The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is almost certainly the most impactful perpetrator of transnational repression (TNR) – cross-border interference with the exercise of basic rights – in the UK. Using techniques ranging from direct personal violence and crude bounties designed to inspire intimidation and harassment, through to pressure on targets’ relatives, and subtler techniques of outsourced platform censorship and the threat of digital surveillance, the party-state possesses unparalleled ability to impose costs on an expanding array of individuals beyond its borders for exercising their fundamental political rights in the UK. The CCP is by no means the only perpetrator of TNR: the issue affects an expanding array of groups, including various diaspora communities, journalists, academics and legal professionals.

Defending democracy in the UK requires the establishment of an independent, statutory Transnational Rights Protection Office (TRIPO) as part of the UK’s national human rights protection institutions. This establishment of a TRIPO will provide, first and foremost, a central, accessible, trusted point of contact for targets of TNR to report cases and obtain support. Mirroring the functions of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which focuses on domestic sources of human rights violations, the new office should monitor the situation of TNR in the UK, advising government and non-government stakeholders to develop independent policy proposals and mechanisms to penalise perpetrators and enable access to redress for targets. Establishing such an institution will make the UK a world leader in ensuring democratic resilience against the cross-border political and technological challenges of the 21st Century’s contested world, and stands to deliver significant benefits to UK national security.