The People's Republic of China (PRC) is widely alleged to exert control and silence dissent beyond its national borders. It targets groups and individuals perceived as threats to or critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its policies. Its methods of transnational repression include digital surveillance, physical intimidation, coercion, disinformation, and lawfare.

Background

According to Freedom House, the People's Republic of China was responsible for 253 of 854 physical incidents of transnational repression from 2014 to 2022, making it the most extensive practitioner of transnational repression. In a statement for the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China, Freedom House said that the estimate was conservative, "since these numbers do not include pressure put on the China-based relatives of targeted individuals, digital tactics like harassment and surveillance, or foiled attempts at physical violence". Transnational repression conducted by China has also escalated since 2014 under the general secretaryship of Xi Jinping. According to the Human Rights Measurement Initiative, the PRC engaged in transnational repression in at least 41 countries in 2025.

Methods Surveillance: Monitoring activities of diaspora communities, employing spyware, stalking, and hacking telecommunications networks. Western cybersecurity agencies have warned of a growing threat posed by malware reportedly tied to Beijing's security services and being used to surveil critics of the Chinese government. Intimidation and threats: Threatening and detaining family members in China to coerce individuals abroad, physical intimidation, death threats, and phone calls. According to Amnesty International, increased threats to activists' family members include loss of jobs, retirement benefits, and physical freedom. Lawfare: Misusing Interpol Red Notices, or filing SLAPP lawsuits against the victims in the foreign countries where they reside. China's 2026 Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress provides that individuals and organizations outside China may be held accountable under Chinese law for acts deemed to undermine ethnic unity or incite ethnic separatism. Diplomatic pressure: Leveraging diplomatic ties to influence foreign governments. Digital harassment: Deploying cyberwarfare to track and intimidate individuals, including malware, online harassment campaigns, and AI-generated deepfakes. Control of mobility: Withholding or confiscating passports and controlling visa access to limit the movement of target groups. Forced disappearance and rendition. Disinformation campaigns: Conducting PRC-based disinformation operations against critics of the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Targets

Uyghurs

According to a study published in the academic journal Globalizations, the Chinese government's repression of Uyghurs extends beyond its borders. The study's Transnational Repression of Uyghurs Dataset documents 7,108 cases of Uyghurs being targeted in 44 countries between 1997 and 2021. While only 238 incidents were recorded from 1997 to 2014, an additional 6,870 cases occurred between 2014 and 2021.

The Chinese government's transnational repression of Uyghurs includes diplomatic pressure for extradition from countries like Thailand, Turkey, and Egypt, often without due process. Domestically, Uyghurs face passport confiscations in Xinjiang, limiting their travel. Abroad, they encounter digital surveillance and intimidation, with their families in China sometimes being used as leverage. These actions are part of China's larger strategy in dealing with the Uyghur community under what it describes as terrorism, infiltration, and separatism.

According to professor of East Asian Studies David Tobin, the Chinese government threatened a UK university for an academic's work on Uyghurs, leading to an institutional review that discussed whether to permit publicizing of any research on the region. Professor Steve Tsang has testified that the University of Nottingham closed its School of Contemporary China Studies under pressure from Beijing. In March 2026, Uyghur rights activists, including members of the World Uyghur Congress, were targeted with malware, allegedly linked to China, disguised as a Uyghur-language software tool.

In 2026, Human Rights Watch reported that Chinese authorities questioned Uyghur Australians visiting Xinjiang asking information about activists, community groups, and language schools in Australia. Per the report, Chinese authorities also put pressure on their relatives in Xinjiang, which made some Uyghurs in Australia afraid to join community activities or speak openly about the Chinese government.

Tibetans

According to the International Campaign for Tibet, Tibetan communities in countries like the United States, Sweden, and the Netherlands report surveillance and intimidation from the Chinese government. Chinese agents are involved in monitoring and threatening Tibetans, affecting their ability to criticize China's policies towards Tibet. Family members in China are sometimes used as leverage. The Chinese government also disrupts traditional Tibetan refugee routes in Nepal to India, increasing the risk of repatriation.

Hongkongers The Center for American Progress wrote in 2022 that one of the most notable cases of transnational repression by the Chinese government, the 2015 kidnapping of bookseller and writer Gui Minhai in Thailand, was coordinated by the Ministry of Public Security.

Freedom House stated in 2021 that Hongkongers abroad are "relatively new targets of transnational repression".

In 2016, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong was detained on arrival in Thailand. He had been invited to speak about his Umbrella Movement experience at an event hosted by Chulalongkorn University. A Thai student activist, Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal, said that Thai authorities had received a request from the Chinese government earlier regarding the visit. After nearly 12 hours' detention, Wong was deported to Hong Kong. Wong claimed that, upon detention, the authorities would say no more than that he had been blacklisted but, just prior to deportation, they informed him that his deportation was pursuant to the Thai Immigration Act.

The 2020 Hong Kong national security law (NSL) garnered attention to its Article 38, which states that the law also applies to offenses committed against Hong Kong "from outside the Region by a person who is not a permanent resident of the Region."

In a 2021 report, Freedom House wrote:

The Freedom House report cited a news piece from The Guardian to name Samuel Chu "among those who received the first round of arrest warrants under the new law". Chu was born in Hong Kong and is a U.S. citizen residing in Los Angeles since 1996. He was charged for his advocacy work within the US-based Hong Kong Democracy Council that pushed the U.S. government to impose sanctions against Chinese officials deemed responsible for the erosion of basic freedoms in Hong Kong. Freedom House concluded: "Chu and others like him now must not only avoid traveling to Hong Kong, but also to any country with an extradition treaty with Hong Kong or China."

The Hong Kong Police Force has issued arrest warrants for the following pro-democracy Hongkongers now living abroad—Anna Kwok, Simon Cheng, Ted Hui, Dennis Kwok, Finn Lau, Honcques Laus, Nathan Law, Mung Siu-tat, Ray Wong, Kevin Yam, and Elmer Yuen. In July 2023, the U.S. Department of State described the bounties on eight of these dissidents as an instance of "transnational repression efforts."

The 2022 report by the Center for American Progress asked the U.S. government to promote reforms in Interpol, as the Chinese Ministry of Public Security "uses Interpol to pursue political dissidents via the Red Notice system, counter to the true criminal investigative purposes of the system."

In 2025, The Guardian reported that attorneys for Hong Kong publisher and activist Jimmy Lai have been targeted by phishing attempts linked to the PRC, rape threats, and death threats.

On February 11, 2026, a Hong Kong court convicted Kwok Yin-sang, the father of US-based democracy activist Anna Kwok, under the National Security Law, marking the first such conviction targeting a family member of an exiled activist. The conviction, for handling funds linked to his daughter's activism, exemplifies China's growing transnational repression. Human Rights Watch condemned the act as collective punishment, urging Hong Kong authorities to release Kwok. International calls have increased for sanctions against officials responsible for such repression.

Falun Gong practitioners

According to Freedom House and the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM), practitioners of Falun Gong globally face intense scrutiny under the PRC's transnational repression efforts. Notably, instances of detention involving Falun Gong adherents have been reported in several countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, etc. A 2021 IRSEM study alleged 79 separate instances of transnational repression targeting Falun Gong practitioners.Charon, P., & Jeangène Vilmer, J.-B. (2021, October). Chinese influence operations: A Machiavellian moment . Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM), Ministry for the Armed Forces. According to The Diplomat, Xi Jinping reportedly directed CCP officials in 2022 to intensify efforts to "completely, and on an international scale, suppress Falun Gong's momentum" by shaping global public opinion and using legal warfare against Falun Gong organizations abroad, including in the United States.

Former Chinese government officials Operation Fox Hunt and Operation Sky Net are part of Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign after he came into power in 2014. Their stated goal is to repatriate Chinese fugitives that fled abroad. The operation spans across 56 countries, including countries where China does not have extradition treaties, such as the United States and Canada. According to Safeguard Defenders, kidnappings and other forms of coercion have been used to repatriate individuals.

Pro-democracy groups, dissidents and students

China targets the broad group of people with harassments, coercion, disinformation, and threats of violence and death. According to a CNN report on a Chinese online operation, "Victims face a barrage of tens of thousands of social media posts that call them traitors, dogs, and racist and homophobic slurs. They say it's all part of an effort to drive them into a state of constant fear and paranoia." Loyalist diaspora groups have also been used to target dissidents.

As of 2024, Chinese students studying abroad who engaged in political activism against the regime faced harassment and retribution directly or through family members living in China. In 2019, a student was jailed for six months when he returned to China over tweets he had posted while studying at the University of Minnesota in the US; a Chinese district court held that the tweets "defaced the image of the country's leaders" and sentenced the student "for provocation".

Select cases

2014: Operation Fox Hunt started under Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign. Chinese operators in the U.S. had stalked, threatened U.S. residents and their relatives, including pressuring immigrants to become spies. The U.S. Department of Justice has been bringing cases against some Chinese operators for federal crimes.