CFU PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 11, 2026
Contact: contact@campaignforuyghurs.org
New Research Exposes the CCP’s Evolving Transnational Repression Tactics
Washington, D.C. – Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) welcomes new research by Dr. Adrian Zenz Senior Fellow and Director of China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), and Muetter Tohti, China Studies Researcher at VOC, examining how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is adapting its efforts to control, intimidate, and silence Uyghurs beyond China’s borders.
The new study, “If You Fly to the Sky, I Can Catch You by Your Feet”: Beijing’s Transnational Authoritarian Control of Uyghur Diaspora Research and Documentation Efforts, examines the CCP’s targeting of Uyghur researchers, activists, witnesses, and diaspora communities. Zenz and Tohti found that the CCP’s strategy is evolving beyond commonly recognized forms of transnational repression and introduced the broader concept of “Transnational Authoritarian Control”. They identify three reinforcing methods, including transnational repression through coercion, transnational co-optation through incentives, and transnational legitimation through information and narrative manipulation. Drawing on interviews with Uyghurs across North America, Europe, and Türkiye, alongside internal Chinese government documents, the research shows how these methods operate together to suppress Uyghur activism abroad.
Transnational repression can include physical harassment, threats against advocates and their families, surveillance, espionage, and infiltration of governments and diaspora communities. Transnational co-optation uses benefits such as scholarships, business opportunities, and restored access to passports or family contact to encourage compliance or discourage opposition. Transnational legitimation relies on propaganda, disinformation, and narrative manipulation to discredit critics and promote favorable portrayals of China. The authors identify several consequences of the Transnational Authoritarian Control, including obstructing evidence collection, fostering fear and self-censorship, discrediting researchers, causing psychological distress, and undermining cohesion within the broader Uyghur diaspora.
“The CCP’s repression does not stop at China’s borders. Uyghurs in the diaspora continue to be the target of Beijing’s transnational authoritarian control. My sister, Dr. Gulshan Abbas, has been unjustly imprisoned for nearly eight years because I exercised my right to speak freely. Since 2018, my family has lived with the pain and uncertainty of not knowing when she will be free again,” said Rushan Abbas, Executive Director of Campaign for Uyghurs. “This research gives us a clearer understanding of the human cost of this repression and how Beijing continues to expand and adapt its methods of control, extending its reach over diaspora communities.”
To address the shift in oppressive tactics, the research proposes a broader framework for understanding Transnational Authoritarian Control. It examines how the CCP uses tactics that can significantly affect Uyghurs and diaspora communities while avoiding greater international scrutiny. This allowed Beijing to weaken human rights advocacy and research while making its activities abroad harder to detect and counter.
This new research can provide governments and civil society with a clearer understanding of how Beijing is adapting its efforts to exert influence and control beyond China’s borders. CFU calls on the international community to strengthen protections for Uyghur activists, researchers, witnesses, and diaspora communities and to recognize the full range of tactics used to silence them. We must ensure that Uyghurs living abroad can speak freely, document human rights abuses, and pursue accountability without fear of retaliation from Beijing.