Country of origin information report China July 2020 Country of origin information report China | May 2020 Publication details Location The Hague Assembled by Country of Origin Information Reports Section (AB) The Dutch version of this report is leading. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands cannot be held accountable for misinterpretations based on the English version of the report. Country of origin information report China | May 2020 Table of contents Publication details ............................................................................................2 Table of contents .............................................................................................3 Introduction ....................................................................................................6 1 Political developments ................................................................................ 8 1.1 General ..........................................................................................................8 1.2 Xi Jinping .......................................................................................................8 1.3 The Shuanggui system .....................................................................................9 1.4 The security situation .......................................................................................9 1.5 Social credit system ....................................................................................... 10 1.5.1 Companies ................................................................................................... 10 1.5.2 Individuals .................................................................................................... 11 1.5.3 Consequences of being blacklisted ................................................................... 11 1.5.4 Appeals and duration of blacklisting ................................................................. 12 2 Documents ................................................................................................ 13 2.1 Household registration booklet (hukou) ............................................................ 13 2.2 Identity and travel documents in general .......................................................... 13 2.3 Passports and travel documents ...................................................................... 14 2.4 Refusal to issue a passport ............................................................................. 14 2.5 Second-generation identity cards..................................................................... 15 2.6 Applications submitted abroad ........................................................................ 15 2.7 Identification obligation .................................................................................. 18 2.8 Document fraud ............................................................................................ 18 2.9 Biometric data .............................................................................................. 19 3 Legal context - human rights ..................................................................... 20 3.1 International conventions ............................................................................... 20 3.2 Constitution .................................................................................................. 20 3.3 Other national legislation and regulations ......................................................... 20 3.3.1 National Supervision Law ................................................................................ 20 3.3.2 Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law .................................................................. 20 3.3.3 Amended Criminal Procedure Law .................................................................... 21 3.3.4 Cryptography Law ......................................................................................... 21 3.3.5 Community Corrections Law ........................................................................... 22 3.3.6 Custody & Education abolished ........................................................................ 22 3.3.7 Legislation dealing with sexual harassment ....................................................... 23 3.3.8 Legislation pertaining to the right to reside ....................................................... 23 4 Compliance and violations ......................................................................... 24 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 24 4.2 Judicial process ............................................................................................. 24 4.3 Arrests, custody and detentions ...................................................................... 25 4.3.1 Criminal detention ......................................................................................... 25 4.3.2 RSDL ........................................................................................................... 26 4.3.3 Administrative detention ................................................................................ 26 4.3.4 Liuzhi ........................................................................................................... 27 4.4 Enforced disappearances ................................................................................ 28 4.5 Extrajudicial executions and killings ................................................................. 29 4.6 The death penalty.......................................................................................... 29 Country of origin information report China | May 2020 5 Freedom of expression .............................................................................. 31 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 31 5.2 Professional journalists ................................................................................... 31 5.3 Citizen journalists .......................................................................................... 32 5.4 Foreign journalists ......................................................................................... 33 5.5 Science and education.................................................................................... 33 5.6 The internet .................................................................................................. 34 5.7 Great Firewall ............................................................................................... 34 5.8 Regulations pertaining to the internet .............................................................. 35 5.9 VPN ............................................................................................................. 36 5.10 Total internet shutdown ................................................................................. 36 5.11 Internet companies in China: data protection and censorship .............................. 37 5.12 Influencers, bloggers and vloggers on social media ............................................ 38 5.13 Cybercafés ................................................................................................... 38 5.14 Censorship and repression of media abroad ...................................................... 39 5.15 Chinese users abroad ..................................................................................... 39 6 Freedom of religion and belief ................................................................... 40 6.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 40 6.2 Criminal prosecution of members and leaders of a Xie Jiao ................................. 41 6.3 Falun Gong (FG) ............................................................................................ 44 6.4 Church of Almighty God (CAG) ........................................................................ 45 6.5 ‘Grey’ religious denominations......................................................................... 46 6.6 Justification by Faith (Sola Fide) ...................................................................... 47 6.7 The Roman Catholic church in China ................................................................ 48 7 Freedom of movement ............................................................................... 49 7.1 Hukou .......................................................................................................... 49 7.2 Leaving the country ....................................................................................... 49 7.3 The situation for Uighurs when leaving the country ............................................ 51 7.4 The situation for Tibetans when leaving the country ........................................... 51 7.5 Domestic restriction of freedom of movement ................................................... 51 8 Position of specific groups ......................................................................... 53 8.1 Human rights defenders ................................................................................. 53 8.2 Women ........................................................................................................ 55 8.2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 55 8.2.2 The #MeToo movement in China ....................................................................