Overseas Chinese students are being watched in Europe in retaliation for their activism, according to Amnesty International.
According to Euronews, their families also face surveillance and harassment. An international non-governmental organisation interviewed Chinese and Hong Kong students studying at European universities. Those interviewed revealed that transnational repression by Chinese authorities threatened their freedom and democracy on European land.
Students claimed that someone had followed and photographed them during demonstrations or protests. They also reported online surveillance. Their family members back home in China were reportedly harassed and threatened by the police because of their activism abroad.
The NGO surveyed a total of 30 Chinese and 12 Hong Kong students from European universities. Students from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK, and Canada participated in the survey. They reported living in constant fear of intimidation, harassment, and surveillance by authorities in Beijing.
Nearly half stated that unknown people they believed were acting on behalf of China photographed or videotaped them at events like protests. Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s regional director for China, declared:
The Chinese authorities’ offensive against human rights activism is playing out in the corridors and classrooms of many universities welcoming Chinese and Hong Kong students. The impact of China’s transnational repression seriously threatens the free exchange of ideas that is at the heart of academic freedom, and governments and universities must do more to counter this phenomenon.
The findings came just weeks after Madrid-based NGO Safeguard Defenders, which led an investigation into Chinese police activity abroad, revealed that the Chinese Communist Party had been abducting its overseas citizens within the EU and forcibly returning them home for the past 10 years.
In 2022, the same NGO reported that the Chinese government had a network of police stations scattered across the EU to pressure dissidents to return to China.
According to Safeguard Defenders, the offices helped to conduct covert operations such as supporting the Chinese government’s so-called repatriation programme. However, China claims that the offices serve only administrative purposes, helping citizens with tasks like renewing driver’s licences.
Active surveillance of Chinese students
Almost a third of the students interviewed claimed that the Chinese authorities harassed their families in retaliation for their criticism or dissent. Some family members had even been threatened with having their passports revoked, pension benefits cut or even being sacked from their jobs, Brooks noted.
The Chinese authorities have developed a sophisticated strategy to restrict the fundamental rights of students, wherever they are in the world. Surveillance of students abroad and targeting their family members living in China: this is a systematic tactic intended to control nationals remotely.
Amnesty International also states that China’s advanced technological censorship capabilities mean that students are vulnerable. The authorities eavesdrop their conversations, especially when they communicate with family and friends in China.
According to estimations, around 900,000 Chinese students study abroad. Governments and universities need to step up efforts to protect students, pointing out that host countries have to protect international students.
Universities in Europe and North America are often unaware of and unprepared to deal with transnational repression and the crippling effects it has on their campuses.
