In the latest episode of transnational repression by the Chinese state, the NYC-based inaugural IndieChina film festival had to delist 2/3 of their films today. The authorities contacted virtually every film director (and in some cases their families), and threatened actions if they do not refrain from presenting films in New York.
We are witnessing a watershed moment in the expansive global ambitions of the Chinese police state, which is venturing far beyond the border of China. Indeed, it is hard to miss a growingly daring gesture from the state security apparatus abroad. In recent months, we’ve already seen a new wave of exit bans against, disappearances of, harassment of families of overseas Chinese students returning to China for vacation, as well as foreign passport-holders being held arbitrarily and indefinitely.
Direct repression against targeted individuals couples with the ongoing operation of global surveillance, overseas police stations, community monitoring via student and townsman associations, and exports of great firewall technology. As domestic dissent gets reduced to exceedingly negligible efforts, the police state turns its attention abroad.
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This actually happened: while my husband cooked chicken (45 min), I ran a research sprint on British academics’ research ties to China to assess the landscape, since we recently moved to the UK and research for work. I identified 29 cases that raise research security questions