Human Rights
The worsening human rights situation in China and Hong Kong is not only a matter of global humanitarian concern but also raises the risks for businesses operating in the country. Policy makers and business leaders cannot afford to turn a blind eye.
The PRC’s Extraterritorial Legal Architecture: Long-arm Jurisdiction as an Instrument of Transnational Repression and Statecraft
The CSRI team examines how Beijing has slowly built up a vast extraterritorial legal toolkit, enabling it to conduct transnational repression and project influence across the globe. The paper focuses on two accelerants: the exploitation of judicial comity under common law systems to enforce PRC judgments abroad, and the rapid proliferation of PRC national security statutes that assert or enable extraterritorial reach.
The Declining Accountability and Transparency of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council: how the ‘Heart of Democracy’ impacts the Business Environment
Anouk Wear examines how Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has seen its accountability and transparency functions sharply curtailed, particularly after Beijing imposed 2021 electoral reforms and opposition figures were systematically disqualified. The report recommends that foreign governments treat LegCo engagement as effectively Beijing facing, and condition certain dialogues on restored accountability, while advising businesses to refresh risk assessments and operate with mainland China level precautions.
The Chinese Communist Party’s Ideological Control in UK-China Joint Educational Institutes
Tau Yang investigates CCP ideological control across 45 UK-China Joint Educational Institutes. It provides the background and an analysis of ideological control, including propaganda, surveillance and censorship, by the JEI-affiliated CCP Committees occurring in these institutions and their potential impact on students, staff and other members of the UK-China JEIs.
The Hidden Role of the Chinese Communist Party in UK-China Joint Educational Institutes
Tau Yang examines the hidden governance role of the Chinese Communist Party within UK universities’ Transnational Education partnerships in the PRC. The report highlights the need for the UK Government and universities to scrutinise and respond to the CCP's influence in these partnerships, known as the Joint Educational Institutes (JEIs).
Clean energy’s dirty secret: how can solar cut its dependence on Xinjiang forced labour?
In our featured report on human rights, the CSRI deputy director Andrew Yeh argues the forced labor in China's Xinjiang region poses ethical and strategic risks to global solar power supply chains, as the region is a major producer of solar grade polysilicon. Governments should strengthen anti-slavery laws, support alternative supply chains, and foster international cooperation to mitigate these risks and promote ethical solar production.
Hong Kong’s Crowdfunding Regulations Could Have Global Ramifications
Charles Mok indicates the proposed regulations and establishment of a dedicated Crowdfunding Affairs Office in Hong Kong raise concerns about increased bureaucracy, chilling effects on donors and contributors, potential censorship of online platforms, and negative impacts on the region's status as a financial hub and innovation center.
Hong Kong Has Changed, But Britain’s Legal Community Doesn’t Seem to Realize It
The CSRI co-founders Dennis Kwok and Sam Goodman expose the delusion held by the U.K. legal community regarding Hong Kong's situation, as it fails to acknowledge the mass arrests, erosion of the rule of law, and unfair trials caused by Beijing's security law, while cautioning U.K. lawyers about the restrictions and risks they face under CCP rule in Hong Kong's legal system.