How it feels to live under surveillance by China
www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au
I write this as an Australian citizen targeted by the Chinese security establishment. I am also a journalist, a former commentator on China for international media and a recovering patient of post-traumatic stress disorder, acquired as the result of persecution by the Chinese security apparatus. I’ve been accused of treason in the People’s Republic of China, where I’m no

Cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/12976581

Freely accessible archived version.

“The actions of mine that were deemed treasonous [by China] involved writing about China’s concentration camps, which hold up to a million Uighurs, and forced Uighur labour that implicated global supply chains,” says Vicky Xu, an Australian journalist and researcher, previously with The New York Times and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

“In the visit of Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi last month, there was positive talk of trade and bilateral relations between Australia and China but nothing about me or the many other Australian citizens and residents targeted by the Chinese state on Australian soil. I thought I’d remind people of our existence and present my point of view.”

“It has grown tiresome for me to recount how my life has been ruined by the Chinese state, how my family and friends were taken away as a result of my journalistic work on China. In Australia I’ve been followed around. Strange East Asian men stood in front of my apartment complex like voluntary doormen. I changed my number, got new email addresses, installed home security systems, moved again and again. Counter-surveillance has been a full-time job. As I write this, I do not have a stable home address because my current solution to the problem is leading a nomadic lifestyle to stay a step ahead of Chinese Communist Party goons. I don’t know what their plans are if and when they catch up with me again. I’m not the only China scholar who lives in fear of abduction or assassination.”

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    19·
    7 months ago

    My partner is an expat from a dictatorial nation (not china) and an enemy of the state for advancing democracy. One of her close friends has to hide his travel plans (depending on destination) for fear of kidnapping because he’s so influential. Another of her friends was on the phone with her (the friend’s) brother as he was kidnapped and disappeared.

    Just a friendly reminder: the world is shit, the west is going to shit, USA is completely fucked (if you’re here, anyway)… but at least you / we probably won’t be kidnapped and imprisoned for what we say. If you’re in a country where that happens, I truly wish you all the best and I hope you can change it or get out.

    • Hegar@kbin.social
      14·
      7 months ago

      probably won’t be kidnapped and imprisoned for what we say

      We do still kidnap and imprison people when they challenge the power or form of our state, it’s just that
      what we say in the west is generally less threatening to the power of our governments.

      Let’s not forget that the US locks up more citizens than any nation - including China with 4x the population - and spent a good part of this century kidnapping and torturing people all over the world.

      • DdCno1@beehaw.org
        6·
        7 months ago

        In addition to what @tardigrada said, I doubt China’s concentration camps show up in the official statistics. Do not believe any numbers coming out of autocracies like China.

        • Hegar@kbin.social
          2·
          7 months ago

          This has nothing to do with the article nor with @some_guy’s comment.

          How do you mean?

          They said that the world and the US are pretty fucked but at least you probably won’t get kidnapped and imprisoned for speech, and I agreed and expanded that we tend to kidnap and imprison people for different things.

          • tardigrada@beehaw.orgOP
            1·
            7 months ago

            @Hegar

            what we say in the west is generally less threatening to the power of our governments.

            So, what do Chinese dissidents say that is 'threatening the power of their government so much that it justifies the unacceptable atrocities and unacceptable human rights violations they suffer?

            • Hegar@kbin.social
              1·
              7 months ago

              it justifies the unacceptable atrocities

              I never said that because it doesn’t. None of the atrocities committed in the name of states are justified.

      • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
        2·
        7 months ago

        Good point. We’re more likely to be murdered than jailed if we pose an actual threat to the system. Manuel Paez Terán / Tortuguita for protesting cop city or Fred Hampton.