Yaqiu Wang 王亚秋

Heartened to see my former bosses at HRW launch this, bringing their experience documenting human rights abuses in authoritarian countries to bear on the U.S. No one expected this. No one wanted this. But this is where we are. We must fight, and we will prevail. ruleoflawproject.org/news/project...

Transnational repression should be treated primarily as a human rights issue rather than a national security issue. Keeping the focus on protecting victims helps prevent a “catch the spy” mentality from getting out of hand. www.justsecurity.org/158542/state...

It strains credulity that the National Endowment for Democracy, of all organizations, is honoring a 2020 election denier this week. It is such a betrayal of its mission—and of the many pro-democracy scholars and activists around the world who have trusted NED.

Every time I read a story about China’s domestic economy stumbling, I think of the countless human rights stories behind it: labor abuses, suppressed protests over unpaid wages, and families whose life savings are trapped in unfinished homes. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/18/b...

Well, this has always been true. That’s why it is the dumbest thing for the Trump administration to voluntarily forfeit what makes America truly formidable: its ideas and ideals.

In the piece, I also argue that the CCP’s successful repression in Xinjiang relies in part on its exploitation of Han Chinese officials' prejudice against Muslims. The Party may find it harder to sustain the same repression when both the perpetrators and the targets are Han Chinese.

This week in Deep Dive: Privacy, @yaqiu.bsky.social shows how surveillance can become counter-productive for the regimes that embrace it. By teaching a population to perform loyalty, it precludes access to information about people's true feelings—and intentions. bit.ly/4hZG0uk

The U.S. government urgently needs to stop committing egregious human rights abuses at home if it wants to retain credibility when speaking out against abuses by the CCP and other authoritarian governments. Video credit: JF Books

Not a single Republican in Congress is willing to cosponsor a bill that would actually help Hong Kongers, despite their proclamations of support for freedom in HK. I urge Republicans to break with Xi-admiring Trump, whom a growing number of Americans are turning against.

Great piece. China may look strong for now, but trouble is boiling beneath the surface. Without understanding China's domestic realities, Washington can't make sound long-term China policy. www.foreignaffairs.com/china/chinas...

I’m not trying to be partisan, but the Republican Party bears far more responsibility for the erosion of American democracy than the Democratic Party. Refusing to acknowledge that reality in the name of appearing nonpartisan is itself disingenuous.

The U.S.’s alarming decline is in part due to the Republican Party’s refusal to confront the authoritarianism of its own leader. A party that will not defend democratic principles at home forfeits much of its credibility when it condemns Xi Jinping’s authoritarianism in China.

Highly recommend Cheng Lei's memoir about her 1154 days in Chinese detention. It's less about how arbitrary and cruel the CCP's machinery of repression is, but about how one preserves one's inner freedom and love for life in spite of it. jfbooks.org/products/978...

This is just sad. So many pro-democracy activists and idealists, myself included, once placed enormous hope in America’s willingness and ability to advance democracy and freedom in China and around the world. Instead, we got this. Xi must be smiling in his sleep.

Insightful article, but it overlooks a critical reason Chinese people are increasingly turning against one another amid frustration and despair about their future: they cannot direct their anger at the real source of their grievances—their government. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/o...

Throughout my career, I have said that the day will come when the CCP is held accountable for its numerous crimes. Now I say this: the day will come when Trump is held accountable for recklessly dismantling America's global human rights & democracy promotion work. thehill.com/opinion/nati...

I am grateful that some media outlets still want to discuss human rights in US-China relations. The moral collapse of the U.S. government should not cause us to lose sight of what matters and what the public should continue to care about.

If you missed our event at JF Books this week, check out the video of our program "Live from Washington: Forecasting the Trump-Xi Summit" featuring Cory Combs, Aaron Glasserman, @bochenhan.bsky.social, and @yaqiu.bsky.social from our fourth cohort of project fellows: www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fUK...

MUST-READ: When we look back, authors @bequelin.bsky.social and @yaqiu.bsky.social argue that the most consequential foreign policy failure of Trump's administration will be on China, not with Iran and the Middle East.

Let me clarify: The US currently has a credibility problem when criticizing CCP's human rights abuses. But that is not to suggest the US should stop criticizing the CCP. What it should do is to improve its owe human rights record so its criticism of the CCP carries weight.

⚠️China, Not Iran, Is Trump’s Real Foreign-Policy Debacle. In @foreignpolicy.com I argue with my co-author @yaqiu.bsky.social that, under the Trump administration's first 19 months, China has gained ground across almost every dimension of its rivalry with the U.S. foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/17/c...

In my testimony, I argued that the U.S. govt needs to change course: 1) resume its global promotion of human rights and democracy, and 2) end egregious human rights violations at home so it can regain credibility when criticizing the CCP. democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

Many thanks to JF Books for hosting us in Washington, DC next week for a conversation featuring four of our current Project Fellows (Cory Combs, Aaron Glasserman, @bochenhan.bsky.social, @yaqiu.bsky.social) in anticipation of the Trump-Xi summit. Full details below:

Today at 3 p.m., join us as we tell members of Congress about the devastating consequences of the Trump administration’s retreat from human rights and democracy promotion—and what the United States can do to reverse course. democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/media/press-...

Of course, the CCP is far more concerned about AI threatening its grip on power in China than about AI wiping out humanity. Humanity has never been much of a concern for the CCP, after all. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/14/w...

@yaqiu.bsky.social explains how information controls after the #Tibet floods can isolate families’ grief, limiting their ability to connect with one another, seek answers & turn shared loss into collective calls for truth & accountability. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/w...

Reading the obituaries and stories about Steinem right now, I’m struck by how America-centric many of them are. I actually first learned about Steinem on the Chinese internet. She was a global icon who inspired women around the world. Anyone writing about her legacy should remember that.

Xi Jinping must be so happy with Trump's destruction of the American scientific research system -- and his relentless pursuit of making life harder for foreigners living in the United States. scceichinabriefs.substack.com/p/chinas-sci...

About 550 people are reported missing in China after the Himalayan floods. Yet Tibet is closed to foreign journalists, and discussion is tightly controlled. You can expect the Chinese government’s disaster response to begin with information control. www.wsj.com/world/india/...

Terrific piece by @goldkorn.bsky.social, capturing the duality of China today: incredibly efficient and convenient, yet strangely lifeless and soulless. www.chinafile.com/reporting-op...

Artist Gao Zhen was sentenced to three years in prison for satirizing the worst mass murderer in human history. For those Westerners who praise how well-governed China is, consider this your periodic reminder of the true nature of the CCP. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/w...

The divide within the American intelligentsia right now is less about ideology than courage. Some conservatives are speaking out forcefully against Trump’s overreach, while, ironically, some left-leaning organizations remain silent for fear of losing funding or facing lawsuits.

There is a deep sense of resignation among people in China about a future in which AI replaces humans. This has a lot to do with the CCP’s relentless crackdown on dissent over the years, which has left people feeling that they cannot change anything. apnews.com/article/chin...

“She’s not afraid of anything or anyone,” said Kevin Yam, a Hong Kong lawyer who now lives in exile. “For a lot of us who are outside Hong Kong now and sometimes feel a bit dispirited by things, her example and her inspiration is a big factor in us not losing hope and keeping our spirits up.”

The precarious fate of China’s uber-rich and powerful: Left: Hui Ka Yan attending a session of the CCP’s rubber-stamp legislature in 2012. Right: Hui in a Chinese courtroom today, being sentenced to life in prison.

China wants to do two things: 1) get the world to build AI models on Chinese propaganda, and 2) flood the global information ecosystem with manipulated data so that even Western models automatically churn out CCP propaganda. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/17/w...

By nearly eliminating civil society, the CCP has helped create an increasingly atomized social world, writes Yaqiu Wang. foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/07/c...

Zhu Rongji has died. Undoubtedly, his death will bring another wave of public mourning—one that speaks less to how satisfied people were with the Jiang-Zhu era than to how deeply dissatisfied they are with China’s current leadership. www.wsj.com/world/china/...

It is incredibly disappointing that the China Select Committee, which began with bipartisan consensus and produced good work, has descended into this. Seriously, what? Giving preference to applicants from China over American students?

14-year sentence. Please don’t let China's AI, EVs, and robots blind you to how cruel the CCP can be to people who simply want to do some good for other people against the Party’s wishes.

In @foreignpolicy.com, I argue that Chinese authoritarianism can deliver order and convenience, but it cannot deliver human warmth or social trust. And for that reason, many Chinese elites still to want to leave. foreignpolicy.com/2026/08/07/c...

My new piece👇