arbitrary detention and unfair trials. Civic space in Hong Kong became ever more curtailed as the authorities maintained wide-ranging bans on peaceful protests and imprisoned pro-democracy activists, journalists, human rights defenders and others on national security-related charges. They also sought the arrest of opposition activists who had fled overseas. The Hong Kong courts ruled in favour of some LGBTI people’s rights in several landmark cases. BACKGROUND China experienced a serious economic downturn and youth unemployment reached a record high at 21.3% among 16- to 24year-olds. Labour strikes also reached the highest number in recent years as factory closures and wage cuts drove workers’ protests. The continued lack of transparency of the Chinese Communist Party and the government was demonstrated by the sudden disappearances from public life of foreign minister Qin Gang and minister of national defence Li Shangfu, and the sudden death of former premier Li Keqiang. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, ASSOCIATION AND ASSEMBLY Chinese authorities continued to severely curtail rights to freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including through the abusive application of laws often under the pretext of preserving national security. People who participated in events to commemorate the victims of an apartment block fire in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, in November 2022 and associated protests against restrictive Covid-19 policies (known as the A4 protests or White Paper Revolution due to protesters holding blank sheets of paper) continued to face harassment. Among the dozens of mainly young protesters believed to have been detained were Cao Zhixin, Li Yuanjing, Zhai Dengrui and Li Siqi, who were released on bail in April after being held for approximately four months. 128 In June, a foreign ministry spokesperson confirmed that Kamile Wayit, a Uyghur university student, had been found guilty in March of “promoting extremism” ostensibly for posting a video about the A4 protests on the Chinese social media platform, WeChat. Kamile Wayit, who was reported to be suffering from depression and other health problems, was sentenced to three years in prison.1 In August, China’s legislature announced proposed amendments to the Public Security Administrative Law to ban acts, clothing and speech that is “detrimental to the Chinese national spirit or hurts the feelings of the Chinese people”. Chinese legal experts raised concerns that the lack of definition or scope of certain of the proposed revisions would give the authorities excessive powers to restrict freedoms. Social media users were subjected to further regulation with the introduction in July by China’s cyberspace regulator of new guidelines to regulate “self-media” (zimeiti) blogs and social media accounts, making account holders responsible for ensuring that posts are factually correct and sources identified when posting about current affairs or international politics. Social media companies subsequently introduced new policies requiring influencers and others with large numbers of followers to disclose their real names, raising concerns about right to privacy. The targeting of journalists continued, including in connection with geopolitical tensions. In June, India’s formal media presence in China ended with the expulsion of a Hindustan Times journalist amid tensions between the Chinese and Indian governments. In October, Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who had worked at Chinese stateowned television network CGTN, was released. She had been detained in August 2020 for allegedly “supplying state secrets overseas”. HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS The government continued to systematically target human rights defenders amid efforts to The State of the World’s Human Rights