Overview

• Beijing continues to target rights lawyers with professional bans, licence revocations and surveillance that render formal defence work unviable.
• Between 2017 and 2019, 29 lawyers or firms lost or had licences suspended compared with nine cases from 2014 to 2016, highlighting an accelerated crackdown.
• Government legal aid covers around 60% of defendants but operates under laws that require upholding CCP leadership and now explicitly embrace Xi Jinping Thought.
• Disbarred lawyers such as Ren Quanniu, whose licence was revoked in 2021, and Xie Yanyi say they have been forced to offer services informally and at personal risk.
• Observers warn that Xi Jinping’s reforms have rolled back China’s rule of law to conditions close to those of the Cultural Revolution era.