Chinese students tell the Guardian they are scared to return home and worry for their families after being followed and harassed.

By Jessie Lau for the Guardian

As concerns grow in the United Kingdom over cyber operations linked to China that target national security, technological innovation and economic interests, China’s influence activities are increasingly in the spotlight. A report released last year by the U.K. parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee warned the Chinese Communist Party had utilized its “size, ambition and capability” to “successfully penetrate every sector of the UK’s economy” and had been been “particularly effective at using its money and influence to penetrate or buy academia in order to ensure that its international narrative is advanced and criticism of China suppressed.”

A recent series published by the U.K. Guardian newspaper has narrowed this focus to the tactic known as transnational repression, which aims to stifle debate or criticism through surveillance, harassment and other forms of intimidation.

In its report, “Threats, fear and surveillance: how Beijing targets students in the UK who criticise the regime,” students who have been followed and contacted anonymously share their experiences.

“Often at protests, there are middle-aged Chinese men standing a bit further apart, looking at us. They’re not joining, just examining,” said one student whose identity was protected for safety reasons.

Representing the largest cohort of non-UK students in the UK, other Chinese students are also forces of coercion, questioning peers about their political involvements and reminding them to “express pro-China and pro-party views.” Fears of repercussions for family members back home is also a real threat.

Chinese student protesters in the UK have long been photographed and monitored but the practice may have increased in tandem with newer surveillance technology, Steve Tsang, the director of the SOAS China Institute, told the Guardian.

Although harassment and surveillance methods are effective in muting some students and their participation in politically sensitive discussions and activities, others find themselves “awakening.”

One student told the Guardian he felt like he’d “entered a new world” after realizing “there were so many amazing people who have the same political opinions as me, who are willing to do something for our country.”

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