How does China attack journalists who have left the country?

2024-05-05 16:49:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

When Chinese journalist Su Yutong fled her country in 2010, she thought she would find safety. But Voice of America correspondent Liam Scott reports from Berlin that Ms. Yutong is being attacked by China while staying as an asylum seeker in Germany.

Su Yutong has become a good cook. Preparing the dishes she liked in Beijing connects the journalist with her country of origin and helps her fill the long days she spends alone at home.

The reason for her self-isolation is years of attacks and threats from China.

"I continue to tell the truth. So they want to silence me, even by threatening me," says Mrs. Yutong.

The distribution of a banned book in Tiananmen Square in 2010 was the beginning of trouble for Ms. Su. Chinese police raided her home in Beijing and she was placed under house arrest.

But, with the help of friends, she escaped to Europe.

For a while, Germany's capital gave him a sense of security. Ms. Su wrote articles on human rights for the Deutsche Welle network and then Radio Free Asia. But later she lost the feeling of security.

In 2022, strange men started showing up at her apartment, brought there by an illegal online sex site where her address was posted.

"I felt disgust and humiliation. I also had mental problems at that time and was afraid to walk on the street," she says.

Then things got worse. In 2023, the identities of Ms. Su and two other activists were used to check into hotels in Berlin and other cities. Calls were made from those rooms to warn of bomb placement.

Experts say that her case is extreme even for Beijing, which is nevertheless ranked among the countries that carry out the greatest repression against people in other countries.

"The basic tactics of transnational repression are generally designed to show people that they cannot escape the Chinese government," says Marieke Ohlberg, of the German Marshall Fund.

The main objective is to stop criticism of China in other countries. China's embassy in Berlin and the Chinese foreign ministry did not respond to VOA's requests for comment.

Being the subject of these attacks is a very lonely experience. For a period of two years, Ms. Su hardly left her apartment. She says that even something as simple as a walk in the park can be associated with feelings of danger.

"When I went out, I always checked that there were no suspicious people around me, and I rarely left the house," says Ms. Yutong. Such a reaction is expected, experts say.

"Paranoia is a common reaction in different communities. People often fear that other factors, or individuals within the community may spy on them. And this is not an unfounded fear", says Gozde Bocu, from the organization for technology and human rights "Citizen Lab".

However, Ms Su says she now feels less scared.

"They did not expect that little by little I would be able to come out of the shadow where they put me. I think they should be afraid of me and not the other way around. They can't silence me. They can't achieve that," says Mrs. Yutong.

Her life is fulfilled again, but there is little furniture in her apartment. After the incidents of 2023, the German police recommended that she change her residence. She moved and left almost everything behind.

"China blocks the truth. It takes many journalists to tell the real stories, tell the real events and the truth," she says.

In a way, Ms. Su says, it gives you a good feeling to learn that even Beijing is scared. If they weren't afraid of her, Mrs. Su thinks, they wouldn't have tried so hard to silence her./ VOA