her eggs when a Beijing court rejected her second-instance lawsuit, dealing a major blow to the reproductive rights of single women.
In August, the Chinese government proposed amendments to simplify marriage registration procedures, but the addition of a “30-day cooling-off period” — a rights-infringing measure — would make divorce even more difficult.
Sexual orientation and gender identity
Although public acceptance of equal rights for LGBT people has been gradually increasing in China, escalating repression has led to broader censorship and the shutdown of LGBT spaces and advocacy groups.
In January, Weibo censored widely circulated photos and videos of transgender celebrity Jin Xing holding a rainbow flag that read “LOVE IS LOVE”; “love has nothing to do with gender.” In June, Roxie—one of the few remaining lesbian bars in China—closed down, reportedly due to official pressure.
In August, a custody ruling by a Beijing court became the first legal case in China to recognize a child as having two mothers. However, the plaintiff, Didi (a pseudonym), was barred from visiting one of the two children on the grounds that she was not the biological mother and had no genetic connection.
Tibet
Authorities continued to impose strict information controls in Tibetan areas and responded to public concerns with blanket repression, whether the issues involved large-scale village relocation, environmental degradation, or the marginalization of Tibetan-language instruction in primary schools.
Despite the heavy information controls, exile media report that the most common reasons for arbitrary detention are posting “illegal” content online or communicating with Tibetans outside China. Such alleged offenses can result in Tibetans being sentenced to years in prison.
From February to March, hundreds of monks and villagers in Derge County, Sichuan Province, were reportedly detained for protesting a hydropower project that would flood several ancient monasteries and Tibetan villages.
Hong Kong
In March, the Hong Kong government enacted another national security law—the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance—following the 2020 National Security Law. The ordinance criminalizes peaceful activities, expands police powers, and replaces the colonial-era sedition law, raising the maximum sentence for sedition from two years to seven.
After the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance came into force, Hong Kong police in May arrested six people for allegedly posting “seditious” online messages commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, including prominent activist Chow Hang-tung, who is already serving a prison sentence. Three individuals were sentenced to 10 to 14 months in prison for wearing a T-shirt, posting online, and writing pro-democracy slogans on a bus. The Hong Kong government also used new powers under the ordinance to cancel the passports of six exiled activists and to strip political prisoners of the right to early release for good behavior.
In May, three handpicked national security judges found 14 activists and former Hong Kong legislators guilty of “conspiracy to subvert state power” in Hong Kong’s largest national security case to date, while 31 other defendants had earlier pleaded guilty. In November, the court sentenced the 45 individuals to prison terms ranging from four years and two months to ten years.
Since 2020, at least 304 people have been arrested on suspicion of violating the National Security Law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, or the now-abolished sedition law. Of the 176 individuals prosecuted, 161 have been convicted. According to police data, a total of 10,279 people were arrested in connection with the 2019 pro-democracy protests, with 2,328 facing “legal consequences,” including convictions — many for non-violent offenses such as “unlawful assembly.”
Press freedom deteriorated further. The national security trial of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, which began in December 2023, remains ongoing. Lai, now 76, has been held in solitary confinement since December 2020. In September, two editors from the now-defunct Stand News were sentenced to 21 months and 11 months in prison on “sedition” charges. That same month, the Hong Kong government denied an Associated Press photographer an extension of her visa and entry to Hong Kong; she had previously photographed Jimmy Lai’s activities in prison.
The Hong Kong government repeatedly harassed the Hong Kong Journalists Association, including by demanding HK$400,000 in back taxes. In May 2024, Radio Free Asia, funded by the U.S. government, closed its Hong Kong bureau.
Authorities continued to suppress freedoms of expression, association, and assembly. On June 4, police arrested at least nine people near Victoria Park—where annual Tiananmen Square commemorations had been held prior to 2020—for holding signs, lighting candles, or turning on their phone flashlights.
The Hong Kong government also imposed further restrictions on free expression. In May, the High Court ruled that the government’s application for an injunction against the 2019 protest anthem “Glory to Hong Kong” was lawful. Although the injunction has no extraterritorial effect, distributors in Scotland and the United States repeatedly removed the song from streaming platforms. In October, Hong Kong authorities appeared to block some local internet users from accessing “Flow,” an online magazine hosted in the United States.
In January, the government-funded Hong Kong Arts Development Council withdrew its support for the Hong Kong Drama Awards, and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department refused to provide a venue for the awards ceremony.
Xinjiang
The Chinese government has committed crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims through its brutal “Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism.” Atrocities committed in Xinjiang include mass arbitrary detention and torture, pervasive surveillance, forced labor, cultural and religious persecution, and the separation of families.
The Chinese government has consistently denied these abuses. In response to several recommendations made during the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of China in January, the government rejected the groundbreaking 2022 UN report documenting these abuses—including those amounting to crimes against humanity—calling it “illegal and invalid.” In August, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported that “many problematic laws and policies” that formed the basis of the 2022 UN report remain in place, and emphasized that monitoring conditions on the ground is extremely difficult due to “restricted access to information and concerns about reprisals against those cooperating with the UN.” In September, the “core group” of countries—previously calling for a special Human Rights Council session on Xinjiang—issued a joint statement led by the United States, urging the Chinese government to engage in “meaningful communication” with the UN to implement the recommendations of the 2022 report.
Chinese officials continued to justify their abusive policies by characterizing ordinary, peaceful activities by Uyghurs as terrorism and extremism. In May, Chen Wenqing, the secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, stated that the government would “continue to crack down on violent and terrorist crimes in accordance with the law” in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and would “advance the legalization and normalization of counterterrorism and stability maintenance.”
An estimated 500,000 people have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms without due process during this crackdown, and many remain incarcerated, including Rahile Dawut, Gulshan Abbas, Perhat Tursun, Adil Tuniyaz, Yalqun Rozi, and Ekpar Asat. The prominent Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, sentenced to life imprisonment on the baseless charge of “separatism,” has now spent ten years in prison.
In February, the Chinese government amended Xinjiang regulations to further tighten control over religious activities, including regulating the appearance, number, location, and size of religious venues, and requiring such venues to serve as training bases for promoting Chinese Communist Party values to the public.
A Human Rights Watch report found that global automakers are increasingly exposed to the risk of Uyghur forced labor through their aluminum supply chains. A growing body of research also shows that Uyghur forced labor taints numerous global industries, including solar panels, automobiles, apparel, seafood, and critical minerals. Since the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act took effect in 2022, the U.S. government has blocked imports linked to forced labor in Xinjiang worth a total of US$750 million. In March, the European Parliament and EU member states reached an agreement on a new law that will ban the export and import of products made with forced labor.
Climate Change Policies and Impacts
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the largest producer and consumer of coal, and the biggest importer of oil and natural gas. Chinese financial institutions are also among the largest global financiers of fossil fuel projects.
Despite raising its targets, China’s emission-reduction commitments remain rated as “highly insufficient” by Climate Action Tracker, making it unlikely for the country to help keep global warming within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels as outlined in the Paris Agreement. Extreme weather events linked to global warming are becoming increasingly common across China, and their frequency and severity are expected to continue rising.
