Asian Lawyers Network (ALN) - 2025-03-04. Yang Caiying Statement

ALN has released a statement expressing deep concern about the detention of Yang Caiying's mother and sister following her petition against illegal land grabs in China and about threats against her being kidnapped from her home in Japan and sent back to China.

Yang Caiying in front of the Chinese Consulate in Nagoya

Mother and Sister Detained after Petitioning Against Illegal Land Grabs

Chinese Woman living in Japan Threatened to be Kidnapped back to China

The article was originally published in Chinese by Radio Taiwan International on 14 February 2025.

Patrick Poon, Board Member, Asian Lawyers Network

Yang Caiying was leading a pretty good life in Nagoya, Japan. Unexpectedly, she received bad news from her town in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, in China. Her 71-year-old mother Xu Dongqing and 45-year-old younger sister Yang Li were intercepted and kidnapped from Zhongnanhai in Beijing to their hometown in Jintang District, Changzhou city, on 10 October and 16 October 2024 respectively. Why? It’s because they had been petitioning against the Jintang District government’s deceptive land grabs and violent forcible evictions. The authorities refused to investigate their family’s claim that their savings were illegally held by a local bank as a result of retaliation against their petitioning.

It’s common to see petitioners being imprisoned. The above-mentioned “pocket crimes” are often used to crack down on petitioners and dissidents. I could see a very typical illegal grab case in collecting Yang Caiying’s testimony about her mother and her sister. In February 2023, since there had been no effect in the legal battle for their rights and defense actions for over a decade, Yang’s mother and sister went to petition at the National Public Complaints and Proposals Administration in Beijing to submit their petitioning materials and evidence about the illegal land grabs by the Jintan District government in Changzhou city, Jiangsu province, and the illegal actions taken by the Jintan District Public Security Bureau in Changzhou city and Jintang District People’s Procuratorate. China passed the “Regulations on Letters and Visits” in 2005 which claimed to protect citizens’ rights to petition. In article 3 of the regulations, it states that “the people's governments at all levels and the relevant departments of the people's governments at or above the county level shall effectively handle letters and visits by conscientiously dealing with letters, receiving visitors, heeding people's comments, suggestions and complaints and accepting their supervision, so that the people's interests are best served.” Also, in the same article, it states that “no organization or individual may retaliate against letter-writers or visitors.” Yang Caiying’s family was only demanding their rights in accordance with the regulations. How could they be accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”? How could they be accused of “disrupting the working order of a state organ”? They are even unable to receive medical treatment for their illnesses.

Tian Hong, the director of social work department of Jiangsu Province, and Chen Jinhu, party secretary of Changzhou city, issued the order to block Yang’s mother and sister from going to receive medical treatment and petitioning in Beijing. The Jintan District Branch of Changzhou City Public Security Bureau issued the order to send agents to surveil, attack, kidnap and arbitrarily detain Yang’s mother and sister. Petitioners not only cannot advance their causes through legal actions, they are always retaliated against by the authorities. That’s against the original intention and requirements of the “Regulations on Letters and Visits”. However, the Chinese government not only has not punished the officials who attacked Yang’s mother and sister, but it sent agents to intercept their petitioning, arbitrarily detain them and formally arrest them. Isn’t the government taking the lead to violate the laws and harass citizens with evil laws?

Yet, it is not ridiculous enough. Yang Caiying confirmed that the authorities didn’t cite any legal reasons in the notice of criminal detention and formal arrest of her mother and sister. Without any legal reasoning, the authorities, however, can criminally detain and even formally arrest them. What does it mean? That means the Chinese government simply doesn’t follow its own laws. It also shows that Chinese officials can arrest anyone as they wish while they don’t face any consequences. Although Yang’s family and lawyer have repeatedly requested the authorities to withdraw the charges against her mother and sister, citing her mother Xu Dongqing’s age and health conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure and cerebral infarction (ischemic stroke), and her sister Yang Li’s kidney disease and high blood pressure. They should be released or released on bail due to their deteriorating health conditions. But Ma Yunpeng, the official in charge of their case in Changzhou never gave any response.

As her family members were unreasonably detained and harassed, Yang Caiying always went to petition outside the Chinese consulate general in Nagoya. She herself has also become a target of crackdown. Some Chinese students in Nagoya told her that officials in Changzhou city had told them that they could hire private detectives in Japan to surveil Yang Caiying and even kidnap her back to China. Chinese authorities not only defy their own laws. They even make bold claims of transnational repression, aiming to silence her. Yang Caiying is very determined to save her mother and sister. She decides to continue her fight for her mother and sister. Chinese authorities fail to follow China's own laws and abuse its evil laws to crack down on its people. They even attempt to silence its citizens via transnational repression. It’s clearly a serious violation of human rights. The international community should strive to stop the Chinese authorities’ transnational repression. Otherwise, China’s authoritarian practice will be exported to other countries that will have serious consequences for global security.