Increase in Dissent Incidents Signals Growing Crisis in China, Report Shows

A recent report by Freedom House’s China Dissent Monitor (CDM) has recorded 805 incidents of dissent across China from April to June 2024, marking an 18% increase from the same period last year, despite the Chinese regime’s tight control. The majority of these incidents occurred in 370 provincial cities and were related to labor issues (44%) and homeowners’ protests (21%).

Guangdong Province saw the most protests, accounting for 13% of the total, followed by Shandong, Hebei, Henan, and Zhejiang. Economic issues fueled protests in cities like Shenzhen, Xi’an, and Sanya, with Guangdong-based Country Garden and Shenzhen-based Evergrande, two major real estate companies in crisis, being central to many of the protests.

The report highlights that China’s economy is stagnating due to unresolved issues like the real estate crisis, trade tensions with the U.S., and the lingering effects of stringent COVID-19 lockdowns. The CDM also noted protests in rural areas over forced evictions and land expropriation, as well as protests by taxi drivers over rising fees.

Observers suggest that the increase in protests, despite strict CCP control, indicates a deepening legitimacy crisis for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Tseng Chien-Yuan, chairman of the board at the New School for Democracy, noted that even China’s middle class is protesting, which signals a serious economic crisis. Wu Se-Chih, a researcher at the Cross-Strait Policy Association in Taiwan, warned that the real number of protests is likely much higher than reported due to CCP censorship.

Freedom House acknowledged the risks and challenges of collecting information within China but emphasized that the CDM was created to address this information gap through various sources. Wu predicts that as economic despair deepens, the CCP’s ability to suppress dissent will weaken, potentially leading to the regime’s collapse.