China has developed a sophisticated system of transnational repression aimed at silencing critics abroad, particularly targeting the Uyghur Muslim diaspora. This strategy combines cyber warfare, diplomatic pressure, and manipulation of international institutions, effectively extending Beijing’s authoritarian reach well beyond its borders. For thousands of Uyghurs who fled persecution in Xinjiang, exile no longer guarantees safety or freedom; instead, it has become a new landscape of fear and control.
A 2021 report by the Uyghur Human Rights Project titled *Your Family Will Suffer* exposes a sprawling campaign of intimidation orchestrated by Chinese security services across 22 countries since 2002. This campaign intensified sharply after the 2017 mass internment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Researchers documented over 5,500 cases of what they describe as “stage-one repression,” including online harassment, digital surveillance, and direct threats. These acts are coordinated attempts to monitor, silence, and coerce Uyghurs living abroad.
A global survey of Uyghurs residing in North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific highlighted the extent of this digital repression. An overwhelming 96% of respondents reported feeling digitally unsafe, and 74% had personally faced cyber harassment or hacking attempts. In Australia, activist Nurgul Sawut experienced a barrage of fake social media profiles and automated botnets flooding her Facebook with defamatory posts while her devices were infected with spyware. Following this harassment, her family in Xinjiang was detained, and she was placed on a Chinese “terror suspect” list.
Cybersecurity experts have traced Chinese malware embedded in trojanized Uyghur-language apps and religious texts. Four major types of spyware—SilkBean, DoubleAgent, CarbonSteal, and GoldenEagle—have been identified. These malicious programs can remotely activate microphones, read encrypted messages, track locations, and take full control of devices. Even travel has become a vector for digital entrapment: in 2019, Chinese border guards were caught installing spyware on visitors’ phones, extracting contacts, emails, and messages. The collected data feeds into national databases tracking Uyghur movements worldwide.
One of the most devastating tactics employed by Beijing is the use of Uyghurs’ family members as hostages to enforce compliance. In Japan, a man known only as Yusup was contacted by the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau via WeChat. When he refused to spy on fellow activists, the officer warned that his family would suffer. Shortly after, his relatives in Xinjiang were subjected to interrogation and threats. In the United States, Rushan Abbas, a rights activist who publicly condemned China’s mass detentions in 2018, saw her sister Gulshan Abbas arrested and later sentenced to 20 years in prison on fabricated terrorism charges. Similar coercion is reported across Europe, with Uyghurs in Belgium and the Netherlands receiving video calls from relatives speaking under duress or facing death threats for their activism.
China has also weaponized Interpol, the global policing network, to target dissidents abroad. Dolkun Isa, president of the World Uyghur Congress, was subjected to a politically motivated Red Notice for over a decade, restricting his international travel until it was revoked in 2018. Experts warn that Chinese authorities often disguise these notices as financial crime cases to avoid international scrutiny. Policy analysts liken this approach to “using a pin through a butterfly,” a tactic that immobilizes exiles through bureaucratic means while allowing China to maintain plausible deniability.
International responses to China’s transnational repression have been inconsistent and limited in impact. In July 2020, the United States imposed Global Magnitsky sanctions on four individuals and the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, marking the first time a Chinese Politburo member—Chen Quanguo—faced U.S. sanctions. In March 2021, coordinated sanctions by the U.S., European Union, United Kingdom, and Canada targeted four senior Chinese officials for crimes including arbitrary detention, torture, and cultural destruction. This represented the EU’s first punitive action against China since the 1989 Tiananmen Square embargo. Beijing retaliated by sanctioning ten European lawmakers and academics. However, accountability remains incomplete: notably, Chen Quanguo, the architect of the Xinjiang crackdown, was exempted from joint sanctions. According to the watchdog group Freedom House, China now operates the world’s most advanced network of transnational repression, with activities traced to at least 43 countries.
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