Number of dissidents arrested and punished during the Chinese Cultural Revolution; cases of dissidents detained upon return to China; monitoring by Chinese government of students overseas
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 June 1989 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | CHN1187 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Number of dissidents arrested and punished during the Chinese Cultural Revolution; cases of dissidents detained upon return to China; monitoring by Chinese government of students overseas, 1 June 1989, CHN1187, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6acbb64.html [accessed 7 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
For the official number of people sentenced under charges of political and ideological nature, please see the attached copies of Human Rights in China, (Boulder/London: Westview Press, 1988), pages 298 and 303. However, as noted in page 298, the actual number may be well over four million people.
Regarding dissidents arrested upon return to China, the only specific case identified among available sources is that of a Hong Kong citizen, which can be found in the attached copies of China: Violations of Human Rights, (London: Amnesty International, 1986), pages 49-50.
Regarding the surveillance of Chinese citizens' activities abroad by their government, no direct reference could be found among the available sources. However, it is reported that the Chinese government extended its policy of citizens' behaviour surveillance to a national level in the 1950's, carried out through the Ministry of Public Security, which was estimated to be composed of approximately 1.7 million individuals. [ Human Rights in China, p. 68.] In 1983, the government created the Ministry of State Security, with a mandate reportedly similar to that of the Soviet KGB. [ Ibid, p. 70.] Amnesty International reported in 1987 that the security committees of China numbered about 12.7 million people. [ China: Torture and Ill-Treatment of Prisoners, (London: Amnesty International, September 1987), p. 24.] During the last weeks, North American Television and print media have reported extensively on the use of foreign broadcasts by Chinese authorities to identify dissidents residing in China, but no reports on the use of those broadcasts or other means for prosecution of students presently abroad have become available to the IRBDC.
