Ahead of China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s scheduled visit to Australia this week, an online campaign of harassment and death threats target one of its leading critics in Australia, dissident artist Badiucao. Soon after news of Wang Yi’s visit was confirmed on 14 March, Badiucao reported the increase in harassment on X, formerly Twitter, where trolls have since been threatening both the artist and his family in an apparent effort to silence him from speaking out during the high-profile visit.
According to Badiucao, who has over 124,000 followers, in addition to the online harassment campaign, he is faced with numerous impersonation accounts on X, a tactic increasingly used by Beijing for coordinated online information manipulation and intimidation. While some social media platforms have increased their efforts to tackle such adversarial threats, since Elon Musk took over the platform formerly known as Twitter, it has become awash in Chinese propaganda and threats.
Michael Caster, ARTICLE 19’s Asia Digital Programme Manager, said:
“When online threats and intimidation target a leading exiled Chinese human rights defender ahead of a visit from China’s foreign minister, the signs of transnational digital repression are clear. China should denounce such acts of online intimidation or admit to what we already know, this is the outsourcing of wolf warrior diplomacy through online trolls.
Social media platforms, like X, must do more to prevent themselves from turning into another branch in Beijing’s infrastructure of repression.
To paraphrase Badiucao, ‘death threats against me are not just an attack on me personally but also an attack on Australian freedom of expression’. Authorities in Australia should take immediate action to investigate, and ensure all necessary protection for those exercising their right to freedom of expression, especially during Wang Yi’s visit”.
Badiucao, no stranger to online harassment and Beijing-backed attempts at censorship, believes the most recent spike in online intimidation against him is designed to prevent him from speaking out while Wang Yi is in Australia.
This will be Wang Yi’s first visit to Australia since 2017. In 2020, China imposed a series of retaliatory measures including hefty tariffs on Australian products following worsening diplomatic relations, brought on for example by Australia banning Huawei from its 5G infrastructure in 2018 and in 2020 demanding an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus.
This week’s visit comes at a renewed flash point between the two nations. In February 2024, China handed down a suspended death sentence to Australian writer Yang Hengjun, after he had already spent five years in arbitrary detention in China. First detained in early 2019, the pro-democracy blogger was held on baseless espionage charges, often incommunicado, and subjected to hundreds of instances of torture in custody.
“Beijing only knows how to govern through fear and silence. For dissident voices like Badiucao and Yang Hengjun, the refusal to be silenced is power that cannot be contended.
“Taking advantage of Wang Yi’s first visit to Australia in years, Canberra has an opportunity to unequivocally call out Beijing. It should demand concrete steps from China to adhere to its international human rights obligations, including calling off its online attacks against all those exercising their freedom of expression, and immediately and unconditionally releasing Yang Hengjun and allowing him to reunite with his family”, said Caster.
For more information
Michael Caster, Asia Digital Programme Manager, [email protected].