Beijing is spying on Chinese and Hong Kong students abroad

Chinese and Hong Kong students at British universities are being secretly filmed as part of global surveillance by Beijing, according to Amnesty International.

In a report published by the human rights group on 13 May, Chinese students studying abroad described being followed at protests in their host cities, and having their families threatened by police in relation to their activism. 

Almost half said they had been photographed at protests

Amnesty International interviewed 32 Chinese students, including 12 from Hong Kong, studying at universities in eight countries including the UK, the US, and France.  

 Almost half said they had been photographed at protests by individuals they believed were acting on behalf of the Chinese state.  

 More than half self-censored their conversations and posts on social media, including non-Chinese platforms like X and Instagram, and nearly one-third had experienced censorship on Chinese social media platforms like WeChat.  

Several students could prove this digital surveillance, such as one whose parents were shown his online WeChat conversations by the police.  

 In recent years, an increasing number of overseas Chinese students have participated in openly criticising the Chinese government, namely at the annual commemorations of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, and the recent 2022 “White Paper” protests against zero-COVID policy and wider state control in mainland China. 

 Rowan, whose real name and university have been kept anonymous, described in the report how security officials contacted her father in China within hours of her attending a commemoration of the Tiananmen protests.  

 He was warned to educate his daughter “not to attend any events that may harm China’s reputation in the world”, despite her never sharing her name with anyone at the protest or posting about it online.  

 The report also gives instances of China’s overseas surveillance in the UK, such as a Chinese student being secretly photographed at Edinburgh airport in 2019 after publicly supporting Hong Kong protesters.  

Over half of those interviewed suffered from stress, trauma, or depression

 In October 2022, a pro-democracy Hong Kong protester was dragged inside China’s consulate in Manchester and assaulted by six Chinese diplomats.  

 The constant state surveillance has affected students’ mental health, as over half of those interviewed suffered from stress, trauma, or depression.  

 Eight students had cut off contact with their loved ones at home to protect them, and many distanced themselves from their fellow Chinese students out of fear of spying, exacerbating a sense of loneliness and isolation.   

 Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China Director, said: “For many Chinese students, travelling abroad offers the promise of an opportunity to flourish, free from the restrictions placed on political and academic discourse at home.  

 “But Amnesty’s research shows that these students can’t escape the repressive practices of the Chinese government, even when they are outside China’s borders. 

 “The Chinese authorities have honed a strategy to curb students’ human rights wherever they are in the world.”  

 A Chinese student at Warwick, who participated in the ‘White Paper’ protest, believed that most Chinese students who took part in any political activities knew that they were under Beijing’s surveillance.  

 “This kind of spying from the government scared me because my actions could affect not only myself but my entire family […] you don’t know if people around you will secretly spy on you or report you. 

 “I also feel a sense of loss when I successfully participate in protests, because neither the country I was born in nor the country I am currently studying in can protect me. 

 “However, the spying motivates me to protest and stay abroad because it is hard to imagine living like this for the rest of a lifetime.” 

 Around 900,000 Chinese students are studying abroad, with 151,690 studying in the UK and 2,282 at Warwick in 2019. 

Amnesty International called on host governments and universities to take action to protect Chinese students.  

“We urge the Beijing and Hong Kong authorities to cease all practices constituting transnational repression and allow overseas students to focus on their studies without fearing for their safety.”