Michael Caster

Very excited to drop our long awaited report on #China's Digital Silk Road! We show how Beijing is seeking to create a China-centric global authoritarian alternative to digital governance norms, through examples in the Indo-Pacific article19.org/resources/chin…

"The State Department fired its top experts on the South China Sea and shuttered the office with a key focus on Indo-Pacific security amid a sweeping reorganization earlier this month." npr.org/2025/07/24/nx-…

Close vote this Tuesday on new laws that would permit the Telegraph (and others) to be 15% owned by foreign governments. This is bad idea. Report, featuring a legal opinion arguing that @lisanandy must act to investigate 🇨🇳influence. spectator.co.uk/article/inside…

What happened today is utterly extraordinary. Being generous: a cock-up of staggering proportions. Government officials got a senior minister to sign a letter resuming extradition to Hong Kong....which was against proposed law AND policy. Let me break it down. 🧵

As a UK resident with a £100,000 bounty from the HK gov, I am gutted by the UK gov’s plan. It contradicts with the UK’s committment over HK issue. It is not only a betrayal to 200,000 UK-Hong Kongers, but also a betrayal to Kier Starmer’s background as a human rights lawyer.

Have never been prouder of the @amnesty team for bring this together. Even in Chinese, the message to EU leaders is clear: ignoring widespread human rights violations in favor of watered down language and “win-win” aspirations fails those targeted by China’s repression.

UK & other democratic allies suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong in response to Beijing’s illegal imposition of 2020 “National Security Law” and blatant breach of Sino-British Joint Declaration. Things have only worsened since, both in HK & abroad. This shall not pass.

[Recap] Chinese tech giant Tencent is launching legal action to take down FreeWeChat.com, an archive developed by GreatFire, according to the anti-censorship group. buff.ly/z5wDeay

Procurement and deployment of artificial intelligence must be aligned with human rights: UN experts @WGBizHRs warn, calling for urgent global cooperation to prevent abuses & ensure access to remedy for any AI-related #HumanRights violations. #HRC59

Former Australian diplomat, "the challenge facing #Taiwan & the region is not a future hypothetical. It’s under way right now, from cyberattacks & interference operations to... increasing aggression across the Indo-Pacific." Deeper engagement with Taiwan! afr.com/policy/foreign…

Chilling: Chinese govt press lambasted Hong Kong's independent bookstores for organizing a book fair, calling it "soft resistance", re-defining previously non-political behavior as politically subversive, deepening censorship + repression hongkongfp.com/2025/07/21/co-…

#EU #China Summit agenda highlights: ✅50th ann ✅Russia-Ukraine ✅Trade ✅Climate ✅Multilateralism, rules-based intl order But not: ⁉️Human rights Here to help: nchrd.org/?tztc=1 consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/in…

Hong Kong to add 4,000 sets of surveillance cameras within 2 years. In full: buff.ly/yNVVshN

Important from @yingyuchen9 on impact of #Boston jury decision to acquit a man accused of being a #China agent despite strong evidence of him harassing & intimidating @thecfhk's @frances_hui & other #HongKong democracy activists #TransnationalRepression bostonglobe.com/2025/07/18/opi…

Brace yourselves for today. If the government doesn’t announce the 🇨🇳 mega embassy decision today, it likely won’t be until September. Meanwhile the @UKHouseofLords votes later on allowing foreign governments to own 15% of UK newspapers. 🚩🚩🚩 article19.org/resources/uk-h…

NED – China Salon on Emergent Digital Repression: How the PRC is using AI to Censor, Surveil, and Troll youtube.com/live/4-wORKB09…

NYT: “Chinese Officers Questioned U.S. Government Employee About His Army Service—The man, a U.S. citizen, is barred from leaving China by the Ministry of State Security, the country’s main intelligence and counterintelligence agency.” @ewong nytimes.com/2025/07/21/us/…

.@article19org calls  on Secretary of State @lisanandy to suspend the Telegraph acquisition pending a full & independent investigation, which should be informed by an understanding of how China engages in foreign state influence operations.  @ipacglobal article19.org/resources/uk-h…

👏👏@michaelcaster for highlighting dangers of foreign owners taking outsized stakes in 🇬🇧 media In #HK, the #CCP has overseen the sharpest decline in #PressFreedom ever seen by @RSF_inter The UK would certainly be unwise to allow #China apologist John Thornton - whose advisory…

To keep watching:

#China must not be allowed to seize narrative influence over UK media or its global distribution, @article19org urges House of Lords to block Chinese influence and halt foreign media ownership article19.org/resources/uk-h…