China: Communism Means Zero Freedom Of Expression – OpEd
While the world watches the race of competition between the USA and China in imposing tariffs on products from other countries, even more, perhaps more substantial differences than those in the management of the economic policy of the two countries are coming to light. These differences have to do with freedom of speech and respect for human rights.
In the West (which until recently, no matter how difficult it is to admit, was dominated by woke culture), we have such freedom of speech that allows us to openly disagree either through statements in the media or through the freedom of assembly with the ills of the government and society.
To the perception of some that the capitalist states of Europe, which follow developments in America with a twenty-year delay, are restricting freedom of speech, the latest developments of blatant human rights violations by the communist state of China provide the best response.
The Chinese government imposed systematic repression of human rights across the country in 2024, Human Rights Watch stated in the Global Report 2025 in early March. The repression of fundamental human rights was particularly severe in the Tibetan regions and in Xinjiang among the Uyghurs.
Human Rights Watch examined human rights practices in more than 100 countries in a 546-page global report, in its 35th edition. In much of the world, Executive Director Tirana Hassan writes in her introductory essay, “the government of China repressed and unlawfully detained and imprisoned political opponents, activists, and journalists. Armed groups and government forces unlawfully killed civilians, displaced many from their homes, and obstructed access to humanitarian aid.”
“From freedom of expression to religious freedoms, the Chinese government maintains a suffocating control over the country throughout 2024,” said Maya Wang, Deputy Director of China at Human Rights Watch. She added that “the Chinese government has imposed even stricter abusive laws and has imprisoned critics and rights defenders, while making it increasingly difficult to report government abuses across the country.”
What are the living conditions under Xi Jinping’s regime? The truth is that there is no independent civil society, nor freedom of expression, assembly, unionization, or religion, and human rights defenders and other perceived government critics are persecuted. The government considers culturally and ethnically distinct Tibetans and Uyghurs as threats and subjects them to particularly severe repression. Hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs remain imprisoned as part of the government’s crimes against humanity in the region. It has also terminated long-protected individual freedoms in Hong Kong. Beyond the Uyghurs, of course, religious minorities are also in the crosshairs of the Communist Party.
The Chinese government allows people to practice only five officially recognized religions in approved venues and maintains control over personnel appointments, publications, finances, and applications for theological schools.
The concept of minority protection is an unknown notion in China. The police systematically arrest, detain, and harass leaders and members of various “illegal” religious groups, including those Catholic and Protestant communities (or “house churches”) that refuse to join the official churches, and disrupt their peaceful activities. Throughout 2024, these individuals were charged and convicted of fabricated crimes. In July, Zhang Qingli, leader of a house church called the Ren’ai Reformed Church, was sentenced to five years in prison for “inciting subversion” and “fraud.” The government continues to classify certain religious groups, particularly Falun Gong, as “evil cults” and subjects their members to harassment, arbitrary detention, and torture.
In October, the Vatican renewed the 2018 China-Vatican agreement for the third time, which gives Chinese authorities the power to appoint Catholic bishops, while they continue to persecute Catholic house churches and their leaders, particularly Bishop Cui Tai.
The novel 1984 by George Orwell unfortunately aligns in many ways with the curtailment of freedom of speech by the administration of Xi Jinping. The Chinese government controls all major information channels, such as television, radio, and print publications. The “Great Firewall” blocks people in China from accessing information that is usually available on the internet. It also imposes ideological control on the educational system.
While most people in China usually self-censor, certain stories—those that do not challenge the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party—occasionally reach the wider public. An investigative report by a Chinese media outlet on cooking oil contamination in July and the post by Chinese lawyer Yi Se-gua in August revealing an illegal human organ trade drew widespread public attention. Official censorship and penalties quickly followed.
There have been many instances of censorship throughout the year. In January, the Shanghai police arrested director Chen Pinlin (“Plato”) for a documentary about the 2022 White Paper protests.
The authorities continued to update the country’s censorship and surveillance regime to increase control. In February, the Official Secrets Act was revised, and the implementation regulations were published in July, extending the already overly broad scope of the law. In July, the government proposed a new national digital identity system. The cards, which are ostensibly optional, would give state agencies even more capability to monitor people online and offline.
Previously tolerated topics have become forbidden. With the Chinese economy faltering, the government has banned discussions about its economic policies and punished those who criticize them. In September, a top economist from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences disappeared after criticizing President Xi’s economic policies in a private WeChat group. Also in September, Beijing police detained artist Zhao Zhen, who resides in the U.S. and is known for his work criticizing the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, for “slandering the heroes and martyrs of China” during his visit to the country. Both topics—the economic policies of China and the destructive legacy of Mao—were subjects that could be openly discussed in China until recently.
The stringent information control by the Chinese government has international implications, as it has targeted exiled critics of China. Among them are intellectuals who cannot find fertile ground in China and leave for abroad where they broadcast what they have experienced. However, Chinese government officials often find them even abroad. The journalist nicknamed “Master Li,” who collects news and videos from all over China and broadcasts them on X, revealed that he had been harassed in Italy, where he resides. The Chinese police had also interrogated his followers in China. In August 2024, investigative reports revealed how individuals connected to the Chinese government had intimidated and attacked Chinese, Hong Kong, and Tibetan protesters during Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco earlier.
The nine-year sentence of Taiwanese political activist Yang Chih-yuan for “separatism” by the Chinese government and the suspended death sentence of naturalized Australian writer Yang Hengjun for “espionage” have caused widespread global attention. In February 2022, it was found that the prestigious Hugo Award for science fiction had self-censored and excluded certain authors from consideration for the 2023 award before the ceremony in China.
The French Enlightenment thinker Voltaire said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” or “I do not agree with a word you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say what you believe.” Certainly, the Western capitalist society we live in is not perfect, as there are significant areas for improvement in the realm of the welfare state. However, looking at examples of communist countries like China, we understand that the beginning and end of change lie in the fundamental individual political right of a person to freely criticize the wrongdoings of the regime they live under. After all, this characteristic is the most important aspect of our human existence: the right to self-negation and negation in general.
