• D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG

Intelligence for the New World Economy

  • D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
Semafor Logo
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG


Flagship newsletter icon
From Semafor Flagship
In your inbox, Every Weekday
Sign up

Chinese social media users criticize authorities in rare sign of dissent

Dec 25, 2025, 6:38am EST
PostEmailWhatsapp
People looking at their smartphone in China.
Dylan Martinez/Reuters

Chinese social media users criticized two key government policies, rare signs of public dissent in the country where the internet is heavily censored. The death of the former head of China’s one-child policy agency — which for decades forced women to carry out abortions and sterilizations — sparked criticism of the demographic effort, with one netizen lamenting the “children who were lost.” Others, meanwhile, criticized Beijing’s leadership over its ongoing row with Tokyo, sparked by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi saying her country could intervene to defend Taiwan in a potential Chinese attack on the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims as its own.

[@portabletext/react] Unknown block type "cta", specify a component for it in the `components.types` prop

AD