The Overseas Chinese Democracy Movement: Assessing China’s Only Open Political Opposition

The overseas Chinese democracy movement is one of the world’s longest-running and most difficult exile political campaigns since it took off in the early 1980s. This book assesses its fluctuating trajectory, shifting operational environment, diversifying activities and impacts, and characterize its distinct features compared to other cases of exile politics. The movement has long passed the days when it imagined to participate directly in a regime change in China in the aftermath of Tiananmen Event of 1989 and collapse of the Soviet bloc. Momentum of the internally split movement has declined due to dwindling support from the Western states, Taiwan and the diaspora in light of China’s rise. However, in recent years, riding on emerging geopolitical circumstances, various organizations and activists have started to play more obvious and diverse supporting roles in civic political fields in facilitating the causes of human rights and democracy from newly captured niche positions.