Overseas censorship of Chinese issues
Part of a series on | ||
Censorship by country | ||
---|---|---|
![]() | ||
Countries | ||
|
||
See also | ||
|
||
Overseas censorship of Chinese issues refers to censorship outside the People's Republic of China of topics considered sensitive by the ruling Chinese Communist Party. Censored topics include the political status of Taiwan, human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang internment camps and the Uyghur genocide, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests, the COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China and the PRC government's pandemic response, the persecution of Falun Gong, and more general issues related to human rights in China.
Censorship is undertaken by foreign companies wishing to do business in China, a growing phenomenon given the country's market size and enormous consumer base.[1][2][3][4][5] Companies seeking to avoid offending the Chinese regime and Chinese customers have engaged in self-censorship, as well as disciplining of staff that have offended the regime.[1] When pressured by the Chinese regime, some companies have apologized or made statements in support of the regime's policies.[6][7]
The PRC government pays 50 Cent Party operatives and encourages "Little Pink" nationalist netizens to combat any perceived dissent against its position on Chinese issues, including opposing any foreign expressions of support for protesters or perceived separatist movements, with the country's "Patriotic Education campaign" since the 1990s emphasising the dangers of foreign influence and the country's century of humiliation by outside powers.[8][9]
Censorship of overseas services is also undertaken by companies based in China, such as WeChat[10][11] and TikTok.[12] Chinese citizens living abroad as well as family residing in China have also been subject to threats to their employment, education, pension, and business opportunities if they engage in expression critical of the Chinese government or its policies.[13] With limited pushback by foreign governments and organisations, these issues have led to growing concern about self-censorship, compelled speech and a chilling effect on free speech in other countries.[14][15][16]
Censored topics[]
Tibet (including human rights in Tibet, the Central Tibetan Administration and the Dalai Lama)
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
Taiwan (including Taiwan independence movement, One Country on Each Side principle and other challenges to the One-China policy)
"Cults" such as Falun Gong
Criticism of the Communist Party of China (including by the Chinese democracy movement)
Traditionally foreign companies wishing to do business in China needed to avoid references to "The Three Ts and Two Cs": Tibet, Taiwan, the Tiananmen Square massacre, "cults" such as Falun Gong, and criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.[17][18][19] This included related topics such as the Dalai Lama who the Chinese government considers a subversive Tibetan "splittist" and opposes any expressions of support from foreign governments or organisations.[20]
In the early 21st century, companies faced potential backlash on a broader range of issues relating to China, such as failing to include Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan as part of China on their websites in violation of the One China Policy.[17] Further sensitive topics include: comments about leader Xi Jinping's weight,[21] including comparisons to rotund children's character Winnie the Pooh;[22] the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, disregard of the Chinese government's Nine-Dash Line in the South China Sea dispute; the government's genocide of Muslim Uyghurs and use of Xinjiang internment camps;[23][24][25][26] expressions of support for the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests,[27] and the government's censorship of the COVID-19 pandemic.[28][29]
Academia[]
There is growing concern that the Chinese government is trying to silence its critics abroad, particularly in academic settings.[30] Historically censorship in China was contained within the country's borders, but following the ascension of Xi Jinping to General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in 2012, the focus has expanded to silencing dissent and criticism abroad, particularly in academia.[31]
There have been a number of incidents of Chinese students studying abroad in Western universities seeking to censor academics or students who espouse views inconsistent with the official Chinese Communist Party position. This includes intimidation and violence against Auckland University and University of Queensland protesters demonstrating in support of Hong Kong and Uyghurs,[32][33] challenging lecturers whose course materials do not follow the One China Policy by listing Hong Kong and Taiwan as separate countries,[34] and tearing down Lennon Walls in support of the Hong Kong democracy movement.[35]
In 2019 the PRC Consul-General in Brisbane, Xu Jie, faced legal proceedings by Drew Pavlou, a student who had organised a demonstration in support of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. Pavlou alleged that Jie incited death threats by accusing him of "anti-Chinese separatism".[36] The court dismissed the suit on the basis of diplomatic immunity.[37] Pavlou was later suspended for two years by the university over allegations of discriminatory bullying and harassment of university staff and students, which he claimed was intended to silence his criticism of the university's close links to the PRC and reliance on Chinese student tuition fees.[38]
Academics in British universities teaching on Chinese topics were also warned by the Chinese government to support the Chinese Communist Party or be refused entry to the country. Professors who disregarded the warnings to speak more positively about the CCP have had their visas cancelled which prevents them from doing fieldwork in China.[39]
American universities have engaged in self-censorship on Chinese issues, including North Carolina State University cancelling a visit by the Dalai Lama in 2009 and University of Maryland Chinese student Yang Shuping apologising after harsh reaction to her commencement speech praising the "fresh air" of democracy and freedom in the United States.[40] In November 2019, Columbia University cancelled a panel on human rights in China titled "Panopticism with Chinese Characteristics: Human rights violations by the Chinese Communist Party and how they affect the world."[41] Panel organizers criticized the university for allegedly compromising academic freedom by acquiescing to undue influence and threats of disturbances.[42]
In March 2021 British Uyghur expert Joanne Smith Finley was sanctioned by China after she referred to the situation in Xinjiang as a genocide in comments given to the Associated Press.[43]
In July 2021 more than 100 winners of the Nobel Prize published an open statement rebuking the Chinese government for pressuring the National Academy of Sciences to rescind a speaking invitation they had extended to Taiwanese Nobel Chemistry Prize winner Yuan Lee.[44]
Confucius Institutes[]
Concerns have been raised about the activities of Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes in western universities, which are subject to rules set by Beijing-based Hanban that prevent the discussion of sensitive topics including Tibet, Tiananmen Square and Taiwan.[45] Institute learning materials also omit instances of humanitarian catastrophes under the Chinese Communist Party such as the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution.[46] Foreign Policy has likened Confucius Institutes to the "anaconda in the chandelier"; by their mere presence, they impact what staff and students feel safe discussing which leads to self-censorship.[46] American critics include FBI director Christopher Wray and politicians Seth Moulton, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.[47]
Human Rights Watch considers the Confucius Institutes to be extensions of the Chinese government that prioritise political loyalty in their hiring decisions.[45][48]
Concerns arose following the 2014 Braga incident, in which materials for the Hanban-sponsored European Association for Chinese Studies 2014 conference in Braga were stolen and censored on the orders of Xu Lin, Director-General of Hanban and Chief Executive of the Confucius Institute Headquarters. Lin ordered the removal of references to Taiwanese academic institutions on the basis that they were "contrary to Chinese regulations",[49] which the Wall Street Journal described as a "bullying approach to academic freedom".[50] The incident led to a number of universities banning Confucius Institutes from their campuses,[51] including Stockholm University, Copenhagen Business School, Stuttgart Media University, the University of Hohenheim, the University of Lyon, the University of Chicago, Pennsylvania University, the University of Michigan and McMaster University.[52] Public schools in Toronto and New South Wales have also ceased their involvement in the program.[53][54]
In 2019 media reports emerged that four of the University of Queensland's courses relating to China had been funded by the local Confucius Institute, with the university's senate ending such deals in May 2019.[55] The university's vice-chancellor, Peter Høj, had previously been a senior consultant to Hanban.[55]
Several Confucius Institute contracts included clauses requiring the host university to follow Confucius Institute Headquarters' edicts on "teaching quality", raising concerns about foreign influence and academic freedom.[56] In 2020 the University of Melbourne and University of Queensland renegotiated their contracts to safeguard teaching autonomy in light of new Federal government laws requiring transparency on foreign influence.[57]
Chinese Students and Scholars Association[]
The Chinese Students and Scholars Association has branches in various overseas university campuses.[58][59] Many, though not all, of the associations are partly funded by, and report back to, the local Chinese Embassy.[60][59] One of the aims of the Association is to "love the motherland".[59] There is a history of branches pressuring their host university to cancel talks relating to Tibet, the Chinese democracy movement, Uyghurs and the Hong Kong protests.[61][62]
The McMaster University branch in Canada had its club status revoked in 2019 after coordinating its opposition to a speech by Uyghur activist Rukiye Turdush with the local Chinese consulate, including sending back footage, in violation of student union rules.[62][63] The Adelaide University branch was deregistered for failing to follow democratic procedures.[59]
Airlines[]
In 2018, the Civil Aviation Administration of China sent letters to 44 international airlines demanding that they cease referring[64] to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as separate countries on their websites, or risk being classified as "severely untrustworthy" and subject to sanctions.[65] Despite being criticised by the United States government as "Orwellian nonsense", all airlines complied.[66] In 2020, Taiwan News reported that Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had convinced 22 airlines to undo the change.[67]
Airline | Date | Details |
---|---|---|
American Airlines | July 2018 | The American carrier stopped listing Taiwan as a country on its website.[68] |
Delta Air Lines | July 2018 | The American carrier stopped listing Taiwan as a country on its website.[68] |
Qantas | 4 June 2018 | The Australian carrier announced it would list Taiwan as a Chinese province rather than a separate country on its website,[69] after earlier stating that listing Taiwan and Hong Kong as countries on its website was an "oversight".[70] |
United Airlines | July 2018 | The American carrier stopped listing Taiwan as a country on its website.[68] |
Film industry[]
Hollywood producers generally seek to comply with the Chinese government's censorship requirements in a bid to access the country's restricted and lucrative cinema market, with the second-largest box office in the world as of 2019.[71][72]
This includes prioritising sympathetic portrayals of Chinese characters in movies, such as changing the villains in Red Dawn from Chinese to North Korean and making Chinese scientists the saviors of civilisation in the disaster film 2012.[72] Similarly, the 2019 DreamWorks animated film Abominable included the PRC's nine-dash line in a map of the South China Sea shown during the movie, which resulted in the film being banned in Vietnam, Malaysia and The Philippines as it disputes the PRC's claim.[73]
In 2016, Marvel Entertainment attracted criticism for its decision to cast Tilda Swinton as the "Ancient One" in the film adaptation Doctor Strange, using a white woman to play a traditionally Tibetan character.[74][75] The film's co-writer, C. Robert Cargill, stated in an interview that this was done to avoid angering China:[76]
The Ancient One was a racist stereotype who comes from a region of the world that is in a very weird political place. He originates from Tibet, so if you acknowledge that Tibet is a place and that he's Tibetan, you risk alienating one billion people who think that that's bullshit and risk the Chinese government going, "Hey, you know one of the biggest film-watching countries in the world? We're not going to show your movie because you decided to get political."
Although Tibet was previously a cause célèbre in Hollywood, featuring in films including Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet, in the 21st century this is no longer the case.[77] Actor and high-profile Tibet supporter Richard Gere stated that he was no longer welcome to participate in mainstream Hollywood films after criticising the PRC government in 1993, acting in a 1997 film critical of the PRC's legal system (Red Corner), and calling for a boycott of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.[77][78]
During the promotional tour of Justin Lin's F9 in 2021, John Cena referred to Taiwan as "a country". He was subsequently forced to issue an apology on social media due to China's insistence that it considers Taiwan a part of China.[79]
Video games[]
Censorship affects global releases of Chinese games, or non-Chinese games that are available for Chinese players.[80] This affects content available to players outside China. For example, the chat in the international, English-language Chinese game Genshin Impact censors not only swear words but also words such as Taiwan, Tibet, Hong, Kong, Falun Gong, Stalin, Hitler and Putin.[81][82] A study of about 200 Chinese games found out that over 180,000 words have been subject to blacklisting.[83] Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, many companies, including many outside China like Riot Games, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, GOG and Krafton, tend to avoid commenting on this issue, preferring silence to the risk of offending either the Chinese authorities or their critics.[84]
International organisations[]
China strongly opposes the participation of Taiwan in international organisations as a violation of the One China Principle, and Taiwan may only participate in international bodies as "Chinese Taipei" or "Taiwan, China".[85][86][87]
Chinese Taipei was initially agreed under the Nagoya Resolution as the name to be used for the Taiwanese team at the Olympic Games since the 1980s. Under PRC pressure, Taiwan is referred to by other international organisations under different names, such as "Taiwan Province of China" by the International Monetary Fund and "Taiwan District" by the World Bank.[87] The PRC government has also pressured international beauty pageants including Miss World, Miss Universe and Miss Earth to only allow Taiwanese contestants competing under the designation "Miss Chinese Taipei" rather than "Miss Taiwan".[88][89]
In January 2020, as the coronavirus epidemic expanded beyond China's borders and international commentators criticized Taiwan's exclusion from various United Nations agencies, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) blocked numerous Twitter accounts – including ones belonging to Capitol Hill staffers and D.C.-based analysts – after facing online criticism for excluding Taiwan from membership. Both ICAO and their Twitter account were run by Chinese nationals.[90]
On 23 September 2020, Wikimedia's application for the status as an official observer at the World Intellectual Property Organization was rejected by Chinese government because China's representative claimed that they had "spotted a large amount of content and disinformation in violation of [the] One China principle" on webpages affiliated with Wikimedia, and Wikimedia's Taiwan branch has been "carrying out political activities… which could undermine the state’s sovereignty and territorial integrity".[91]
Journalism[]
The PRC limits press freedom, with Xi Jinping telling state media outlets in 2016 that the Chinese Communist Party expects their "absolute loyalty".[92] In Hong Kong, inconvenient journalists face censorship by stealth through targeted violence, arrests, withdrawal of official advertising and/or dismissal.[93] Foreign journalists also face censorship given the ease with which their articles can be translated and shared across the country.[94]
Foreign journalists have reported rising official interference with their work, with a 2016 Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China survey finding 98% considered reporting conditions failed to meet international standards.[95] Interference includes withholding a visa to work in the country, harassment and violence by secret police and requiring press conference questions to be submitted for pre-screening.[95] Journalists also reported that local sources who speak to them face harassment, intimidation or detention by government officials, leading to a decreased willingness to cooperate with journalists.[95] Foreign journalists also face hacking of their email accounts by the PRC to discover their sources.[93]
The 2017 results indicated increasing violence and obstruction, with BBC reporter Matthew Goddard being punched by assailants who attempted to steal his equipment after he refused to show them footage taken.[96] In 2017, 73% of foreign journalists reported being restricted or prohibited from reporting in Xinjiang, up from 42% in 2016.[96] Journalists also reported more pressure from PRC diplomats on their headquarters to delete stories.[96]
Visas have been denied to a number of foreign journalists who wrote articles displeasing to the PRC government, such as the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. Expelled journalists include L'Obs reporter Ursula Gauthier, Al Jazeera journalist Melissa Chan in 2012, Buzzfeed China bureau chief Megha Rajagopalan in 2018, and Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian, who was denied a visa in 2019 after being hired by AFP.[97][98]
As a result of increasing intimidation and the threat of being denied a visa, foreign journalists operating in China have increasingly engaged in self-censorship.[94] Topics avoided by journalists include Xinjiang, Tibet and Falun Gong.[94] Despite this, controversial stories continue to be published on occasion, such as the hidden wealth of political elites including Wen Jiabao[99] and Xi Jinping.[100][94]
The PRC government has also increasingly sought to influence public opinion abroad by hiring foreign reporters for state media outlets and paying for officially sanctioned "China Watch" inserts to be included in overseas newspapers including The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and the Daily Telegraph.[101]
In April 2021 a diplomatic controversy arose between Sweden and China when Jojje Olsson, a Swedish journalist posted in Taiwan, published a series of threatening and abusive letters sent to him by the Chinese Embassy in Sweden.[102]
Diplomacy and foreign relations[]
Since Xi Jinping took control over foreign affairs for the People's Republic of China, the regime has adopted "a truculent posture"[103] in international relations, including what is said about China or its interests. The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has observed that "Xi doesn’t want to censor information just in his own country; he also wants to censor our own discussions in the West."[104] A key example is how Beijing opposes any meeting by foreign politicians with the Dalai Lama, even in a personal capacity.[105] However, its response differs depending on the political leaders and nations involved.
Australia[]
By November 2019 the PRC refused travel visas to Australian politicians Andrew Hastie and James Paterson after they criticised the Chinese Communist Party, its interference in Australian politics and its poor human rights record.[106] The Chinese Embassy stated that the pair needed to "repent" before they would be allowed into the country, which Hastie and Paterson refused.[107]
Canada[]
In 2015 the PRC detained then deported a Chinese-Canadian politician Richard Lee on the basis he had "endangered national security" by speaking out against PRC interference in Canadian politics.[108]
Czechia[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c2/Zden%C4%9Bk_H%C5%99ib_and_Joseph_Wu_on_1_April_2019.jpg/220px-Zden%C4%9Bk_H%C5%99ib_and_Joseph_Wu_on_1_April_2019.jpg)
Soon after becoming mayor of Prague, Zdeněk Hřib hosted a meeting of foreign diplomats, and was asked by the Chinese ambassador to expel the Taiwanese representative. He refused to do so.[109] China pointed out that Prague had already agreed to a One-China policy when the previous mayor had entered an agreement to make Beijing Prague's twin city.[110][111] When, Hřib asked to renegotiate the agreement, China cut off contact, refusing to reply to letters or emails, threatening to withhold funds for a Prague soccer club and unilaterally canceled the Prague Symphony Orchestra's China tour, moves which Hřib described as "bullying."[110][112] In January 2020, Hřib ended Prague's city-to-city agreement with Beijing, creating a new agreement with Taipei instead.[113] When Czech Senator Jaroslav Kubera announced plans to visit Taiwan, China announced that "Czech companies whose representatives visit Taiwan with chairman Kubera will not be welcome in China or with the Chinese people."[114] Shortly after receiving this threat, Kubera died of a heart attack.[110]
European Union[]
In 2021 China imposed sanctions on five members of the European Parliament and members of the EU human rights and security committee because of EU statements and action regarding the repression of the Uyghurs.[115]
Germany[]
In 2016, the Chinese Ambassador to Germany "put massive pressure" on the Chairman of the Bundestag's Human Rights Committee, Michael Brand, a member of the conservative CDU party, in connection to his work exposing human rights abuses in Tibet. He later said, "self-censorship is out of the question."[116]
In August 2019, a delegation of the German Bundestag due to visit China had all their visas blocked as one of its members, Margarete Bause, a Green, is a vocal supporter of the Muslim Uyghur minority. She believes that to be "an attempt at silencing parliamentarians who support human rights loudly and clearly."[117]
Japan[]
In June 2021 China lodged diplomatic and public protests after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga referred to Taiwan as a country. According to spokesperson Wang Wenbin "China expresses strong dissatisfaction with Japan's erroneous remarks and has lodged a solemn protest against Japan."[118]
Lithuania[]
In March 2021 China blacklisted Lithuanian MP because of comments she made regarding human rights.[119]
New Zealand[]
Jenny Shipley was Prime Minister of New Zealand and, after leaving politics, served as a director of China Construction Bank global board for six years from 2007 to 2013, then as Chair of China Construction Bank New Zealand up until 31 March 2019. In a case of what may be compelled speech, rather than restricted speech, the former Prime Minister appeared to write an opinion piece, "We need to learn to listen to China"[120] in the Communist Party controlled newspaper, People's Daily. It contained strong endorsements of current Chinese foreign policy, such as "The belt and road initiative (BRI) proposed by China is one of the greatest ideas we’ve ever heard globally. It is a forward-looking idea, and in my opinion, it has the potential to create the next wave of economic growth."[121] Ms Shipley later denied ever writing the article."[122]
In May 2020 efforts were made to silence criticism of China by Winston Peters, the current serving Foreign Minister of New Zealand. Matthew Hooton, a columnist at The New Zealand Herald threatened that Peters should be sacked if he insults China one more time.[123]
Sweden[]
On 15 November 2019 the Culture Minister of Sweden, Amanda Lind, went against the wishes of the Chinese Communist Party leadership and awarded Gui Minhai the PEN Tucholsky prize in absentia.[124] Mr Gui, a Chinese-born Swedish citizen[125] had published poetry critical of communist China and was said to be preparing a book about the love life of Xi Jinping[126] and had been arrested by Chinese security agents whilst being accompannied by Swedish diplomats on a train from Shanghai to Beijing.[127] Following the award, China's embassy in Stockholm released a statement saying that Minister Lind's attendance was "a serious mistake" and that "wrong deeds will only meet with bad consequences."[125] In the days afterwards China's Ambassador to Sweden, Gui Congyou, announced that "two large delegations of businessmen who were planning to travel to Sweden have cancelled their trip"[128] Ms Lind has already been threatened with a ban on entering China if she went ahead with the prize giving.[125] Later that month the Ambassador later gave an interview on Swedish public radio in which he said, "We treat our friends with fine wine, but for our enemies we have shotguns."[129]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b0/Vachirawit_Chivaaree_at_GMMTV_2021_event.jpeg/220px-Vachirawit_Chivaaree_at_GMMTV_2021_event.jpeg)
Thailand[]
The Chinese Embassy in Bangkok made a statement on 14 April 2020 criticising Thai people who question the One-China Principle.[130][131] The statement came as a response to a Thai actor, Vachirawit "Bright" Chivaaree, who liked a Tweet featuring cityscapes, one being Hong Kong, with a caption describing them as countries.[132] His girlfriend was also found to have shared an Instagram post which suggested that Taiwan is not part of China. This began a "Thai-Chinese Meme War" of 2 million tweets, which, at an early point, forced an apology from the actor.[133] The CCP controlled Global Times claimed Bright's show, 2gether experienced a "backlash" in China, as had his follower count on Sina Weibo.[134] However, the incident had the effect of creating, according to Reuters, "The Milk Tea Alliance" which has become a grassroots democracy movement in Thailand, Taiwan and Hong Kong.[135][136]
United Kingdom[]
In 2019, the Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom warned that country's politicians against adopting a "colonial mindset" and observing limits in their comments on issues such as the Hong Kong protests and South China Sea dispute with China's neighbours.[137] China later suspended the Stock Connect link between the Shanghai and London stock exchanges, in part due to the United Kingdom's support for Hong Kong protesters.[138]
Publishing[]
Cambridge University Press drew criticism in 2017 for removing articles from its China Quarterly covering topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the Cultural Revolution to avoid having its Chinese operations shut down.[139][140] Attempts of censorship are documented for Brill and Taylor & Francis.[141] Springer Nature also acceded to Chinese demands to censor articles relating to Chinese politics, Taiwan, Tibet and human rights.[142][143] In August 2020, Springer Nature was reported to have rejected the publication of an article at the behest of its co-publisher, Wenzhou Medical University, from a Taiwanese doctor because the word "China" was not placed after "Taiwan."[144] Springer Nature has removed articles without even informing the authors and refused “to reverse the decision but continuing to justify it as being in the best interests of the global academic community and necessary for the advancement of research.” [145]
In 2017 the Australian publisher Allen & Unwin refused to publish Clive Hamilton's book Silent Invasion about growing Chinese Communist Party influence in Australia, fearing potential legal action from the Chinese government or its local proxies under the auspices of the United Front Work Department.[146][147]
Publishers using Chinese printers have also been subject to local censorship, even for books not intended for sale in China.[148] Books with maps face particular scrutiny, with one Victoria University Press book Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica required to remove the English term "Mount Everest" in favour of the Chinese equivalent "Mount Qomolangma".[148] This has led publishers to consider printers in alternative countries, such as Vietnam.[148]
Whistleblower Edward Snowden criticised Chinese censors for removing passages in the translated version of his book Permanent Record, in which passages about authoritarianism, democracy, freedom of speech and privacy were removed.[149]
Technology companies[]
Several American technology companies cooperate with Chinese government policies, including internet censorship, such as helping authorities build the Great Firewall of China to restrict access to sensitive information.[150] Yahoo! drew controversy after supplying the personal data of its user Shi Tao to the PRC government, resulting in Tao's 10-year imprisonment for "leaking state secrets abroad".[151] In 2006 Microsoft, Google, Yahoo! and Cisco appeared before a congressional inquiry into their Chinese operations where their cooperation with censorship and privacy breaches of individuals faced criticism.[152] U.S. video conferencing company Zoom, which bases most of its research and development team in China, closed the account of a U.S.-based user who held a Zoom vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre.[153][154]
The Chinese government is increasingly pressuring overseas individuals and companies to cooperate with its censorship model, including in relation to overseas communications made by foreign people for non-Chinese audiences.[155]
WeChat, the China-based social media platform owned by Tencent has been described by the BBC as a "powerful weapon of social control".[156][157] WeChat is known to have censoring messages concerning the coronavirus.[158] A report by Citizen Lab found that Tencent also uses the platform for the surveillance of foreign nationals.[156]
In December 2020 WeChat blocked a post by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison during a diplomatic spat between Australia and China. In his WeChat post Morrison had criticized a doctored image posted by a Chinese diplomat and praised the Chinese-Australian community. The company claimed to have blocked the post because it "violated regulations, including distorting historical events and confusing the public."[159]
On 4 June 2021, the 32nd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, searches for the Tank Man image and videos were censored by Microsoft’s Bing search engine worldwide. Hours after Microsoft acknowledged the issue, the search returned only pictures of tanks elsewhere in the world. Search engines that license results from Microsoft such as DuckDuckGo and Yahoo faced similar issues. Microsoft said the issue was "due to an accidental human error."[160][161][162] The director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, said he found the idea it was an inadvertent error "hard to believe". David Greene, Civil Liberties Director at Electronic Frontier Foundation, said that content moderation was impossible to do perfectly and "egregious mistakes are made all the time", but he further elaborated that "At worst, this was purposeful suppression at the request of a powerful state."[163][164]
Apple has allowed political censorship for the Chinese market to spill into other markets.[165]
Sports[]
In 2019 ESPN’s Chuck Salituro, the channel's senior news director, sent an internal memo to staff banning any discussion of political issues concerning China or Hong Kong when covering the controversy of Daryl Morey's tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters.[166]
At the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans car race a Taiwanese team was asked by event organizers to switch the Taiwanese national flag for the Chinese Taipei flag.[167]
Other instances[]
The table below includes notable instances outside China where a government, company or other entity has either censored, or been censored on, a China-related issue.
Entity | Date | Details |
---|---|---|
Microsoft | 4 January 2006 | The company removed the blog of Chinese journalist Zhao Jing from its MSN Spaces website, which was hosted on servers based in the United States.[168] |
Nasdaq | February 2007 | In 2007 Nasdaq's Chinese representative Laurence Pan was detained and interrogated by Chinese state security about access to its exchange by New Tang Dynasty Television, a Falun Gong-linked media organisation. That organisation was subsequently denied access by Nasdaq.[169] |
Eutelsat | 2008 | The media company cut New Tang Dynasty Television's signal to "show a good gesture to the Chinese government".[169] |
Government of Vietnam | 11 November 2011 | The country imprisoned two Falun Gong activists who transmitted radio messages into China for "illegal transmission of information on a telecommunications network".[170] |
Bing | 12 February 2014 | The search engine censored simplified Chinese language results for users in the United States for search terms including "Dalai Lama", "June 4 incident", Falun Gong and anti-censorship tool Freegate.[171] |
4 June 2014 | The company blocked users outside China from viewing content posted by Chinese users that is restricted by the Chinese government.[172] | |
Chou Tzu-yu | 16 January 2016 | The Taiwan-born K-pop singer issued an apology for being pictured with the Taiwanese flag, following sustained online attacks on her and her band Twice by Chinese internet users.[173] |
Microsoft | 22 November 2016 | The company programmed its Chinese language artificial intelligence-based chatbot Xiaobing to avoid discussing sensitive topics such as Tiananmen Square.[174] |
Apple Inc. | 7 January 2017 | The company removed the New York Times app from its Chinese app store following Chinese government advice that it violated local regulations.[175] This led to the company being accused by online advocates of "globalising Chinese censorship".[176] |
Allen & Unwin | 12 November 2017 | The Australian publisher refused to publish Clive Hamilton's book Silent Invasion about growing Chinese Communist Party influence in Australia on the basis that it feared legal action from the Chinese government or its proxies.[146] |
Marriott International | 12 January 2018 | The hotel chain issued an apology and was ordered by the Cyberspace Administration of China to shut its Chinese website and booking application for one week after an employee managing its social media "liked" a tweet thanking the company for listing Tibet as a country on a customer questionnaire alongside Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.[177] After the Shanghai Municipal Tourism Administration ordered the company to "seriously deal with the people responsible", it dismissed the employee.[178][179] |
Mercedes Benz | 7 February 2018 | The German car maker issued an apology on Weibo for "hurting the feelings" of the people of China after quoting the Dalai Lama on Instagram, a service banned in China.[180] The company also sent a formal letter to the Chinese Ambassador in Germany, stating that it had "no intention of questioning or challenging in any manner China's sovereignty or territorial integrity."[citation needed] |
Gap Inc. | 15 May 2018 | The company apologised after photographs circulated of a t-shirt sold in Canada that featured a map of China omitting Taiwan, Tibet and China's South China Sea territorial claim.[181][182] |
Valve Corporation | 26 February 2019 | Valve Corporation removed the Taiwanese-developed game Devotion from Steam after it was review bombed due to an unflattering reference to Xi Jinping.[183][184] |
TikTok | 25 September 2019 | The Guardian revealed the TikTok app's moderation guidelines prohibiting content mentioning Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence and Falun Gong.[185] Content criticising the Chinese government's persecution of ethnic minorities or mentioning the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests are also removed.[12] ByteDance, the app's Beijing-based owner responded to the media reports by stating that the leaked moderation guidelines were "outdated" and that it had introduced localised guidelines for different countries.[185] Searches relating to Hong Kong on the app found no content referencing the ongoing protests.[186] Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also criticised the platform for its censorship of Hong Kong protest content, asking "is this the internet we want?"[187] |
Apple Inc. | 2 October 2019 | The company banned the HKmap.live app from its App Store, which allowed for crowd-sourced information about the location of protesters and police in Hong Kong.[188] It did so on the basis that the app "allowed users to evade law enforcement".[189] The same month Apple banned the Quartz app due to its coverage of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.[190] |
Sheraton | 3 October 2019 | The chain's Stockholm hotel cancelled a celebration of Taiwan's Double Ten national holiday after pressure from the Chinese Ambassador; it was moved to a local museum.[191][192] |
Tiffany & Co. | 7 October 2019 | The jewellery company deleted a photo on one of its social media accounts of a woman covering one eye, which a number of Chinese internet users considered to evoke the image of a Hong Kong protester who had been shot in one eye.[17] |
Activision Blizzard | 8 October 2019 | In the Blitzchung controversy, the company withdrew the prize from the winner of an online game tournament after he wore a mask and spoke in support of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests in a post-game interview, stating "Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times".[193] The company is partly owned by Tencent.[17] In August 2020, Activision Blizzard removed imagery of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests from its trailer of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.[194] |
Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia | 9 October 2019 | Center staff removed fans shouting "Free Hong Kong" at a pre-season game between the Philadelphia 76ers and Guangzhou Loong Lions.[195] |
National Basketball Association | 10 October 2019 | CNN journalist Christina Macfarlane was shut down and had her microphone removed at an NBA press conference after asking players James Harden and Russell Westbrook if they would feel differently about speaking out in future following the NBA's censorship of comments that are critical of China.[196] |
Christian Dior | 17 October 2019 | Christian Dior issued a public apology on its Weibo account for displaying a map during a university presentation that did not include Taiwan.[197] |
Maserati | 25 October 2019 | Maserati asked a local car dealership to cut all ties with Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards and stated that it "firmly upholds the one-China principle."[198] |
Shutterstock | 6 November 2019 | In November 2019, The Intercept reported that Shutterstock censors certain search results for users in mainland China.[199][200] The six banned terms were "President Xi", "Chairman Mao", "Taiwan flag", "dictator", "yellow umbrella" and "Chinese flag" and variations.[201] After 180 employees (one-fifth of the workforce) signed a petition opposing the censorship, company executive Stan Pavlovsky told staff that anyone opposed to its self-censorship was free to resign.[201] |
25 November 2019 | Reports emerged that China-based WeChat was censoring users in the United States communicating about Hong Kong politics.[202] | |
DC Comics | 27 November 2019 | DC Comics removed a promotional Batman poster after it triggered criticism from mainland China netizens that its imagery, featuring Batwoman throwing a molotov cocktail beside the words "The future is young", was sympathetic to Hong Kong protesters.[203][204] |
TikTok | 28 November 2019 | The platform apologised after blocking American user Feroza Aziz following a video which she made drawing attention to the mistreatment of Muslims in the Xinjiang internment camps, which she disguised as a make-up tutorial to evade censorship.[205] |
Condé Nast | 6 December 2019 | GQ magazine removed Xi Jinping from its "Worst Dressed" list on its website along with the caption: "It is not Hong Kong's courageous freedom fighters that Xi Jinping should have a problem with. It's his tailor. Xi gets totalitarian style cues from his hero, the mass murderer chairman Mao, who enforced a dour and plain dress code for the Communist Party."[206] |
Arsenal F.C. | 15 December 2019 | Arsenal footballer Mesut Özil posted a poem on his social media account denouncing China's treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang internment camps and the silence of Muslim countries on the issue.[207][208][209] Arsenal later released a statement distancing itself from the comments.[210] China's state broadcaster China Central Television responded two days later by removing the match between Arsenal and Manchester City from its schedule.[211][212] |
World Health Organization | 28 March 2020 | Senior advisor Bruce Aylward faced criticism for saying he could not hear a question from RTHK journalist Yvonne Tong about whether Taiwan could join the WHO, asking her to move onto the next question then terminating the interview when she repeated it.[213] The World Health Organization has also faced criticism for downplaying Taiwan's success in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.[213] |
European Union | 24 April 2020 | The organisation agreed to censor references to the Chinese origins of the COVID-19 pandemic,[214] with research suggesting that self-censorship on sensitive topics that may offend the PRC is commonplace.[215] |
YouTube | 26 May 2020 | Reports emerged that since October 2019, comments posted with the Chinese characters 共匪 (gòngfěi or "communist bandit", an insult dating back to China's Nationalist government) or 五毛 (wǔmáo or "50 Cent Party", referring to State-sponsored commentators) were being automatically deleted within 15 seconds.[216] |
FK Radnički Niš | 10 June 2020 | The Serbian SuperLiga football club fired goal scorer Hao Runze amidst pressure from the Chinese government, after his father Hao Haidong criticised the Chinese Communist Party and called for a federal China.[217] |
Zoom | 12 June 2020 | The videoconferencing provider confirmed that it had suspended the accounts of users based in the United States and Hong Kong who booked meeting to discuss the Tiananmen Square Massacre and Hong Kong protests following PRC Government complaints, and that it would seek to limit such actions to people based in the mainland in future.[154][218] |
ANZ Bank | 17 July 2020 | The bank distanced itself from its Singapore-based global head of credit Bogac Ozdemir, after he wrote a LinkedIn post blaming China for the COVID-19 pandemic.[219] Chinese commentators accused him of racism and the bank received calls from the Chinese financial regulator and Chinese CEOs calling for his dismissal.[220] The bank issued a statement claiming that Ozdemir's post showed "a distinct lack of judgment", which resulted in him launching a defamation lawsuit.[221] |
Charles Darwin University | 29 July 2020 | After a sustainability course run by engineering professor Charlie Fairfield featured an role play about the "Chinese (Wuhan) COVID-19 virus outbreak", Chinese students complained that the virus had been found in Europe before Wuhan and accused him of "racism and hatred".[222] The university apologised for any offence caused and stated that changes had been made to ensure it would not recur.[222] |
University of New South Wales | 5 August 2020 | The university deleted social media posts about an academic's call for international pressure against the Chinese Communist Party for limiting human rights in Hong Kong, following a backlash from Chinese students.[223] The university issued an English-language apology, stating the deletion was a mistake and emphasising the importance of free speech and academic freedom.[222] The university issued a separate Chinese-language statement omitting its references to freedom of expression and academic freedom and which appeared to convey the opposite message, stating that the university did not take any political stances and was "disturbed" by any trouble caused.[224] |
CD Projekt | 16 December 2020 | CD Projekt announced that it would not release Taiwanese-developed game Devotion on its GOG.com platform due to an unflattering reference to Xi Jinping.[225] |
NASA | 31 March 2021 | The American space agency faced criticism in China for listing "Taiwan" as a country in a drop-down menu on a website about Mars.[226] |
H&M, Nike, Burberry | March–April 2021 | After the clothing brands announced they would stop sourcing cotton from Xinjiang due to concerns about Uyghur forced labour, they faced a Chinese boycott social media campaign, withdrawal of local brand ambassadors, revocation of store leases and removal from online portals in China.[227] This prompted other companies such as Inditex, the owner of Zara to remove anti-slavery statements from their websites.[227] H&M announced it was "dedicated to regaining trust" in China,[228] and changed an online "problematic map of China" following a demand from the Shanghai City Government.[229] |
Microsoft | 4 June 2021 | On the 32nd anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, searches for the Tank Man image and videos were censored by Microsoft's Bing search engine worldwide.[230] |
Kodak | July 2021 | Kodak removed a post from its Instagram feed that showed a photo from Xinjiang and made references to the Chinese government's genocide against the Uyghurs. It was removed after Chinese social media users criticized Kodak.[231] |
Opposition and resistance[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Inter-Parliamentary_Alliance_on_China.png/220px-Inter-Parliamentary_Alliance_on_China.png)
In 2010 Google opposed China's censorship policies, ultimately leaving the country.[232] By 2017 the company had dropped its opposition, including planning a Chinese Communist Party-approved censored search engine named Project Dragonfly.[233] Work on the project was terminated in 2019.[234]
In 2019 Comedy Central's animated sitcom South Park released the episode "Band in China", which satirised the self-censorship of Hollywood producers to suit Chinese censors and featured one character yelling "Fuck the Chinese government!".[235][236] This was followed by a mock apology from the show's creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which also made light of a recent controversy involving the NBA's alleged appeasement of Chinese government censorship:[235]
Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts. We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Tune into our 300th episode this Wednesday at 10! Long live the great Communist Party of China. May the autumn's sorghum harvest be bountiful. We good now China?
The show was banned in mainland China following the incident.[235] Protesters in Hong Kong screened the episode on the city's streets.[237] The musician Zedd was banned from China after liking a tweet from South Park.[238]
Politics[]
On 4 June 2020, politicians from eight democratic countries formed the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international cross-party alliance focused on concerns with the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party, including its attempts to censor or punish those making adverse comments.[239] It is chaired by Iain Duncan Smith, former leader of the British Conservative Party.[240]
Milk Tea Alliance[]
The Milk Tea Alliance describes an online democratic solidarity movement of netizens from Thailand, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.[241][242] The Milk Tea Alliance arose in response to the increased presence of Chinese 50 Cent Party and Little Pink trolls and nationalist commentators on social media.[134][243] Milk tea is used as a symbol of anti-PRC solidarity by south-east Asians as tea is historically consumed with milk in their region, while in mainland China it is not.[244]
The "Milk Tea Alliance" moniker emerged in 2020 after Chinese nationalist Internet commentators criticised the Thai actor Bright for "liking" an image on Twitter which referred to Hong Kong as a "country", and called for a boycott of his TV programme. Twitter users in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the Philippines joined Thai users in what The Telegraph called "a rare moment of regional solidarity".[245] Australia has also been suggested as a member of the Milk Tea Alliance, although its link to milk tea is tenuous so the baby formula product Aptamil is used instead to represent it.[246] Following the 2020 China–India skirmishes India has also been included in some formulations of the Alliance with masala chai being their representative variety of milk tea.[244]
Pallabi Munsi, writing in OZY, described the Milk Tea Alliance as "Asia's volunteer army rising against China's internet trolls."[247]
See also[]
- Censorship in China
- Censorship in Hong Kong
- Corporate censorship
- Censorship by Apple#China
- Cisco Systems#Censorship in China
- Censorship by Google#China
- Criticism of Microsoft#Censorship in China
- Criticism of Myspace#MySpace China
- National Basketball Association criticisms and controversies#2019–20 Hong Kong protests
- Skype#Service in the People's Republic of China
- Criticism of Yahoo!#Work in the People's Republic of China
References[]
- ^ a b O’Connell, William D. (2021). "Silencing the crowd: China, the NBA, and leveraging market size to export censorship". Review of International Political Economy: 1–22. doi:10.1080/09692290.2021.1905683. ISSN 0969-2290.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. "China is censoring Hollywood's imagination". Axios. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ "NBA-China standoff raises awareness of threat of Chinese censorship". Axios. 9 October 2019. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Birtles, Bill (10 October 2019). "Cancellations, apologies and anger as China's nationalists push the boundaries of curtailing free speech". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Pinon, Natasha (11 October 2019). "Here's a growing list of companies bowing to China censorship pressure". Mashable. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Mazumdaru, Srinivas (11 October 2019). "Western firms kowtow to China's increasing economic clout". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Tufekci, Zeynep (15 October 2019). "Are China's Tantrums Signs of Strength or Weakness?". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Dunn, Will (21 October 2019). "How Chinese censorship became a global export". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Yuan, Li (11 October 2019). "China's Political Correctness: One Country, No Arguments". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ "How China's censorship machine crosses borders — and into Western politics". Human Rights Watch. 20 February 2019. Archived from the original on 18 September 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Blackwell, Tom (4 December 2019). "Censored by a Chinese tech giant? Canadians using WeChat app say they're being blocked". National Post. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
- ^ a b O'Brien, Danny (10 October 2019). "China's Global Reach: Surveillance and Censorship Beyond the Great Firewall". Electronic Frontier Foundation. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Raleigh, Helen (5 June 2019). "Chinese Censors Crack Down On Foreigners' Speech Online". The Federalist. FDRLST Media. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ Mazza, Michael (31 July 2018). "China's airline censorship over Taiwan must not fly". Nikkei Asian Review. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Stone Fish, Isaac (11 October 2019). "Perspective: How China gets American companies to parrot its propaganda". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Anderson, Mae (9 October 2019). "U.S. companies walk a fine line when doing business with China". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d Qin, Amy; Creswell, Julie (8 October 2019). "China Is a Minefield, and Foreign Firms Keep Hitting New Tripwires". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Watts, Jonathan (25 January 2006). "Backlash as Google shores up great firewall of China". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Baron, Dennis (2012). A Better Pencil: Readers, Writers, and the Digital Revolution. Oxford University Press. p. 212. ISBN 9780199914005. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ "Analysis: Why the Dalai Lama angers China". CNN. 18 February 2010. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "9-year-old asks Chinese President Xi Jinping to lose weight, letter goes viral". Young Post. 18 December 2014. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Romano, Aja (24 October 2019). "China reportedly censored PewDiePie for supporting the Hong Kong protests. He's not the only one". Vox. Archived from the original on 13 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Hayes, Anna (2 October 2014). "What China's censors don't want you to read about the Uyghurs". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Leibold, James (24 July 2019). "Despite China's denials, its treatment of the Uyghurs should be called what it is: cultural genocide". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Handley, Erin; Mantesso, Sean (10 November 2019). "Uyghurs are facing 'cultural genocide' in China but in Australia they're fighting for their history". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 11 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Ramzy, Austin (5 January 2019). "China Targets Prominent Uighur Intellectuals to Erase an Ethnic Identity". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Xu, Vicky Xiuzhong (1 October 2019). "China's Youth Are Trapped in the Cult of Nationalism". Foreign Policy. Slate Group. Archived from the original on 9 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ "Coronavirus kills Chinese whistleblower doctor". BBC News. 7 February 2020. Archived from the original on 6 February 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ "China didn't warn public of likely pandemic for 6 key days". AP NEWS. 15 April 2020. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.
- ^ Zhang, Tao (4 January 2018). "How can scholars tackle the rise of Chinese censorship in the West?". Times Higher Education. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ Maxwell, Daniel (5 August 2019). "Academic censorship in China is really a global issue". Study International. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Raleigh, Helen (2 August 2019). "How China Tries To Take Its Totalitarian Social Control Tactics Global". The Federalist. FDRLST Media. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Garcia, Jocelyn (24 July 2019). "'I was shocked': UQ protest against Chinese government turns violent". Brisbane Times. Nine Newspapers. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Ho, Gwyneth (5 September 2017). "Australia universities caught in China row". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 9 September 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ "'Lennon wall' incidents a sign of 'anxiety': professor – Taipei Times". Taipei Times. 12 October 2019. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Doherty, Ben (23 October 2019). "Queensland student sues Chinese consul general, alleging he incited death threats". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Roberts, George (10 August 2020). "Queensland court dismisses university student Drew Pavlou's case against Chinese Consul General". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- ^ "Drew Pavlou suspended by University of Queensland over pro-Hong Kong protest". The Australian. 29 May 2020. Archived from the original on 31 August 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
- ^ Das, Shanti (23 June 2019). "Beijing leans on UK dons to praise Communist Party and avoid 'the three Ts — Tibet, Tiananmen and Taiwan'". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Stone Fish, Isaac (4 September 2018). "The Other Political Correctness". The New Republic. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Zahneis, Megan (19 November 2019). "Columbia U. Canceled an Event on Chinese Human-Rights Violations. Organizers See a University Bowing to Intimidation". The Chronicle of Higher Education. ISSN 0009-5982. Archived from the original on 23 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- ^ Zahneis, Megan (23 November 2019). "Why did Columbia cancel Chinese rights violations event?". The Chronicle of Higher Education. ISSN 0009-5982. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- ^ Kang, Dake (20 May 2021). "Chinese authorities order video denials by Uyghurs of abuses". apnews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ^ Trager, Rebecca. "Nobel laureates accuse China of attempting to censor Taiwanese chemist". www.chemistryworld.com. Chemistry World. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
- ^ a b Jakhar, Pratik (7 September 2019). "Is China's network of cultural clubs pushing propaganda?". BBC News. BBC. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ a b Fulda, Andreas (15 October 2019). "Chinese Propaganda Has No Place on Campus". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 27 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Redden, Elizabeth (9 January 2019). "Colleges move to close Chinese government-funded Confucius Institutes amid increasing scrutiny". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on 19 January 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "World Report 2019: Rights Trends in China". Human Rights Watch. 28 December 2018. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Redden, Elizabeth (6 August 2014). "Accounts of Confucius Institute-ordered censorship at Chinese studies conference". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ "Beijing's Propaganda Lessons". The Wall Street Journal. 7 August 2014. Archived from the original on 25 April 2017. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Wu, Yan; Wang, Qi; Liu, Nian Cai (2018). World-Class Universities: Towards a Global Common Good and Seeking National and Institutional Contributions. BRILL. p. 206. ISBN 978-90-04-38963-2. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
- ^ Benakis, Theodoros (20 February 2019). "Confucius Institutes under scrutiny in UK". European Interest. Archived from the original on 4 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Baker, Jordan; Chung, Laura (22 August 2019). "NSW schools to scrap Confucius Classroom program after review". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Newspapers. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Moczulski, J. P. (29 October 2014). "TDSB votes to officially cut ties with Confucius Institute". Archived from the original on 24 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ a b Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Sean (15 October 2019). "The Chinese government co-funded at least four University of Queensland courses". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Hunter, Fergus (24 July 2019). "Universities must accept China's directives on Confucius Institutes, contracts reveal". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Newspapers. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Hunter, Fergus (10 March 2020). "Universities rewrite Confucius Institute contracts amid foreign influence scrutiny". The Sydney Morning Herald. Nine Newspapers. Archived from the original on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. "China's Long Arm Reaches Into American Campuses". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 7 June 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ a b c d Christodoulou, Mario; Rubinsztein-Dunlop, Sean; Koloff, Sashka; Day, Lauren; Bali, Meghna (13 October 2019). "'Universities have a really serious issue on their hands': Chinese student group's deep links to Beijing revealed". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. "Chinese Government Gave Money to Georgetown Chinese Student Group". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 21 February 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. "A pro-Hong Kong resolution at British university failed after Chinese student opposition". Axios. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ a b Churchill, Owen (26 September 2019). "Chinese students' group in Canada loses status after Uygur speaker protest". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Chase, Steven (26 September 2019). "McMaster student union strips Chinese club's status amid allegations group is tool of Chinese government". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, James Palmer, Bethany. "China Threatens U.S. Airlines Over Taiwan References". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 29 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ Xu, Vicky Xiuzhong (7 May 2018). "'Orwellian nonsense': China retaliates after US slams territory warning to international airlines". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 22 September 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Birtles, Bill (25 July 2018). "Last remaining US airlines give in to Chinese pressure on Taiwan". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ News, Taiwan (11 May 2020). "22 airlines correct their listings for Taiwan". Taiwan News. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- ^ a b c Piacenza, Joanna (15 October 2019). "Amid NBA-China Clash, U.S. Consumers Indifferent Toward Global Business Dealings". Morning Consult. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ "Qantas to refer to Taiwan as a territory, not a nation, following Chinese demands". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 4 June 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Zhou, Christina; Mo, Xiaoning (15 January 2018). "Qantas admits 'oversight' in listing Taiwan, Hong Kong as countries". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 3 December 2018. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Zhou, Yu; Yang, Lin (9 August 2020). "Report: Made in Hollywood, Censored by Beijing". Voice of America. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
- ^ a b Whalen, Jeanne (8 October 2019). "China lashes out at Western businesses as it tries to cut support for Hong Kong protests". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ "Vietnam pulls DreamWorks' Abominable film over South China Sea map". CNA. 14 October 2019. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- ^ Shaw-Williams, Hannah (20 April 2016). "Doctor Strange's Erasure Of Tibet Is A Political Statement". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Bisset, Jennifer (1 November 2019). "Marvel is censoring films for China, and you probably didn't even notice". CNET. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
- ^ Clymer, Jeremy (24 April 2016). "Doctor Strange Writer Says Ancient One Was Changed To Avoid Upsetting China". ScreenRant. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ a b Steger, Isabella (28 March 2019). "Why it's so hard to keep the world focused on Tibet". Quartz. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Siegel, Tatiana (18 April 2017). "Richard Gere's Studio Exile: Why His Hollywood Career Took an Indie Turn". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Ni, Vincent (25 May 2021). "John Cena 'very sorry' for saying Taiwan is a country". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ "Chinese censorship affects games everywhere — and it's getting bigger". VentureBeat. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ "Genshin Impact players say Chinese game censors 'Taiwan' and 'Hong Kong' chat". the Guardian. 8 October 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ "Genshin Impact Is Censoring Words Like 'Taiwan' And 'Hong Kong'". Kotaku. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ "Keyword Censorship in Chinese Mobile Games". The Citizen Lab. 14 August 2017. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ "No cults, no politics, no ghouls: how China censors the video game world". the Guardian. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
- ^ "What is "Chinese Taipei"?". The Economist. 9 April 2018. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ Winkler, Sigrid (20 June 2012). "Taiwan's UN Dilemma: To Be or Not To Be". Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ a b Fish, Isaac Stone. "Stop Calling Taiwan a 'Renegade Province'". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 24 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
- ^ "Taiwanese beauty queen kicked out of Miss Earth pageant for refusing to change 'Taiwan ROC' sash to 'Chinese Taipei'". Shanghaiist. 23 November 2015. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ "Miss Taiwan in beauty pageant shocker". Taipei Times. 11 July 2003. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. "As virus spreads, UN agency blocks critics of Taiwan policy on Twitter". Axios. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ Hui, Mary (25 September 2020). "Beijing blocked Wikimedia from a UN agency because of "Taiwan-related issues"". Quartz. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
- ^ "Xi Jinping asks for 'absolute loyalty' from Chinese state media". The Guardian. Associated Press. 19 February 2016. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ a b Bennett, Philip; Naim, Moises (February 2015). "21st-century censorship". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ a b c d Parker, Emily (9 December 2013). "China's government Is Scaring Foreign Journalists Into Censoring Themselves". The New Republic. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ a b c Greenslade, Roy (15 November 2016). "Foreign journalists working in China face increased harassment". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "Foreign journalists in China complain of abuse from officials". South China Morning Post. 30 January 2018. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "An American Reporter Was Denied A Visa To China. She Said It's Because She Criticized The Communist Party". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ Wang, Maya (28 August 2018). "Another journalist expelled – as China's abuses grow, who will see them?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 September 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Barboza, David (25 October 2012). "Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ "Xi Jinping Millionaire Relations Reveal Fortunes of Elite". Bloomberg L.P. 29 June 2012. Archived from the original on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Lim, Louisa; Bergin, Julia (7 December 2018). "Inside China's audacious global propaganda campaign". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Everington, Keoni. "Chinese embassy unwittingly admits Taiwan is independent in threatening email to Swedish journalist". Taiwan News. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
- ^ Christensen, Thomas J. (11 March 2011). "The Advantages of an Assertive China". Foreign Affairs : America and the World. ISSN 0015-7120. Archived from the original on 21 November 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ Kristof, Nicholas (9 October 2019). "Opinion | Let's Not Take Cues From a Country That Bans Winnie the Pooh". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 25 March 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ Lau, Stuart (21 October 2017). "Chinese official attacks foreign leaders for meeting Dalai Lama". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Greenbank, political reporters Amy; Beech, ra (15 November 2019). "Liberal MPs banned from travelling to China for study trip". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 10 January 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Dalzell, Stephanie; Probyn, Andrew (17 November 2019). "Hastie and Paterson defiant in the face of China's calls for repentance". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Archived from the original on 22 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Cooper, Sam (29 November 2019). "B.C. politician breaks silence: China detained me, is interfering 'in our democracy'". Global News. Archived from the original on 7 April 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Tait, Robert (3 July 2019). "Zdeněk Hřib: the Czech mayor who defied China". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ a b c Rohac, Dalibor. "Opinion | The Czechs are giving Europe a lesson on how to deal with China". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 17 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "Prague cuts sister-city ties with Beijing amid 'tangible' public anger". South China Morning Post. 8 October 2019. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "Prague's Sister City Pact with Taipei A Statement Against Bully Beijing". JAPAN Forward. 4 February 2020. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "Prague mayor hits out at 'unreliable' China as city ditches Beijing". South China Morning Post. 12 January 2020. Archived from the original on 7 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ Carey, Raphael Satter, Nick (19 February 2020). "China threatened to harm Czech companies over Taiwan visit: letter". Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
- ^ "China sanctions EU officials in response to Uyghur row". www.dw.com. DW. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "China refuses entry to German chair of human rights committee | DW | 11 May 2016". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 21 September 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ Welle (www.dw.com), Deutsche. "China denies entry to German Greens party | DW | 4 August 2019". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ News, Kyodo. "Japan's PM refers to Taiwan as country, draws fire from China". kyodonews.net. Kyodo News. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
- ^ Everington, Keoni. "Lithuanian MP backs Taiwan de facto embassy, calls China 'bloody authoritarian regime'". www.taiwannews.com.tw. Taiwan News. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ "'We need to learn to listen to China' – People's Daily Online". en.people.cn. Archived from the original on 25 October 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ Roy, Eleanor Ainge (20 February 2019). "New Zealand former PM denies writing glowing pro-China piece for Beijing paper". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ "Former NZ PM resigns from China Construction Bank unit". South China Morning Post. 4 March 2019. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
- ^ matthew.hooton@exceltium.com, Matthew Hooton (18 May 2020). "Matthew Hooton: Winston Peters should be sacked over China controversy". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Archived from the original on 19 May 2020. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
- ^ "China cancels Sweden business trips after prize for dissident". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "China, Sweden escalate war of words over support for detained bookseller". Reuters. 16 November 2019. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ "Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai jailed for 10 years in China". The Guardian. 25 February 2020. Archived from the original on 29 April 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ Phillips, Tom (22 February 2018). "'A very scary movie': how China snatched Gui Minhai on the 11.10 train to Beijing". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ "China cancels Sweden business trips after prize for dissident". Al Jazeera. Archived from the original on 16 March 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ "How Sweden copes with Chinese bullying". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Archived from the original on 22 April 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
- ^ hermesauto (15 April 2020). "Young Thais join 'milk tea alliance' supporting HK, Taiwan after Chinese netizens slam local celebrities". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ "Will the 'Milk Tea War' Have a Lasting Impact on China-Thailand Relations?". thediplomat.com. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ McLaughlin, Timothy (13 October 2020). "How Milk Tea Became an Anti-China Symbol". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 10 December 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ "'In Milk Tea We Trust': How a Thai-Chinese Meme War Led to a New (Online) Pan-Asia Alliance". thediplomat.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ a b McDevitt, Dan. "'In Milk Tea We Trust': How a Thai-Chinese Meme War Led to a New (Online) Pan-Asia Alliance". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
- ^ Chow, Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Yanni (18 August 2020). "Pro-democracy Milk Tea Alliance brews in Asia". Reuters. Archived from the original on 13 November 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ Tanakasempipat, Patpicha (15 April 2020). "Young Thais join 'Milk Tea Alliance' in online backlash that angers Beijing". Reuters. Archived from the original on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ Defence, Dan Sabbagh; editor, security (9 September 2019). "Avoid irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong, China warns UK MPs". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
- ^ "Exclusive: China halts British stock link over political tensions – sources". Reuters. 2 January 2020. Archived from the original on 15 March 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ Johnson, Ian (18 August 2017). "Cambridge University Press Removes Academic Articles on Chinese Site". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Phillips, Tom (19 August 2017). "Cambridge University Press accused of 'selling its soul' over Chinese censorship". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Loubere, Nicholas (7 March 2021). "New Censorship, the New Academic Freedom". The Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies: 239–252 Pages. doi:10.25365/JEACS.2020.1.239-252.
- ^ Hernández, Javier C. (1 November 2017). "Leading Western Publisher Bows to Chinese Censorship". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ "Chinese censors issue fresh warning to foreign publishers". South China Morning Post. 6 November 2017. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Tang, Jane (1 September 2020). "Springer Nature Journal Rejects Article by Taiwan Doctor Over Country Name". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 9 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
- ^ Loubere, Nicholas (7 March 2021). "New Censorship, the New Academic Freedom". The Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies: 239–252 Pages. doi:10.25365/JEACS.2020.1.239-252.
- ^ a b McKenzie, Nick; Baker, Richard (12 November 2017). "Free speech fears after book critical of China is pulled from publication". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Williams, Jacqueline (20 November 2017). "Australian Furor Over Chinese Influence Follows Book's Delay". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 September 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ a b c Lew Linda (25 August 2019). "How Chinese censorship laws hit foreign publishers". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Kuo, Lily (12 November 2019). "Edward Snowden says autobiography has been censored in China". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ^ James, Randy (18 March 2009). "A Brief History of Chinese Internet Censorship". Time. TimeWarner. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ MacKinnon, Rebecca. "Shi Tao, Yahoo!, and the lessons for corporate social responsibility" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
- ^ "Race to the Bottom – Corporate Complicity in Chinese Internet Censorship". Human Rights Watch. 9 August 2006. Archived from the original on 24 August 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. "Zoom confirms Chinese government asked it to suspend activists over Tiananmen Square meetings". Axios. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ a b Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany. "Zoom closed account of U.S.-based Chinese activist "to comply with local law"". Axios. Archived from the original on 10 June 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
- ^ Mozur, Paul (2 March 2018). "China Presses Its Internet Censorship Efforts Across the Globe". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 20 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ a b Kharpal, Arjun (8 May 2020). "Chinese tech giant Tencent reportedly surveilled foreign users of WeChat to help censorship at home". CNBC. Archived from the original on 6 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "China social media: WeChat and the Surveillance State". BBC News. 7 June 2019. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ Zhou, Cissy (3 March 2020). "How WeChat censored even neutral messages about the coronavirus in China". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Needham, Kirsty (2 December 2020). "China's WeChat blocks Australian PM in doctored image dispute". Reuters. Archived from the original on 5 December 2020. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
- ^ "Microsoft says error led to no matching Bing images for Tiananmen 'tank man'". Reuters. 4 June 2021.
- ^ "Microsoft blocks Bing from showing image results for Tiananmen 'tank man'". The Guardian. 5 June 2021.
- ^ "Bing Censors Image Search for 'Tank Man' Even in US". VICE.
- ^ Tilley, Aaron (4 June 2021). "Microsoft's Bing Temporarily Blocked Searches of Tiananmen Square 'Tank Man' Image". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ "Microsoft says error caused 'Tank Man' Bing censorship". BBC News. 5 June 2021.
- ^ Kwan, Campbell. "Citizen Lab finds Apple's China censorship process bleeds into Hong Kong and Taiwan". www.zdnet.com. ZDNet. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
- ^ Wagner, Laura (8 October 2019). "Internal Memo: ESPN Forbids Discussion Of Chinese Politics When Discussing Daryl Morey's Tweet About Chinese Politics". Deadspin. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Ting-hsuan, Tseng; Yeh, Joseph. "Taiwan team asked to remove national flag before Le Mans car race". focustaiwan.tw. Focus Taiwan. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
- ^ Donoghue, Andrew (4 January 2006). "Microsoft censors Chinese blogger". CNET. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ a b Cook, Sarah (28 October 2013). "How Chinese censorship is reaching overseas". Global Public Square. CNN. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ Chi, Quynh; Ha, Viet; Lipes, Joshua (11 November 2011). "Under Fire Over Falun Gong Jailing". Radio Free Asia. Archived from the original on 14 July 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ Rushe, Dominic (11 February 2014). "Bing censoring Chinese language search results for users in the US". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Branigan, Tania (4 June 2014). "LinkedIn under fire for censoring Tiananmen Square posts". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Buckley, Chris; Ramzy, Austin (16 January 2016). "Singer's Apology for Waving Taiwan Flag Stirs Backlash of Its Own". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Rudolph, Josh (22 November 2016). "Microsoft's Chinese Chatbot Encounters Sensitive Words". China Digital Times. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Haas, Benjamin (5 January 2017). "Apple removes New York Times app in China". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Chan, Melissa (6 January 2017). "Apple is not the only tech company kowtowing to China's censors". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Haas, Benjamin (12 January 2018). "Marriott apologises to China over Tibet and Taiwan error". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ MacLellan, Lila (4 March 2018). "An hourly Marriott employee got fired for liking a tweet". Quartz at Work. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ Matyszczyk, Chris (7 March 2018). "Here's What Happened After a Marriott Employee Liked a Congratulatory Tweet (Clue: He Doesn't Work for Marriott Anymore)". Inc.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "Mercedes apologises to China after quoting Dalai Lama". The Telegraph. 7 February 2018. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- ^ "Gap apologizes to China over map on T-shirt that omits Taiwan, South China Sea". The Washington Post. 14 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ "Gap apologises for T-shirt with 'incorrect' map of China". South China Morning Post. Reuters. 15 May 2018. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- ^ Allen, Kerry (25 February 2019). "China bans game over Winnie the Pooh joke". BBC News. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- ^ Muncy, Julie (28 February 2019). "'Devotion' Is a Brilliant Videogame—Too Bad You Can't Play It". Wired. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ a b Hern, Alex (25 September 2019). "Revealed: how TikTok censors videos that do not please Beijing". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Harwell, Drew. "TikTok's Beijing roots fuel censorship suspicion as it builds a huge U.S. audience". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Holmes, Aaron (18 October 2019). "Mark Zuckerberg just slammed China for allegedly censoring Hong Kong protest videos on TikTok: 'Is that the internet we want?'". Business Insider Australia. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ McCarthy, Kieren (2 October 2019). "Here's that hippie, pro-privacy, pro-freedom Apple y'all so love: Hong Kong protest safety app banned from iOS store". The Register. Archived from the original on 12 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ "Apple bans Hong Kong protest location app". BBC News. BBC. 3 October 2019. Archived from the original on 4 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Ivanova, Irina (10 October 2019). "Apple pulls Quartz news app from its China store after Hong Kong coverage". CBS News. Archived from the original on 13 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Emanuelsson, Eric (3 October 2019). "Kinas ambassad pressade hotell att inte låta Taiwan-representanter fira sin nationaldag". Expressen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Strong, Matthew (5 October 2019). "China forces Taiwan National Day reception out of Stockholm Sheraton". Taiwan News. Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ Pandey, Erica (9 October 2019). "NBA-China standoff raises awareness of threat of Chinese censorship". Axios. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Perez, Matt (24 August 2020). "New Call Of Duty Trailer Censored In China Over Tiananmen Square Footage". Forbes. Archived from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
- ^ Ileto, Christie (9 October 2019). "Sixers fan supporting Hong Kong ejected from preseason game amid NBA-China controversy". 6abc Philadelphia. WPVI-TV Philadelphia. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Nash, Charlie (10 October 2019). "'Chilling': CNN Reporter Shut Down For Asking NBA's Harden and Westbrook About China Censorship". Mediaite. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- ^ Valinsky, Jordan (17 October 2019). "Christian Dior apologizes to China for not including Taiwan in a map". CNN. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
- ^ Griffiths, James (25 October 2019). "Maserati distances itself from Asian 'Oscars' in Taiwan under pressure from China". CNN. Archived from the original on 5 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
- ^ Biddle, Sam (6 November 2019). "Shutterstock Employees Fight Company's New Chinese Search Blacklist". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
- ^ Ingram, David (27 February 2020). "Chinese censorship or 'work elsewhere': Inside Shutterstock's free-speech rebellion". NBC News. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
- ^ a b Ingram, David (28 February 2020). "'Management doesn't listen': Inside the employee-led revolt at Shutterstock". NBC News. Archived from the original on 1 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ Schiffer, Zoe (25 November 2019). "WeChat keeps banning Chinese Americans for talking about Hong Kong". The Verge. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Davis, Rebecca (28 November 2019). "DC Comics Comes Under Fire for Deleting Batman Poster That Sparked Chinese Backlash". Variety. Archived from the original on 28 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
- ^ Flood, Alison (29 November 2019). "DC drops Batman image after claims it supports Hong Kong unrest". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 29 November 2019. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
- ^ Kuo, Lily (28 November 2019). "TikTok sorry for blocking teenager who disguised Xinjiang video as make-up tutorial". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 November 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
- ^ Di Stefano, Mark (6 December 2019). "British GQ Put China's President And Thailand's King On Its "Worst Dressed" List, Then Removed Them Online So As Not To Cause Offence". BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- ^ Vigdor, Neil (15 December 2019). "Soccer Broadcast Pulled After Arsenal Star Mesut Özil Criticized China". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
- ^ "China TV pulls Arsenal game after Mesut Özil's Uighur comments". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- ^ "Chinese TV pulls Arsenal match after Ozil's Uighur comments". France 24. 15 December 2019. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- ^ Ames, Nick (13 December 2019). "Arsenal distance themselves from Mesut Özil comments on Uighurs' plight". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 December 2019. Retrieved 14 December 2019.
- ^ Aaro, David (15 December 2019). "Soccer star Mesut Özil criticizes Muslim detention camp, spurs Chinese TV to pull match". Fox News. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- ^ "Mesut Ozil: Arsenal-Manchester City game removed from schedules by China state TV". 15 December 2019. Archived from the original on 15 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- ^ a b Flor, Mamela Fiallo (13 April 2020). "WHO's Chinese Loyalties: Ignores Taiwan's Success Against Coronavirus". PanAm Post. Archived from the original on 16 April 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ "EU defends censorship of letter in Chinese newspaper | DW | 7 May 2020". Deutsche Welle. 7 May 2020. Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
- ^ Taylor, Max Roger (26 May 2020). "China-EU relations: self-censorship by EU diplomats is commonplace". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
- ^ Vincent, James (26 May 2020). "YouTube is deleting comments with two phrases that insult China's Communist Party". The Verge. Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
- ^ White, Jonathan (10 June 2020). "Hao Haidong's son sacked by Serbian club after 'Beijing pressure'". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 14 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ Davison, Helen; Kuo, Lily (12 June 2020). "Zoom admits cutting off activists' accounts in obedience to China". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
- ^ Cadman, Emily; Spratt, Stephen (17 July 2020). "ANZ Trader Stirs Controversy After Online Criticism of China". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ Phillips, Damien (5 August 2020). "How Cowardly Businesses Like ANZ Help China Dominate The World". The Federalist. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ "Singapore-based ANZ trader sues employer for US$20m after being rebuked for social media post". The Straits Times. Bloomberg. 21 July 2020. Archived from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
- ^ a b c Bagshaw, Eryk; Hunter, Fergus (5 August 2020). "China 'exporting CCP speech controls to Australia' as second university caught in row". Brisbane Times. Nine Newspapers. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Smee, Ben (2 August 2020). "UNSW faces backlash after deleting Twitter post critical of China's crackdown in Hong Kong". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Zhou, Naaman (7 August 2020). "UNSW criticised for letter in Chinese with no mention of freedom of speech". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Yin-Poole, Wesley (16 December 2020). "CD Projekt under fire for dramatic U-turn on Devotion GOG release". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
- ^ "NASA Is the Latest to Offend China by Calling Taiwan a Country". Bloomberg L.P. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ a b Paton, Elizabeth (31 March 2021). "H&M responds to a firestorm in China over Xinjiang cotton". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ Dauschy, Helene (31 March 2021). "H&M says 'dedicated to regaining trust' in China after boycott". Yahoo News. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ "China says H&M changed online map after criticism". Yahoo News. Associated Press. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ^ "Microsoft says error led to no matching Bing images for Tiananmen 'tank man'". Reuters. 4 June 2021.
- ^ Ives, Mike (21 July 2021). "Kodak Deletes Post by Photographer Who Called Xinjiang an 'Orwellian Dystopia'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ Watts, Jonathan (13 January 2010). "Google pulls out of China: what the bloggers are saying". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Gallagher, Ryan (1 August 2018). "Google Plans to Launch Censored Search Engine in China, Leaked Documents Reveal". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ "Google's Chinese search engine 'terminated'". BBC News. BBC. 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ a b c Brito, Christopher (8 October 2019). ""South Park" creators offer fake apology to China after reported ban". CBS News. Archived from the original on 11 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Bradley, Laura (10 October 2019). "South Park Isn't Done Needling the Chinese government". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Chu, Karen (9 October 2019). "Notorious 'South Park' China Episode Screened on the Streets of Hong Kong". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
- ^ Beach, Sophie (11 October 2019). "Foreign Companies and the Internalization of Chinese Propaganda". China Digital Times. Archived from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
- ^ Graham-Harrison, Emma (5 June 2020). "Global alliance formed to counter China threat amid rising tensions". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- ^ Fisher, Lucy (5 June 2020). "MPs from eight nations voice fears over China". The Times. Archived from the original on 6 June 2020. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- ^ Tanakasempipat, Patpicha. "Young Thais join 'Milk Tea Alliance' in online backlash that angers Beijing". Reuters. Archived from the original on 23 August 2020. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
- ^ Bunyavejchewin, Poowin. "Will the 'Milk Tea War' Have a Lasting Impact on China-Thailand Relations?". thediplomat.com. The Diplomat. Archived from the original on 3 May 2020. Retrieved 4 May 2020.
- ^ Lau, Jessie. "Why the Taiwanese are thinking more about their identity". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 21 May 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
- ^ a b Deol, Taran. "'We conquer, we kill': Taiwan cartoon showing Lord Rama slay Chinese dragon goes viral". theprint.in. The Print. Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
- ^ Smith, Nicola (3 May 2020). "#MilkTeaAlliance: New Asian youth movement battles Chinese trolls". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
- ^ Everington, Keoni. "Photo of the Day: Australia joins Milk Tea Alliance with Taiwan". Taiwan News. Archived from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- ^ Munsi, Pallabi (15 July 2020). "The Asian Volunteer Army Rising Against China's Internet Trolls". OZY. Archived from the original on 29 July 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
- Overseas censorship of Chinese issues