Beijing’s attempt to stop dissident authors taking part in the Frankfurt Book Fair is part of an “ongoing pattern of interference, cooptation and intimidation beyond China’s borders used to muzzle voices critical of the Chinese government,” according to Christopher Walker, director of studies and Sarah Cook, an Asia researcher, at Freedom House.
“The Chinese government’s position at the vanguard of efforts to monitor and filter Internet content, using its wealth and technical acumen to devise methods to limit the free and independent flow of information online, also has serious transnational implications for free expression,” they conclude.
Most recently, China has tried to veto screenings of “The 10 Conditions of Love,” a documentary about exiled Uyghur rights activist Rebiya Kadeer at the 2009 Kaohsiung and Melbourne film festivals. These transnational censorship efforts are the latest manifestation of the communist party’s authoritarian outreach, recently detailed in “Undermining Democracy: 21st Century Authoritarians,” a report by by Freedom House, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.
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