What Criteria Does China Use to Target Dissidents?

The Chinese government's decision, reportedly made at the highest levels, to arrest not only world-renowned artist Ai Weiwei, but also several of Ai's lesser-known associates, raises the question of what criteria, if any, Chinese authorities use to determine who to target with such crackdowns.

Understanding the political calculus behind the crackdowns is no easy task, according to Iain Mills, a Beijing-based World Politics Review contributor.

"It's ambiguous and totally arbitrary, really. There is no apparent logic as to when they decide to arrest someone," Mills told Trend Lines earlier this week, noting that "probably 90 percent of those arrested or harassed in the past two years have been low-level figures that nobody has heard of."

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review