cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/11691628

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A confrontation outside China’s Toronto consulate late last month fits the pattern of transnational repression documented in a recent submission to Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board by an academic watchdog group.

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A man wearing a jacket with a People’s Republic of China insignia damaged Falun Gong protest displays and threatened a practitioner. He is alleged to have said: “This is Chinese territory,” as he invoked the Anti-Secession Law, and stated “I’ll have you shot” and “I’ll slam you to death.”

Chinese authorities and their proxies routinely watch selected Chinese citizens and diaspora members in Canada, according to the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. The Lab’s Sept. 11 submission to the Research Directorate of Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, places that surveillance inside Beijing’s longer diaspora-governance project. This strategy is described as soft consent-building on one side—cultural and language programs, influence work—and coercion on the other. Under President Xi Jinping, the Lab submission identifies China as the most prolific source of transnational repression, extending practices that took shape after 1989.

According to Lab researchers, the point is not only to track critics but to silence them, lock in preferred narratives, and spread self-censorship well beyond the people under direct watch—an effect called the “anaconda in the chandelier.”

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The targets look much like those repressed inside China: pro-democracy and human-rights campaigners, exiled dissidents, and civil-society activists; students, scholars, journalists, artists, and influencers who cross Party lines; Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, and Falun Gong practitioners; Hong Kong pro-democracy supporters; people accused of corruption or official misconduct, including current or former Party and state employees; and the relatives of any of the above.

Public prominence is not required. Private messages, a pseudonym, or simple membership in a marked community can be enough. What is collected in Canada can later be used against someone forced or persuaded to return.

One tactic stands out: coercion-by-proxy, where family members still in China are threatened or pressured. One example includes Uyghur activists in Canada, who receive harassing phone calls about their detained relatives to shut down their advocacy abroad.

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