Human rights concerns abound over China’s ‘state secrets’ regulation in the Uyghur region

China’s state secrecy framework, updated in 2024, extends the definition of “state secrets” to political, economic, technological, and social information considered relevant to national stability. In the Uyghur region, this expansive approach to secrecy becomes especially significant because issues connected to everyday life — including religious practices, cultural expression, communication patterns, and other forms of social behavior — increasingly fall within the scope of security governance and information control.

China