The voices that cannot be silenced: How China’s oppressed groups are uniting against the Chinese Communist Party
Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hong Kongers and Mongolians may be culturally distinct, but they share one common enemy
On October 22, 2022, an isolated chair at the base of Beijing’s Great Hall of the People was occupied by one man.
At the apex of an enormous pyramid framed by red corrugated curtains, one expressionless government official, Xi Jinping, presided over the conclusion to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The following day, over a thousand protesters stormed through London, from Downing Street to the Chinese Embassy. Through lashings of British rain, the distinct voices of Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Hong Kongers, Chinese pro-democracy activists and allies thundered unanimously, united in protest against the CCP’s threat to democracy.
Since its inception in 1921, the CCP has systematically aimed to silence dissident voices critical of the Chinese state. Often, this criticism calls attention to the CCP's persecution of ethnic minorities and suppression of traditional cultures.
Mongolians in northern China's Inner Mongolia, Uyghurs in the East Turkestan area of western China and Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region in southwest China have been subjected to state violence, imprisonment and brutal “re-education” programmes. Many of these are run in military-style training centres and internment camps.
China has also imposed social, religious and linguistic reforms to stifle the expression of indigenous cultural identity. The consequence of the CCP's drive to sinicise traditional, non-Chinese societies is that ethnic minorities live with multiple layers of fear: not only of practising their own cultural traditions, but also of openly criticising the policies that lead to their effacement.
But here in the UK, a strong sense of solidarity unites members of these disparate groups. Many people living in exile remain separated from friends and family in China who continue to face oppression by the government.
They believe joining hands in protest locks them into a stronger coalition, and layering voices amplifies their message. They have long maintained an unofficial alliance in the UK against the CCP’s brutality and its secretive methods of keeping tabs on its citizens abroad.
An unofficial coalition
Tenzin Kunga, Advocacy Officer at Free Tibet and Chair of the Tibetan Community in Britain, explained the history of this collaboration. “If you look at the Tibetan resistance here in the UK, working with different groups like the Southern Mongolians, the Uyghurs, it’s not something new for us.
“I remember, way back, we had something called CUTS: Chinese democracy activists, Uyghurs, Tibetans and Southern Mongolians. It wasn’t a professional structure, but informally we used to be together to protest in unison against the Chinese Communist Party.”
Hong Kongers are only a relatively recent addition to this historical alliance, Kunga said. “As far as the Hong Kongers are concerned, they became a very new force to resist the Chinese Communist Party. It was very natural for us to have them as our allies and work together.
“Since the Chinese Communist Party is our common adversary, it makes sense for us all to unite and form a coalition to better resist them,” he added.
Since the 2019 Hong Kong protests and China's introduction of the national security law in June 2020, tens of thousands of asylum seekers and BNO visa holders have moved to the UK from Hong Kong.
These voices have added a new dimension to the anti-CCP message in the UK, and with between 258,000 and 322,400 Hong Kongers expected to arrive in the first five years of the UK's BNO visa scheme, this message will become even harder to ignore.
Catherine Li, a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, is training to be an actor and musician at a London drama school. She moved to the UK to study before the Hong Kong protests broke out. She echoed Kunga's words, saying: “We are all oppressed by the CCP.”
Li has also learned more about China's oppression of ethnic minorities by joining forces with other activists in London. “In the past, I was pretty ignorant about Tibetans and Uyghurs,” she said.
“We are now in a foreign city, and if we unite together to increase our voices, and to talk about what the CCP has done to each of us, it will create a bigger force in general.
“Tibetans and Uyghurs have gone through a lot more cruel things compared to Hong Kongers. They have suffered a great deal and for a long time. I think we should come together and that’s what I've been talking about in various rallies. We all recognise the importance of coming together.”
The fight for democracy
China’s crackdown on dissident voices does not stop at its borders: its iron fist also keeps a tight grip on citizens abroad. China has been accused of operating secret police stations disguised as registered businesses around the UK, to monitor and intimidate dissidents.
Rahmut believes it is the responsibility of people living in democratic countries like the UK to speak out freely on behalf of those who fear their safety. The CCP's biggest worry, she said, is the people who fight openly against the regime.
China's 'Bridge Man'
Yet despite China’s attempts to govern through fear, its bravest citizens have voiced their frustrations loud and clear over recent months.
A single protester dubbed China’s ‘Bridge Man’ strung a banner over the Sitong Bridge in Beijing several days before the 20th Party Congress was due to start in October, protesting the CCP's strict zero-covid policies and accusing Xi Jinping of dictatorship. The man’s whereabouts is now unknown, but his message lives on.
Kunga said UK-based organisations like Free Tibet were inspired by this act of defiance, wanting to protest in solidarity with China’s Bridge Man. Free Tibet dropped an identical replica of the banner on Westminster Bridge a week after his act, offering to send it to any individual or group who wished to protest in solidarity. They have since been inundated with requests from around the world, including from Poland and Australia.
“We are able to relate to the frustration of this Chinese protester who came out on the Sitong Bridge at a very sensitive time,” Kunga said. “He was very brave to express the frustration of the Chinese citizens who have been under lockdown in various cities and provinces. We feel it’s very important that we, in the free world, are able to amplify his voice, amplify his message.”
An outbreak of mass demonstrations across Chinese cities in late November 2022, of a scale not seen since the Tianenmen Square protests of 1989, also showed that China’s own citizens are dissatisfied with the CCP’s governance.
Li, who has participated in advocacy with grassroots organisations since the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests, was both surprised and impressed to see such large-scale mobilisation from people within China’s borders.
“To begin with, I was very, very, very surprised. I thought initially people were very, very, very brave,” she said. “I thought they would stand and probably just raise some papers, but then the slogans they shouted really impressed me. They shouted ‘Take down Xi Jinping! Take down Xi Jinping!’, which has never happened in my memory.”
Li also found optimism in these protests and was inspired to see people in mainland China take a stand.
“The main drive must come from within China,” she explained. “I see hope. I feel like this is an organic resistance that sparked from within China, and it’s very encouraging to see that the people have the sense to revolt.”
But if the outcry from protestors within China left CCP officials speechless, the lack of response from the UK government to China's transnational oppression has been deafening.
When peaceful Hong Kong protester Bob Chan was dragged and pulled by his hair into the grounds of the Chinese consulate in Manchester by CCP consul-general Zheng Xiyuan on October 16, before being beaten up and left with injuries requiring hospital treatment, activists and human rights groups were quick to react.
Free Tibet and the Tibetan Community in Britain released a joint statement, firstly to condemn this brutal assault on a peaceful protester in a democratic country, and secondly to show solidarity with Hong Kongers in the UK, who remain threatened by the Chinese government even in their second home.
At Westminster, however, concerns about the security of protestors in the UK fell on deaf ears. Kunga expressed concern with Parliament’s “weak” response to the attack.
“I think the Chinese diplomat’s assault and mishandling of the peaceful Hong Kong protester Bob Chan is really very concerning, and it shows that the Chinese Communist Party’s violent tactics are right now at our doorstep, here on British soil, in the free world,” he said.
“The response has been really very weak. The UK government could have done more to stand up for its values of freedom of expression, freedom to protest. They should have stood up very strongly for these values.”
Li, also a peaceful Hong Kong protester, agreed that the UK government’s failure to take action against the Chinese diplomat was disappointing.
“The official who did the assault did not receive any official punishment by the UK government, which is not appropriate from my point of view,” she said. “I think, as a diplomat, he should be kicked out of this country. There should be further action.”
© TC@POV Resonance
© TC@POV Resonance
© Isb.co
© Isb.co
The future
The louder China's dissidents shout, the harder it is to ignore them. Rahmut hopes to see more representation at protests from Chinese students in the UK, who are beginning to raise their voices against the CCP.
Kunga reaffirmed the value in protesting together. “I think each of these different groups has their own story to tell. As chair of the Tibetan community, I try to be there at all the events of the other groups, just to show the Tibetan people's solidarity. Likewise, they also come to our events, to show their solidarity.
“It's better to have this kind of arrangement with everybody working together, rather than all doing it separately and the Chinese government using one group against another,” he added.
For Li, the most important connection to maintain is that with people in mainland China.
“If there's nothing going on in China, or you can't see what's happening within China, I believe there wouldn't be as many people coming out to protest,” she said.
“If you don't see things happening, you don't have the drive to come out and revolt.”
Resistance against the Chinese Communist Party, therefore, is self-sustaining. It works in two directions. Protesters on the ground in China inspire those in the UK to continue putting pressure on the government, while those on the outside can help amplify the voices of people within China, who may be too afraid to speak out.
The Chinese Embassy has been approached for comment.
Image credit:
Isb.co | https://www.instagram.com/lsb.co/
Kit Lei | https://www.instagram.com/lei_uk/
TC@POV Resonance
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