Many exiled Uyghurs in the U.S. say China has ramped up transnational repression against them, using their relatives who still live in China to threaten them into silence abroad.
“I’ve been targeted online with fake accounts. … Chinese trolls even registered for a webinar using fake emails and posted my home address, saying, ‘We are watching you,’ ” Elfidar Iltebir, president of the Uyghur American Association, a rights group, told VOA last week in a phone interview.
The harassment prompted her to increase her home security. Iltebir said the repression has intensified, especially over the past two years.
“People are afraid to come out and advocate, fearing for their families’ safety,” she said.
From 2017 to 2020, she said, nearly every Uyghur American had at least one family member detained in Xinjiang, spurring many to activism. But as China increased pressure on these exiles, many of them are thinking twice about their activist work.
She described a climate of fear within her organization. “Some of our supporters now ask if they can help behind the scenes, afraid to be seen publicly,” Iltebir said. Chinese agents, sending messages through Uyghur relatives in Xinjiang, “tell us not to attend political or cultural events, not to join any organizations, to stay away from activists.
“They even dictate who to invite to weddings. I’ve seen community members receive these orders.”
VOA reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Washington for comment on the allegations of transnational repression targeting Uyghur Americans. The embassy did not respond to multiple inquiries.
However, the FBI says it is aware of such activity targeting Uyghurs and other ethnic minority groups in the United States.
“Tactics and patterns morph with advancements in technology,” the federal police agency said in a statement to VOA. “These acts – often identified as transnational repression (TNR) – represent severe violations of international norms, U.S. law, and individual rights and freedoms. TNR conducted by any government, against any person including Uyghur Americans, is unacceptable.”
The agency says it has worked to raise awareness of the problem among state, local and university law enforcement partners and has conducted training to help vulnerable communities recognize repressive tactics and examples of transnational harassment. It also provides resources in 60 languages, including in Uyghur.
Iltebir detailed her organization’s work with the FBI to support the estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Uyghur Americans in combating China’s transnational repression.
China, Uyghurs and human rights
Uyghurs are a largely Muslim minority group. Approximately 12 million Uyghurs live in China's northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where accusations of mass detention, forced labor and other human rights abuses have drawn global attention and condemnation.
In recent years, the U.S., U.N., European Parliament and rights organizations have condemned China or its policies in the Uyghur region. Some have accused Bejing of committing genocide and crimes against humanity.
Allegations include the arbitrary mass imprisonment of Uyghurs and other Muslim and Turkic groups, forced labor, forced sterilization, family separation and other abuses.
China denies any wrongdoing in the region, labeling the targeted Uyghurs as extremists, terrorists and separatists and justifying its policies as necessary measures to combat terrorism and separatism.
Fear and anonymity
Fear often keeps exiles from speaking out or enabling the media to confirm accusations.
One such U.S.-based Uyghur rights activist is a man who came to the U.S. for his education. He spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation and increased harassment of his family members in Xinjiang.
In 2017, he said, his sibling and extended family were arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang.
"The only thing I was obsessed with was my academic work," he said, but the detentions forced him into activism.
After joining a Washington-based rights group advocating for human rights in China, including the Uyghurs, in 2019, he began receiving intimidating social media messages from Chinese authorities.
"I started receiving all sorts of intimidation from [Chinese] police through WhatsApp and other social media platforms," he recalled. "They even invited me to a third country to meet them there. I never agreed."
Despite the evolving nature of these tactics, he said, the harassment has never ceased.
"I have submitted details of these incidents to the FBI at least 15 times in the past and provided them with all the details of the communications I've received over the past few years," he said.
But ultimately, he said, the FBI can do nothing because the harassers are based outside the U.S.
However, the agency has taken legal action against China’s transnational repression schemes in the U.S.
In a case last month, Wang Shujun of New York was found guilty of acting as a covert Chinese agent. The FBI said he supported transnational repression by posing as a member of a pro-democracy group while feeding Beijing information about its members.
Political response
“Chinese Communist agents should not be able to threaten and intimidate American residents without consequences, anywhere — especially and including here in the United States,” said Republican U.S. Representative Chris Smith, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, in an email to VOA on Tuesday.
Smith emphasized that while the FBI has made efforts, “more can and must be done to stop transnational repression and abuse.”
According to the FBI, China has long targeted diaspora communities, particularly what China describes as the “five poisons" - groups seen as threats to Chinese Communist Party rule, including Uyghurs, Tibetans, democracy activists, Falun Gong practitioners and Taiwanese independence advocates.
“The PRC has used proxies, including private investigators, to harass dissidents in the U.S.,” the FBI told VOA.
Despite the challenges, Iltebir remains determined to speak out.
“We cannot be silenced. If we don’t speak out, who will? Seeing non-Uyghurs stand with us inspires me to continue this fight for freedom, justice and human rights,” she said.
Yihua Lee of VOA's Mandarin Service contributed to this report.