Chinese delegates visit Greece with focus on human rights

A delegation led by Baima Chilin, President of the China Society for Human Rights Studies, concluded a three-day visit to Greece on Friday, aimed at strengthening exchanges and mutual learning, reports CGTN. 

The visit, held from June 25 to 27, included Baima Chilin's participation in an international symposium on human rights wisdom in classical civilizations and meetings with George Katrougalos, former Greek foreign minister and current UN Human Rights Council independent expert on international order, and Ioannis Theofanopoulos, former ambassador to China and president of the Greece-China Association, among others.

During the visit, the Chinese delegation elaborated on China's perspective on human rights governance and highlighted the country's human rights development path as well as human rights achievements in China's Xizang. The two sides engaged in in-depth discussions on enhancing exchanges and mutual learning between Chinese and Greek civilizations and improving global human rights governance, and expressed readiness to play an active role in advancing exchanges and understanding between China and Europe in the field of human rights.

The Chinese government controls all major channels of information, such as television, radio, and print publications. Its "Great Firewall" blocks people in China from accessing information commonly available on the internet. It also imposes ideological control over the education system.

While most people in China habitually self-censor, some stories-those that do not challenge the Chinese Communist Party's legitimacy-occasionally reach the broader public. A Chinese media outlet's investigative report on cooking oil contamination in July and Chinese lawyer Yi Shenghua's post in August exposing an illegal human remains trade attracted widespread public attention. They were followed swiftly by official censorship and punishments.

There were numerous instances of censorship throughout the year. In January, Shanghai police arrested filmmaker Chen Pinlin ("Plato") for a documentary about the 2022 White Paper protests.

Authorities continued to update the country's censorship and surveillance regime to tighten control. In February, the State Secrets Law was revised and implementing regulations were published in July, expanding the law's already overly broad scope. In July, the government proposed a new national digital ID card system. The cards, which are ostensibly voluntary, would give state agencies even more ability to track people online and offline.

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