The Chinese Communist Party operates an advanced surveillance network, which maintains strict control over all forms of information. Agents keep a particularly close watch over what is discussed on websites and social media. Those who step out of line with their comments on politics face being detained. There are frequent reports of politically motivated arrests and state-sanctioned “disappearances.” These include disturbing testimonies from people who say they have been held in a so-called system of "black jails" - secret prisons in which inmates are cut off from all contact with the outside world. On this podcast Michael Caster, the co-founder of Safeguard Defenders, a human rights group which has made a detailed study of the way political dissidents are treated by the authorities in China, offers his perspective on the issue to host, Duncan Bartlett.   

China In Context: Episode 60 
Broadcast date: 12 April, 2022

For information about the SOAS China Institute Corporate Membership scheme, please contact SCI director Steve Tsang: [email protected]

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The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the speakers and are not necessarily those of the SOAS China Institute.
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Music credit: Sappheiros / CC BY 3.0