Lin studied Taiwan-PRC relations, focusing on the CCP’s United Front Work in Taiwan. He worked as an aide to Democratic Progressive Party council members in Taipei and New Taipei City prior to running office. He served in the Special Forces of Taiwan’s army before as part of the country’s compulsory active duty military service for men. We spoke about China, both its influence operations and the threat of conflicts, as well as the challenges facing Taiwan’s defense.

China Change, October 13, 2022 Based on information online that we have gathered so far, the man is Peng Lifa (彭立发), known online as Peng Zaizhou (彭载舟), who displayed two large banners demanding the removal of Xi Jinping on Sitong Overpass (四通桥) on the Third Ring Road, north section, in Beijing Haidian District around 2 pm Beijing Time on October 13, the day after the Chinese Communist Party concluded the 7th Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee.  One banner reads: No PCR test, want livelihoods; not lockdowns, want freedom; not lies, want dignity; not Cultural Revolution, want reform; not a supreme leader, want ballots; not to be slaves but citizens. The other reads: Students strike, workers strike, remove the dictator and state thief Xi […]

Andréa Worden, February 2, 2022 “The Olympics and Paralympics send a fantastic message of ‘peace and of mutual respect between people of all cultures, all civilizations and all ethnicities,’ said Guterres, days before his trip to China to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. …… It is necessary to shine a light on the Olympic spirit, which also means mutual understanding, tolerance, respect and dialogue, said Guterres, adding that the spirit ‘is very much in line with the values of the UN.’” — UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a written interview with Xinhua (1/31/22)

Andréa Worden, April 21, 2021 There are many reasons why rights-respecting governments should stay far away from Xi Jinping’s Winter Olympics. To name just a few: the Uyghur genocide, the crushing of political and civil freedoms in Hong Kong, the deepening assault on Tibetan culture and religion, the forced erasure of Mongolian and other ethnic minority identities, “hostage diplomacy,” the unremitting attacks on human rights lawyers, rule of law, freedom of expression, freedom of religion ––the list goes on. If diplomats and government officials attend Xi Jinping’s Olympics, they will, simply by virtue of their presence, bestow legitimacy on a high-tech totalitarian regime that is currently engaged in a scorched-earth strategy to neutralize anyone or anything that might be perceived by the tetchy Chinese Communist […]

February 22, 2020 This open letter was initiated by professors Andrew Nathan, Perry Link, and Zhang Lun. Please join them, as many of their colleagues have done, to sign this letter. Please send your name and affiliation to: chinacitizenmovement@gmail.com. The list of signatories will be updated daily. The Chinese version of this letter can be found here. Mr. Xi Jinping, President of China: We are startled and dismayed to learn of the recent forcible arrest in Guangzhou of Xu Zhiyong, a citizen-activist and holder of the degree of Doctor of Laws from Peking University. It was only a few days ago, on February 6, 2020, that Li Wenliang, a physician and an early whistle-blower on the spread of the corona virus in Wuhan, died in […]

Yasuhiro Matsuda, December 13, 2019 China Change transcribed and translated parts of Yasuhiro Matsuda’s recent Chinese language interview with Radio Free Asia (here and here)for his sharp insights on Hong Kong and the structural political problems in Xi Jinping’s decision making. Subheadings added by China Change for easy reading.  — The Editors Beijing Will Feel Secure Only When Hong Kong’s Freedoms Are Completely Crushed Hong Kong is also going to pass the National Security Regulations (国家安全条例), which are in fact even more serious because they will clear the path for rounding people up. Should the Regulations be passed, Hong Kong’s freedoms will cease to exist. So it’s more severe, since the fugitive regulations (逃犯条例) would send suspects to Taiwan or to mainland China and in […]

In the final part of her interview, Lü Pin discusses the Feminist Five case, how the #MeToo movement caught on in China at a time when the feminist movement seemed to be fading, and the eventual shutdown of Feminist Voice. According to Lü Pin, while the feminist movement is facing an uncertain future, the repressive regime is far from claiming victory.

December 31, 2018 China is at a crossroads. History will remember 2018. In March, Xi Jinping amended the Constitution to everyone’s chagrin, paving the way to life in power. It’s an anachronism to go back to permanent power in the 21st century. More than that, it’s a subversion of civilization; it’s a shame for the country and for all Chinese nationals.   Xi Jinping has imposed his will on the entire Chinese population. In order to hold onto power, he has to strip the Chinese of their rights and dignity and enslave them. Xi Jinping is building a new model of totalitarianism that directly threatens freedom of movement and property rights. Each person lives in fear. Xi Jinping attempts to monopolize all the resources and gain […]

Hu Ping, November 19, 2018   Recently, there have been two hot topics in China: the Sino-U.S. trade war and the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of China’s Reform and Opening up. We have noticed that many people in the system have written articles or made speeches enthusiastically praising Deng Xiaoping while covertly and in some cases even openly criticizing Xi Jinping. They believe that in bringing back lifelong leadership terms and the cult of personality, abandoning Deng’s policy of “hiding one’s capabilities and biding one’s time” (韬光养晦) and promoting state-owned businesses over private firms, Xi Jinping has significantly deviated from Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening up. For this year’s May 4th anniversary, Fan Liqin (樊立勤), a Peking University alumnus and an old friend of […]

China Change, October 8, 2018   This weekly bulletin is NOT a news summary of the week, but a reading of ‘signs’: signs of quickening changes and shifting ground. Not every new development is suited to a fully fleshed-out analysis, and as with so much in China, many reports cannot be immediately confirmed or properly evaluated. Nevertheless, while each individual brush stroke may not be decisive, we hope that upon stepping back a fuller picture would emerge. Sign of China catalogues and contextualizes these items so as to grow an awareness and keep a record of sort. As incomplete as it is destined to be, we hope the series is edifying and useful. — The Editors     Pence’s Speech and Two Emblematic Chinese Responses […]

China Change, August 1, 2018       On July 24, Unirule (天则), the liberal, beleaguered economic think tank in Beijing, published a 10,000-character essay by the Tsinghua University legal scholar Xu Zhangrun (许章润) which has lit up the Chinese internet at a time when the voice of Chinese intellectuals has been dying out. The text, deploying all the rhetorical potency of literary Chinese — even in its length, the ‘Ten Thousand Word Petition’ having a specific valence in Chinese political history — has captured the zeitgeist of revolt against the China that Party leader Xi Jinping is busy constructing. Since being republished on the website of the Hong Kong-based Initium Media, the article has been widely shared and reflected upon by intellectuals and scholars […]

China Change, February 28, 2018       We don’t know what Xi Jinping was expecting when the proposed removal of the term limit for state chairman was announced on February 25 — but he was wrong if he was expecting that the news would be received like a beam of light from the sky, eliciting awe and relief, as depicted in a recent CCTV propaganda video glorifying Xi as the father figure of the people and the country. Xi and his loyalists seem to have been stung by the shock and ridicule — and sometimes the pointed silence — coming from Chinese social media. The censors clamped down fast and heavily. An explainer in People’s Daily a few hours after the announcement summarized ten […]

Mo Zhixu, February 27, 2018   On February 26, China’s official news agency Xinhua published the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee’s Proposed Amendments to China’s constitution (Chinese). The Party proposed revising the clause “The term of office of the Chairman (国家主席) and Vice-Chairman of the People’s Republic of China is the same as that of the National People’s Congress, and they shall serve no more than two consecutive terms” to “The term of office of the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the People’s Republic of China is the same as that of the National People’s Congress.” During the Party’s 19th congress in November, 2017, no one in the new politburo standing committee appeared to be the potential successor of Xi Jinping, as Hu Jintao was to […]

Hu Ping, December 5, 2017     The World’s Political Parties Dialogue held by the Communist Party of China in Beijing closed on December 3, 2017. According to the Global Times, representatives who attended the meeting include Burmese leader and State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, President of the Cambodian People’s Party and Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen, President Choo Mi-ae of South Korea’s Democratic United Party, representatives of parties from traditionally friendly countries such as the United Russia Party and Communist Party of Vietnam, and representatives from G7 countries including the U.S. Republican Party, Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, the Conservative Party (UK), the Republican Party (France), and the Liberal Party of Canada.” After the meeting the Xinhua News Agency published a document titled […]

Wu Qiang, December 3, 2017     On November 18, a fire killed 19 people in Jiugong township, in the Daxing District of Beijing. A few days later, the city government launched a mass clearance operation of “low-end people” around the city’s suburban belt. Within a week, probably more than 200,000 of the “migrant low-end population living in Beijing” was evicted from their rental homes or workplaces. Videos uploaded to social media, and reports by both citizen and mainstream media journalists, show that people living in the migrant worker “shantytowns” — village enclaves within urban areas — have been told that they have only two or three days to disband. The restaurants and factories in these shantytowns face marauding thugs who roam around smashing doors […]

By Chang Ping, July 18, 2017     On July 7, the German professor Markus W Büchler, Chairman of the Department of Surgery, University of Heidelberg, traveled to Shenyang to take part in diagnosing the condition of Liu Xiaobo. Media reports noted that it was the first time in almost a decade that Liu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, had seen a foreigner. When I read this line I felt full of grief. The visit of a doctor isn’t anything like that of a friend calling in. Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned for his speech and thought, and apart from the small number of family members who’ve long been under house arrest, no one has been able to see him for all these years. Until he […]

Chang Ping, May 18, 2017 “Corruption is not just the result of money being misused, but the lack of a fair and transparent mechanism itself.”     God said: “Let there be light,” and then there was light. Xi Jinping said: “A ‘Project of the Century’ must be undertaken,” and then there was “One Belt, One Road.” At the just-completed summit in Beijing, Xi Jinping announced that China will invest hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars in 60 countries to lead in the construction of bridges, railways, ports and energy projects. This venture is known as “One Belt, One Road,” and involves more than 60 percent of the world’s population. It’s projected to transform the global political and economic order, and can be said to […]

Yaxue Cao, November 13, 2016     On November 9, around 6:30 am EST (7:30 pm in Beijing), Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that Chinese president Xi Jinping’s had sent the U. S. president-elect Donald Trump a “congratulatory telegram.” A telegram, really? How do you send a telegram to a New York billionaire in 2016? It sounds like Mao Zedong sending a telegram to comrade Enver Hoxha in Albania in 1961. Whether or not a telegram was sent, Mr. Trump hasn’t received it. Nor has he tried to reach out to Xi, though he spoke to nine world leaders within 24 hours of his victory, and by Friday, he has spoken with or heard from “most” leaders except for Xi. The Chinese Communist Party’s […]

By China Change, published: February 25, 2016 Retired Chinese real estate mogul Ren Zhiqiang (任志强), known as “Cannon Ren,” fired at Xi Jinping after Xi’s tour of China Central Television. Xi Dada’s opinion warriors are now all over him, outdoing one another to see who can work themselves into the biggest frenzy.  – The Editors     The first article in the attack against Ren Zhiqiang, “Why Must Netizens Teach Ren Zhiqiang Lessons About the Party?”, appeared on Qianlong.com, a website sponsored by the propaganda department of the Beijing Party Committee. Then it was republished on the website of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs and the Cyberspace Administration of China. The author, Li Jiming (李吉明), is a member of the Party and […]

By Bruce Lui, published December 4, 2015   The Chinese Communist Party marked the anniversary of its inaugural “National Constitution Day” on December 4 with more action than words: workers’ rights NGOs were raided and activists detained; the author of “A History of Brainwashing” was sentenced to nearly two years in prison; and a book on constitutionalism disappeared from stores. The People’s Daily frontpage, meanwhile, seemed to suggest China is now a one-man show… — The Editors     December 4, 2015, is China’s second National Constitution Day (國家憲法日)—a day that was announced with much fanfare for the first time last year. As of 5 p.m. Beijing time [as this article was written], there is not a single word about it on the homepage of […]

Jiang Tianyong, human rights lawyer, September 17, 2015   The late September visit of Xi Jinping to America, and his meeting with president Obama, is a perfect opportunity for exerting pressure on China over rule-of-law and human rights. The United States should of course use this chance to apply leverage! America should, and can, demand that the Chinese authorities immediately release all the lawyers and human rights defenders who have been arrested, immediately cease its crazed suppression of NGOs, stop its persecution of Christians, and stop its current high-pressure crackdowns on the Uighur and Tibetan minority groups. As long as the Obama administration is resolute in making the demands, Xi Jinping will accept them all. This is why: in the midst of domestic crises and […]

Liu Shihui, human rights lawyer, September 16, 2015   The Chinese stock market crashed again today (September 15), with multiple market indices reaching their yearly lows. As they plummeted, Xi Jinping’s dream of a heavy-handed market rescue was irreparably shattered. As the economy enters a quagmire, Li Ka-shing (李嘉诚), the richest man in Asia, and many other tycoons are pulling their capital from China. Xi Jinping now has no means of restoring prosperity, and in the midst of internal and external pressure, the Party is trying to drive exports to Europe and America. The hope is that exports will inject some energy into the stagnant Chinese economy, stirring up modest signs of life. At this point, the Chinese Communist Party isn’t feeling as confident as […]

By Chang Ping, published: June 9, 2015 Xin Jinping: “We encourage Chinese students studying abroad to either return to China to work, or serve the country in various other ways.”     The famous American Sinologist, Perry Link, once said that, in the 1980’s he often warned the Chinese students who had newly arrived in the United States that they should not think too highly of the U. S.; whereas since the 1990’s, Link has warned Chinese students who came to study that the U. S. is better than they think. Most of the Chinese students studying abroad are adults whose thoughts and perspectives have been shaped by the education and the information they have received before they left China. At the recently convened Central […]

By Teng Biao, published: January 6, 2015 A shorter version of the article appeared in Washington Post on December 28, 2014. Here is the full text.  – The Editor   I’m afraid that those of you who excitedly applauded the Communist Party’s rehashing of the term “governing the country according to the law” have forgotten the famous words of Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Yu, who once warned sternly, “Don’t use the law as a shield.” I don’t understand why some people only remember the pleasant words they speak and but forget their blatant opposition to universal values; why some people are always willing to believe what they say, but disregard all the things that they do. The Communists once boasted wildly about “liberty and constitutional […]

By Chang Ping, published December 17, 2013 (Chinese original published on December 6)   In the walled-in court of the Chinese Communist Party’s ruling elite, big dramas proceed one after another. The Bo Xilai-Wang Lijun-Gu Kailai series was sensational enough, and the Zhou Yongkang case is going to be even more earthshaking. Rumor has it that the former member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee and former secretary of the CCP Central Politics and Law Commission has been placed under Shuanggui (双规, Party discipline to investigate a cadre in designated place and for a designated duration). It is said that his wife, son and close associates have been held too. For the past months, Zhou Yongkang’s henchmen have fallen left and right, and rumors have […]

  Mr. President Xi Jinping, I’m Liu Xia, citizen of the People’s Republic of China. I have been placed under house arrest in my own home since October, 2010. That deprives me of my personal freedom. However, no one has told me why I have been subjected to house arrest. Thinking about it over and over again, I conclude that, in this country, it must be a “crime” to be the wife of Liu Xiaobo. I believe the sentence handed down to my brother Liu Hui on June 9th, 2013, is completely unjust. I question whether the judiciary, even the entire apparatus of state power, is being misused. With the rule of law of our time, the state ought to be working to deliver justice, […]

By Gao Yu, published: May 16, 2013 Walk through the recent ideology bugle call that accumulated in CCP General Office’s Document No. 9 in late April, and observe the mindset of Chinese leaders and their frantic effort to take control of public expression, with Beijing-based independent journalist and commentator Gao Yu. The “5 Nos” (五不搞) refer to what Wu Bangguo, then the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, avowed in the 2011 NPC session.They are “no multi-party election, no diversification of guiding principles, no separation of powers, no federal system, and no privatization.” The day after the Southern Weekend incident broke on January 3rd of this year, which stirred waves in China and beyond, a national conference of propaganda chiefs was held. Liu Yunshan (刘云山), the member […]

Following earlier detentions in Guangdong and Beijing, on April 27, another ten activists in Xinyu, Jiangxi (江西新余) were taken into police custody for demanding that government officials disclose their assets. Since then, seven of them have been released but Liu Ping (刘萍), Wei Zhongping (魏忠平) and Li Sihua (李思华) are still been held. According to Beijing-based rights lawyer Li Pingfang, those who were released gave accounts of being slapped in the face, wearing shackles, and being locked in iron cages. They said that the police interrogation focused on their participation in advocating asset disclosure by officials. For days, Liu Ping’s daughter, a college student, has been visiting the Public Security authorities for the detention notice that, by law, the family is supposed to receive but […]

By Xu Zhiyong, published: March 11, 2013     To the regular readers of this blog, Dr. Xu Zhiyong (许志永) is no stranger. He’s one of the founders of Gong Meng (公盟), or Open Constitution Initiative, a Beijing-based NGO dedicated to providing legal assistance to the disempowered and to developing civil society. As hundreds of others, Dr. Xu has recently been placed under house arrest because he is deemed a threat to stability and therefore must be locked up to ensure serene meetings of both the NPC and CPPCC, now in session in Beijing. During his confinement last week, he wrote a long letter, his second one, to Xi Jinping (original here, the first was written during the 18th Party’s congress last November). With his approval, […]

Update 1: Cheng Wanyun’s legal name (name on ID) is Cheng Aihua (程爱华). Update 2:   Telephone numbers: PSB State Security Office of Nanchong Municipality (南充市公安局国保办公电话): 0817-2803084. PSB of Xichong County (西充县公安局值班电话): 0817-4200085. State security chief of Xichong PSB Zhao Yanlin (西充县公安局国内安全保卫大队负责人：赵晏林主任): 0817-4202969. Update 3: Cheng Aihua’s father is willing to speak to the media and the public about his daughter’s case. His home number is 0817-4224168. Update 4: This is believed to be the post that got her in jail: “This is gonna be fun to watch. All manners of ugly bootlicking to please the emperor. We on the other hand would work harder to seek justice for all who have died in earthquakes, school-bus accidents, floods and brutal abortions.” Update 5: On Chinese New Year’s […]

By Yaxue Cao Almost exactly one year ago, I wrote a post titled Around Town with Chen Guangcheng, in which I recounted my lone protest in Washington, DC, on Valentine’s Day, 2012. That day Xi Jinping was meeting with president Obama in White House, and various groups—Tibetans, Uighurs, Falungong practitioners, overseas dissident groups—converged in Lafayette Park and on the sidewalks of 17th street to protest. I didn’t belong to any group; I walked among them, and then off by myself, carrying a Chen Guangcheng sign I made the night before. I took pictures of the sign against the backdrop of the White House as well as the Washington Monument, next to a bicycle and on a bench. I was filled with love and sadness, love […]

By Gao Yu, published: January 26, 2013 A speech lifts the smog over the man.   Gao Yu (高瑜) is an independent journalist and columnist based in Beijing. She used to work for China News Agency (中新社), and later was the deputy editor-in-chief of Economics Weekly (《经济学周报》, 1982-1989). She was twice imprisoned for her participation in the 1989 democratic movement. Drawing on her access to exclusive sources, she writes among other things about Beijing’s inner political circles, and her work is influential. The Chinese original is here. Soon after the New Year passed, thick smog shrouded much of the eastern and central China for days on end and struck terror into  people. “Ducking into the dark brownish smog,” a netizen penned on Weibo, “I was […]

By Li Huaping, published: January 1, 2013 Dear Mr. Xi Jinping, You have become the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party during the CCP’s 18th Congress, and your succession to be the president of the People’s Republic of China in 2013 is only a matter of formality. You don’t have competitors, nor do you need my vote. I have lived for 46 years as a lawful citizen of the People’s Republic of China, but have never had an opportunity to vote for anything. So next year when the “people’s representatives,” who are supposed to represent me, vote for you, they will do so without my authorization. On the other hand, I must state that I have hitherto never been stripped of any political rights […]

(Tom is unable to post his piece at the moment. Yaxue substitutes.) Xi Jinping created quite a stir with his recent trip to Guangdong province, which has been seen by many as a demonstration of his determination to continue with (economic) Reform and Opening up. On this trip he impressed many by proceeding in a much less flashy fashion than most expect from Chinese gov’t officials. While his recent promotion of waste-preventing guidelines and anti-corruption policies show a strong desire to limit these ills of the Party, there is little hope that these alone will make a difference. Xi is right to focus on these issues early on in his leadership, as graft and abuse of power are widely seen as the biggest threats to […]

With China’s latest round of promotions, we have a chance to get an updated perspective on what is valued by the CPC, instead of relying on the claims from state media that the Party is looking to improve reforms and protect human rights. Within the top 7 it is clear that as long as you are a Han male, in your late 50’s or early 60’s, (and have suspiciously dark black hair), there is no single path to power. Xi Jinping was well connected through his family and developed ties in the military before moving unobtrusively through the Party ranks, Li Keqiang found ties to Hu Jintao in the Communist Youth League (CYL), Zhang Dejiang established himself by outlining how to work with North Korea, Yu […]

By Yaxue Cao Okay, where were we? In Edition 1, the sleek, smart-looking British gent was nowhere on the scene yet, but we now know that he was seen pinching the behind of Gu Kailai (谷开来), wife of the newly-deposed Communist leader Bo Xilai, ten years ago in a southern town of England, and that he was found dead on Ms. Gu’s birthday in a hotel room in the southwest city of Chongqing, China. Quite a span however you look at it. If you are like me, tired, sleep-deprived, and dozing off during much of the show, I suggest you sleep through it altogether lest you get drowned by a deluge of facts and rumors, but mostly rumors, swooshing down on you when you wake […]

By Yaxue Cao   Xi Jinping (习近平), the vice president of China and heir-apparent of the Communist regime, was in town to visit on Tuesday, Valentine’s Day. Protesters gathered in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House. I went too, with a Chen Guangcheng sign I had made the night before. Of the diverse groups there, the Tibetans were the largest. Before I walked into the park, I had already seen a jungle of snow lion flags and heard shouts of slogans. A lot of Falun Gong practitioners were there too. Some held banners calling for “Stop Persecuting Falun Gong”, but more were meditating on their mats over the east lawn of the park. I don’t think I heard them shouting any slogans. […]