Free China

Free China Movement Statement

Authoritarian repression does not stop at a country’s borders. Political prisoners can be locked away at home, while intimidation, censorship and fear are exported abroad.

In Buenos Aires, the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL) organized events marking the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Totalitarianism and honoring political prisoners, including Uyghur writer and literary critic Yalkun Rozi, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence in China. CADAL named Rozi one of the recipients of its 2026 Graciela Fernández Meijide Award for the Defence of Human Rights.

Infobae reported, citing three sources, that the Chinese Embassy in Argentina asked Argentina’s Foreign Ministry to intervene against a planned forum at the Buenos Aires City Legislature at which Uyghur activist Dolkun Isa was expected to speak. CADAL’s director, Gabriel Salvia, publicly described the episode as pressure by a foreign embassy that restricted free expression and assembly. The event ultimately took place at another venue. Because accounts of the venue change have differed, the Free China Movement treats the allegation of embassy pressure as a reported and attributed claim rather than as an independently adjudicated fact.

This distinction matters, but so does the broader principle. Democratic societies must not allow foreign authoritarian governments to determine who may speak, which political prisoners may be named, or what human-rights abuses may be discussed on their soil.

No government has the right to decide, inside another free country, who may speak and whose name may be heard.

Yalkun Rozi is not alone. Across China, Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang, political prisoners and peaceful critics remain imprisoned or silenced. Beyond China’s borders, dissidents, journalists, activists and diaspora communities have repeatedly raised concerns about surveillance, intimidation and pressure associated with transnational repression.

The Free China Movement calls on democratic governments, legislatures, universities, civil-society organizations and media institutions to defend open debate and protect people targeted for peaceful political expression. Governments should investigate credible allegations of foreign interference or intimidation, strengthen protections against transnational repression, and ensure that public institutions do not quietly surrender democratic freedoms under external pressure.

Political prisoners must be freed. Their voices must not be erased at home, and fear must not be allowed to follow their communities abroad.

Sources: CADAL, 2026 Graciela Fernández Meijide Award materials and August 23 remembrance materials; Infobae reporting of August 24 and August 29, 2026.

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