From H&M to Nike, from global airlines to hotel chains, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long leveraged its burgeoning position in the global economy to pressure foreign companies into becoming messengers of its authoritarian ideology. Such corporate intimidation has forced international brands from various industries – beauty, travel, entertainment, sports and more – to forego their freedoms of opinion and expression and to remain complicit in mass human rights atrocities simply to stay in the CCP’s good graces and have unfettered access to the Chinese market.
There are many tactics of the Chinese Communist Party’s long-arm intimidation, all of which aim to advance the CCP’s agenda in its endless pursuit of ideological compliance. In addition to corporate intimidation, there is another form of intimidation that deserves more attention — and that is the intimidation of overseas activists by holding their family and loved ones hostage.
