By YUSAKU YAMANE/ Staff Writer
October 10, 2024 at 18:02 JST
Participants at a rally protesting the Chinese government’s zero-COVID policy filled the sidewalk in front of JR Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Nov. 30, 2022. (Sotaro Hata)
Chinese authorities have been harassing and intimidating people from China living in Japan who participated in activities critical of Beijing, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch on Oct. 10.
The incidents include direct pressure by Chinese government officials and pressure applied on their relatives in China.
HRW interviewed 25 people from China living in Japan between June and August this year who had participated in activities such as criticizing the Chinese government’s strict zero-COVID-19 policy or raising awareness about human rights abuses against ethnic minorities.
Sixteen reported being pressured by Chinese authorities to stop their activities or said that local police had targeted their relatives in China.
One case detailed in the report involves a man from China residing in Japan who planned protests in 2022 to show support for the “White Paper” protests. The demonstrations opposed the zero-COVID measures with citizens in China holding blank sheets of paper to symbolize the country’s strict censorship controls.
Then, he received a call from a Chinese government official urging him to cancel the event.
After he refused, the official contacted the Japanese language school he was attending and asked it to stop his activism. His teacher from China told him to either cease the political activities or quit the school.
The man reluctantly transferred to a different school.
Another case detailed a man from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region who supported a group addressing human rights issues in the region.
In 2017, a relative living in the region called him while accompanied by a police officer and urged him to return home.
In 2018, local police contacted him via social media, demanding information about the Uygur community in Japan. After refusing to cooperate, the man has since been unable to have contact with his relatives.
“Chinese authorities appear to have few scruples about silencing people from China living in Japan who criticize Beijing’s abuses,” said Teppei Kasai, Asia program officer at HRW.
“The Japanese government should make it clear to Beijing that it won’t tolerate the long arm of China’s transnational repression in Japan,” he said.
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