Amnesty International: Chinese government intimidates students abroad

China’s long arm in the Netherlands has made the news several times. For example, members of Chinese student associations in the Netherlands check whether other members are too critical of their home country. In 2021, RTL Nieuws and Follow the Money revealed the existence of illegal Chinese "police stations" in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. 

Eight countries
Last year, for the first time, Amnesty International investigated how Chinese students are confronted with their home country’s censorship. The human rights organisation interviewed 34 students and recent graduates from China and Hong Kong who are living in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. 

They told Amnesty International that they are being followed online both by the regime and fellow students. One in three students also says their family was approached by Chinese authorities, who threatened to dismiss the students or revoke their passports and PhDs if they expressed any criticism. 

Self-censorship
To avoid trouble, students usually censor themselves when interacting with each other, both in person and online. A Chinese student in the Netherlands tells Amnesty she was repeatedly threatened by a Chinese classmate who would tell her in class that she should have "more respect for her home country”, otherwise there would be “repercussions”. 

“The testimonies gathered in this report paint a chilling picture of how the Chinese and Hong Kong governments seek to silence students even when they are thousands of miles from home, leaving many students living in fear”, says Sarah Brooks, from Amnesty International, in a press release. 

The organisation estimates that about 900,000 Chinese students are studying abroad right now. The organisation calls on universities to do more to protect academic freedom and support Chinese students whenever there is "transnational repression" going on.