An international conference on online censorship, scheduled for this week in Zambia, was canceled on May 1 after the Chinese Communist Party demanded that the host government limit its content and ban Taiwanese nationals from participating.
RightsCon 2026, an annual global gathering on human rights in the digital age, was the latest victim of targeted Chinese influence over international dialogue and collaboration on digital rights issues such as internet censorship, cyber warfare, and surveillance.
Democracies around the world must take this moment to reiterate their support for digital rights and free expression, support activists in this space, and help shore up countries under acute pressure from Beijing to reject international standards.
This cancellation isn’t a one-off tactical move. It’s part of a clear strategy by the Chinese Communist Party to exert influence in international organizations and meetings to block Taiwan’s participation, any criticism of China’s behavior, and discussions about democracy and human rights.
In a nutshell, what Beijing did was demand that the Zambian government censor the content and participants of a conference about censorship.
The Zambian government told AccessNow, an American nongovernmental organization organizing the event, that “comprehensive disclosure of critical information relating to key thematic issues proposed for discussion” were “essential to ensure full alignment with Zambia’s national values and broader public interest considerations.”
Once the government postponed the event, AccessNow canceled the gathering, which 2,600 people were expected to attend May 5 in Lusaka, with another 1,100 online. Participants represented more than 150 countries and 750 organizations globally. The Nets Rights Coalition and 132 other digital rights stakeholders condemned the Zambian government’s postponement and disruption of the conference.
Conversations between organizers and the government – who had coordinated over two years in the run-up to the event – revealed that the Chinese Communist Party had pressured Zambia to “moderate specific topics and exclude communities at risk, including our Taiwanese participants, from in-person and online participation.”
The party has a long history of seeking to exclude Taiwanese officials and civil society from global forums. A recent example was at the March World Trade Organization meeting in Cameroon, when the host government under pressure from China listed Taiwan – a full WTO member listed as Chinese Taipei since 2002 – as “Taiwan Province of China.” Taiwan withdrew on principle.
This is “part of a sustained campaign by Beijing to marginalize Taiwan and exert undue influence over international bodies,” according to U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar, Republican of Michigan, the chairman of the House Select Committee on China, and the committee’s ranking member, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat of California.
The RightsCon cancellation and other similar actions are part of a broader Chinese Communist Party effort to expand control and undermine long-established global standards which the United States worked to cultivate based on our own values of freedom of speech and expression.
Democracies including the United States should expect to see many similar actions, particularly if attacks like the ones in Zambia and Cameroon go unchecked.
There are three things that the United States and other democracies can do to keep them from happening.
First, push back against attacks on global freedoms, including through “meeting warfare.” As the Chinese Communist Party seeks to expand its influence, the United States and other democracies should use forums like RightsCon to ensure that embattled democracies and civil society actors have full access and active participation to ensure international collaboration advances the protection of freedoms.
At this moment, democracies have an opportunity to vocally advocate for the convening of RightsCon as soon as possible to show that Chinese pressure won’t go unchecked. If these actions do indeed go without outcry, we can expect such efforts to expand, not contract.
The United States and other democracies have invested heavily in protecting freedom of expression, and RightsCon is a forum for advancing many long-championed causes. Congress has also been a vocal advocate on internet freedom, digital security, and other issues which were on RightsCon’s 2026 agenda.
Second, support countries – particularly those in Africa – that are under significant pressure by the Chinese Communist Party to compromise transparency and rule of law in exchange for Chinese investment.
The United States has a huge opportunity to expand its partnership and engagement in Africa to broaden security and counterterrorism efforts, counter malign information from China and Russia, and improve well-being through economic growth, all of which would serve American interests and strengthen partnerships to tackle common problems.
The United States already has strong ties in Zambia through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. It should reinforce its own support for Zambia’s commitment to global standards, including human rights, freedom of speech, and democracy.
Third, counter China ideologically.
The global competition between China and the democratic world is being waged on multiple stages beyond economic and security issues. China is actively undermining democratic values globally to shift the international landscape away from a rights- and rules-based system to one that allows Chinese autocracy to go unchecked.
Through transnational repression, election interference, cyberwarfare, partnerships with emerging autocratic leaders, and pressure on smaller nations, China is actively undermining a system built by and beneficial to the United States and other democratic nations. Democracies must see the protection and expansion of democratic values as both a strategic and moral imperative worth fighting for.
RightsCon is just one event but emblematic of a much larger challenge to democratic values and global system. The pressure that caused the cancellation should not go unanswered.
