The Chinese Communist regime has been the most prolific perpetrator of transnational repression over the past decade, according to Freedom House.
The Chinese communist regime remained a major perpetrator of transnational repression in 2024, according to the latest data released by the U.S. human rights organization Freedom House.
The Washington-based nonprofit organization recorded 23 governments and regimes perpetrating 160 incidents of physical transnational repression across 34 countries in 2024, the organization said in a Feb. 6 statement. Methods used by authorities in these countries included assassinations, abductions, assaults, detentions, and unlawful deportations.
The Chinese regime was one of the leading perpetrators along with Uganda, Cambodia, Russia, and Iran in 2024, the organization said. The transnational repression targeted exiled political activists, journalists, former regime insiders, and members of ethnic or religious minorities, according to the Freedom House report.
The report recorded 1,219 incidents of direct, physical transnational repression between 2014 and 2024. The Chinese regime “remains the most prolific perpetrator, committing 272 incidents, or 22 percent, of recorded cases” in the past decade, according to Freedom House researchers.
“Transnational repression continues to threaten democracy, freedom, and security globally,” Yana Gorokhovskaia, research director for strategy and design at Freedom House, said in a statement.
Lai Rongwei, CEO of pro-democracy nonprofit Taiwan Inspirational Association, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 8 that “the Freedom House report feels very real and credible” to him.
“Because Taiwan is at the forefront of China’s threats. China’s various means of infiltration against Taiwan are currently taking place in Taiwan and becoming more and more severe,” he said.
Lai said that since 2019 and 2020, after the Chinese regime’s violent suppression of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy “anti-extradition law” movement, many Hong Kong people have gone to Taiwan to escape the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) surveillance and persecution.
“During events held by some Hong Kong associations in Taiwan and events commemorating the June 4th Tiananmen massacre in Taiwan, you can see many of the CCP-supported and pro-China groups come to the scene to cause trouble,” he said.
Lai said that his organization has long observed the CCP’s transnational repression and that the regime employs both formal and informal methods to carry out overseas repression.
“The formal uses diplomatic and economic means, such as economic sanctions, trade sanctions, and economic aid, to force the governments of other countries to follow China’s position,” he said.
The Chinese regime also uses technological means to target overseas dissidents, such as monitoring their online activities and hacking their phones, Lai said.
The CCP also dispatches China’s national security agents to track down their so-called enemies overseas, according to Lai.
By Alex Wu
