Jack Ma Involved in Coercion Attempt
Jack Ma (馬雲), the billionaire co-founder of Alibaba (阿里巴巴), was enlisted as part of a Chinese government effort to coerce an unnamed Chinese businessman to return home from France. Tactics used to coerce the man included phone calls, the arrest of his sister, and the issuing of an international alert through Interpol. They culminated in a phone call from Ma in April 2021 that sought to directly persuade him to return to China.
Uncovered as part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ China Targets project, these influence attempts were documented by a French court. Transcripts from the call revealed that the businessman was being offered absolution for a financial crime if he was to return to China to help in the prosecution of former deputy security minister Sun Lijun (孫力軍).
The Guardian — one of the media organizations involved in the project — described the court transcripts as providing “a rare insight into some of the methods used by the Chinese regime to exert its influence around the world.”
Jack Ma stopped making public appearances in China in 2020 after criticizing the Chinese banking sector. This February he reappeared at an event where Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met with business leaders, sparking discussion about a return to favour.
Protesters’ Rights Regularly Infringed During Xi Jinping Visits
The same China Targets project also found that during at least seven of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) international trips between 2019 and 2024, local police infringed on protesters’ rights while attempting to protect him from dissent.
Activists were detained or arrested “for reasons including requesting permission to protest, practicing a spiritual movement banned in China or peacefully holding a sign on a city street,” Nicole Sadek, an investigator for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, summarized on X.
“What the Chinese government wants is that when they visit these governments, nobody ever actually says anything,” Maya Wang (王松蓮), associate China director at Human Rights Watch said.
European Authority Fines TikTok
At the start of May, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined Chinese-owned TikTok €530 million ($601 million) for breaking data protection regulations by transferring European user data to China.
A statement said TikTok had infringed on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, the law that governs the protection of personal data of individuals within the EU. It also said that TikTok had submitted “erroneous” information to the inquiry, claiming it had not stored European Economic Area User Data on servers located in China.
“The decision includes administrative fines totaling €530 million and an order requiring TikTok to bring its processing into compliance within 6 months,” the statement explained.
For its part, TikTok disagreed with the decision and said it would appeal. “The [Data Protection Commission] itself recorded in its report what TikTok has consistently said: it has never received a request for European user data from the Chinese authorities, and has never provided European user data to them,” it said in a statement of its own.
Dozens of Rights Organizations Call for Release of Chinese Journalist
Dozens of rights organizations, including Amnesty International, have called for the immediate release of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan (张展). Zhang was released from prison after four years in June last year, having been jailed for covering the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, but she was then re-arrested. NGO sources cited in a joint statement by rights organizations have now confirmed Zhang is set to be tried for ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ — a charge used against journalists, writers and human rights defenders.
“Zhang Zhan’s arbitrary detention is a mockery of China’s international human rights obligations to ensure humane prison conditions. Furthermore, Zhang Zhan has committed no internationally recognisable offence, but has been subjected to harsh punishment for reporting on facts and exercising her right to freedom of expression,” the statement said.
Call for Panchen Lama’s Release
Human Rights Watch has called for the release of the 11th Panchen Lama Gendun Choki Nyima and his parents, whom Chinese authorities forcibly disappeared 30 years ago this month. The Panchen Lama is a religious position that plays a key role in recognizing the successor to the Dalai Lama, the most important religious leader in Tibet.
Gendun Choki Nyima was forcibly disappeared by the Chinese government at the age of 6, three days after the Dalai Lama had identified him as the Panchen Lama.
“Concerned governments, especially those with significant Buddhist populations, such as Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, and India, should mark the 30th anniversary of the Panchen Lama’s enforced disappearance by speaking out publicly and by asserting the rights of Tibetans to exercise their religious freedom,” Human Rights Watch said.
China Lifts Sanctions on EU Members of Parliament
At the end of April, China lifted sanctions on four members of the European Parliament and members of its subcommittee on human rights. The sanctions were originally placed on the individuals in 2021, as a response to measures against Chinese officials accused of orchestrating mass detentions of Muslim Uyghurs. The lifting of sanctions is thought to be an effort to unlock trade talks between China and the EU. However, six individuals from an initial 10 remain under sanction.
U.S. Lawmakers Call for Delisting
John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House China committee, and Senator Rick Scott, also a Republican, have called on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to delist Chinese companies such as Alibaba, which they say have links to the Chinese government.
“These entities benefit from American investor capital while advancing the strategic objectives of the Chinese Communist party … supporting military modernisation and gross human rights violations,” they wrote in a joint letter.
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