Washington, DC [US], August 13 : The Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) has welcomed new research examining what it described as the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) expanding efforts to control, intimidate and silence Uyghurs beyond China's borders, according to a report by CFU.
The research was conducted by Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow and Director of China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), and Muetter Tohti, a China Studies Researcher at VOC.
Titled "If You Fly to the Sky, I Can Catch You by Your Feet": Beijing's Transnational Authoritarian Control of Uyghur Diaspora Research and Documentation Efforts, the study examines the CCP's targeting of Uyghur researchers, activists, witnesses and diaspora communities, as cited by the CFU report.
According to CFU, the researchers found that Beijing's approach has evolved beyond commonly recognised forms of transnational repression. The study introduces the broader concept of "Transnational Authoritarian Control" and identifies three interconnected methods used by the CCP: transnational repression through coercion, transnational co-optation through incentives, and transnational legitimation through information and narrative manipulation.
Drawing on interviews with Uyghurs in North America, Europe and Turkiye, as well as internal Chinese government documents, the research examines how these methods work together to restrict Uyghur activism and advocacy outside China, according to the CFU report.
The study states that transnational repression can involve physical harassment, threats against activists and their relatives, surveillance, espionage and infiltration of governments and Uyghur diaspora communities.
Transnational co-optation, meanwhile, involves the use of incentives such as scholarships, business opportunities and restored access to passports or family members to encourage compliance or discourage criticism.
The third method, described as transnational legitimation, involves propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of narratives aimed at discrediting critics and promoting favourable portrayals of China, the CFU report said.
According to the research cited by CFU, these combined tactics can have several consequences for Uyghur communities and human rights advocates. These include obstructing the collection of evidence, creating fear and encouraging self-censorship, discrediting researchers, causing psychological distress and weakening cohesion within the wider Uyghur diaspora.
Rushan Abbas, Executive Director of the Campaign for Uyghurs, said the repression faced by Uyghurs does not end at China's borders. Referring to her sister, Gulshan Abbas, she said her sister has been imprisoned for nearly eight years and alleged that her detention was linked to her own exercise of the right to free expression.
Abbas said her family had lived with the uncertainty of not knowing when her sister would be released. According to the CFU report, she added that the new research provides a clearer understanding of the human cost of what she described as Beijing's expanding and evolving methods of control over Uyghur diaspora communities.
The research proposes a broader framework for understanding what it calls Transnational Authoritarian Control, examining how the CCP allegedly employs tactics that can significantly affect Uyghurs and diaspora communities while limiting international scrutiny, according to CFU.
The study argues that such methods can weaken human rights advocacy and research while making activities conducted outside China more difficult to identify and counter.
CFU said the new research could help governments and civil society organisations better understand how Beijing is adapting its efforts to exert influence and control beyond Chinese territory.
The organisation called on the international community to strengthen protections for Uyghur activists, researchers, witnesses and diaspora communities and to recognise the range of tactics allegedly used to silence them.
CFU further stressed the need to ensure that Uyghurs living outside China can speak freely, document alleged human rights abuses and pursue accountability without fear of retaliation from Beijing, as cited by the CFU report.
The claims regarding the CCP's activities and methods of transnational control cited in the article are based on the research and allegations referenced in the Campaign for Uyghurs report.