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The Mumian Social Work Association (MSWA), a Guangdong based labor related non-governmental organization, announced the launch of its closing procedure on China’s National Day (October 1), four months after the arrest of its founder Tong Feifei. Local labor rights activists have observed that NGOs in China have little room for survival. The authorities are mounting a cruel suppression of NGO leaders in the name of national security.

In April 2013, Tong Feifei, a Peking University master of sociology, established MSWA. It has launched community development and vocational school students’ service programs in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Shunde. It also conducted social work training and research, as well as public advocacy for social issues. The authorities once recognized its low-key style.

It is believed that the closure of MSWA is related to the Jasic Incident last year. In July 2018, a group of workers from the Shenzhen based Jasic Technology Co., Ltd. (abbr. Jasic) sought to form a labor union to address their low pay and poor working conditions. The factory management responded by firing its employees. This sparked two weeks of protests and demonstrations drawing from both factory workers in Shenzhen along with students. The police crushed the movement and arrested the workers and students.

Right after the Jasic Incident, the authorities started immediately to suppress all civil NGOs involved in labor rights or care giving. In May of this year, the heads of several NGOs including Tong Feifei, Liang Zicun, Li Dajun, and Li Changjiang were arrested. In July, the National Security Bureau in Changsha, Hunan province, arrested a few other activists working on labor discrimination.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 1, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/NGO-10012019094804.html

Many local governments in China are planning or have started collecting citizen DNA data. Following Xinjiang, Ningbo in Zhejiang province, and Anqing in Anhui province, the police in Guilin city of Guangxi province recently issued a notice to local residents that they would collect male DNA samples. In the week of September 20, a police branch in Guilin issued a “Notice on Collecting DNA Information from Male Family Blood Samples” to the residents. The purpose was “to complete the basic information task of public security, comprehensively improve the control and management of the population, and improve the capability to serve the people.” Between September 20 and December 31, the local police will visit the residential areas and collect blood samples from male residents. At least one male in every household has to have his blood sample collected.

The police already started collecting human biological data, such as DNA and iris data, from residents in Xinjiang as early as 2017. The media reported that, in a village in Jiangxi Province, police officers also visited door to door to collect male blood samples from every family, one from adults and one from children. The villagers are required to fill out the “DNA Database Personnel Information Form.”

The Chinese police have reportedly stored about 100 million DNA samples from the population and the figure keeps growing. Petitioners, people who seek justice and want to travel to Beijing to have their issues addressed, will be forced to undergo blood tests once they are taken to the police station. When this happened in the past, they only found out later that the police were extracting DNA data from their blood. Arrested dissidents or activists in recent years have also experienced forced blood tests. However, the Chinese government has never explicitly announced the actual purpose of establishing a DNA database in a compulsory or semi-mandatory manner.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 26, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/ql1-09262019071516.htmls

At the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese Communist regime, it is expected that the celebration events will be on the largest scale in decades. Beijing is already on full alert. In recent years, the security measures have rarely been seen to be this high.

Over the past few weeks, the authorities have ordered some residents in Beijing to move out. Several rounds of dress rehearsals also led to massive road closures. Supermarkets and restaurants along the military parade route have had to close.

However, the series of celebration events are open only to invited people. For those living in the city’s center, celebration means more restrictions.

The past several rehearsals sealed off regions in the city’s center where restaurants and supermarkets could not open. During the rehearsals, multiple stops on subway Line 1, a straight east-west line underneath Chang’an Avenue, were closed. Along Chang’an Avenue, where the military parade is to be held, the windows of the high-rise buildings are required to put on reflective strips or curtains. Residential neighborhoods in the area are blocked, with special personnel standing guard at check points. Local residents need to use ID cards to enter and leave the area. During the dress rehearsals, residents were required to pull down the curtains on their windows.

To secure the airspace, the government also banned flying kites, drones, and pigeons in the city center. The Chinese authorities have also implemented radio equipment controls, forbidding the use of wireless local area network (WLAN) outdoor stations, walkie-talkies, and wireless microphones.

To ensure enough sunshine for the celebration, the regime ordered some coal-fired power plants and construction sites in Beijing and surrounding areas in Tianjin city and Hebei province to suspend operations.

Between September 24th and October 3rd, mail deliveries in the city’s center are not allowed. All deliveries into Beijing will undergo strict examination. Passengers taking trains and high-speed rails into Beijing will be subject to multiple safety checks. Inbound vehicles are no exception.

Source: BBC Chinese, September 26, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-49823665

A Russian registered website called “HK Leaks” has recently been collecting and posting the personal data of the Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protesters. On September 18, China’s state TV network China Central Television (CCTV) shared the video of the “HK Leaks” website on Weibo and encouraged netizens to forward it to others. In response, the Hong Kong pan-democratic district councilor Sunny Chiu made a posting on Facebook and suggested that the Chinese police were behind the website.

The personal data exposed on the “HK Leaks” website includes each person’s name, personal photo, occupation, birthday, phone number, and Facebook account. Some people’s residential addresses were also posted. In addition to some media reporters, the list also includes members of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, social activists, and even ordinary Hong Kong citizens who participated in the parades. The website called these people “poisonous reports,” “Hong Kong independence thugs,” and “ringleaders that ruin Hong Kong.”

The website also leaves an email address to send tips. The list continues to grow. CCTV posted a video on its Weibo account around 1 p.m. on September 18, saying that “some netizens have created a website called HK Leaks.” They suggesting netizens “take off their masks and act together! Forward!” As of the morning of September 19, the video could not be seen.

Hong Kong pan-democratic district councilor Sunny Chiu shared a story on Facebook. The website showed that a violent thug accused a Hong Kong citizen, who was not a well-known social activist, of participating in illegal gatherings and also published his personal information. Chiu said that, two months ago, the police detained the victim for five hours when he entered mainland China from Hong Kong. During the detainment, the police confiscated the victim’s mobile phone, checked the photos, identified him as a participant in illegal parades, and took away the information on his phone. The victim told Chiu that he had deliberately filled in two errors in the address bar on the confession paper requested by the police. Later, the exact same mistakes showed up on the “HK Leaks” website. The victim believes that it must be the police who have been leaking the personal information of the Hong Kong people.

Source: Central News Agency, September 19, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201909190055.aspx