Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: RightsCon/Access Now
THE LARGEST DIGITAL rights convention in the world, RightsCon, has been abruptly cancelled. RightsCon, which is the largest international conference in the field of digital rights, was originally scheduled to take place in Zambia, as organized by Access Now. Over 3,000 participants from more than 150 countries were scheduled to attend.
According to Wired, which spoke with RightsCon organizers Access Now, the cancellation was due to Chinese pressure. But it was already apparent from the sequence of events that the cancellation was due to Chinese pressure. First, it was known Taiwanese participants were informed that they would not likely be allowed to enter Zambia, as a result of Access Now learning of Chinese government. This is despite that the number of Taiwanese participants would have been limited.
Subsequently, Zambia’s Ministry of Technology announced that the event would be postponed, which was later echoed by local media. Access Now organizers later went public with their account of what had transpired. The Zambian government claimed that the postponement was on the basis of that RightsCon needed to “ensure full alignment with Zambia’s national values, policy priorities, and broader public interest considerations.” Messaging from the Zambian government also stated that some of the speakers at RightsCon were still subject to ongoing administrative and security checks.
RightsCon organizers did not receive formal communication from the government after the announcement was made and reportedly attempted to negotiate. Nevertheless, eventually, RightsCon organizers had to announce the cancellation of the event.
Local Zambian media website News Digger reported that the cancellation was over Taiwanese participants who were expected to criticize the Chinese government, with the government citing security concerns. The venue that the event would have taken place at, the Mulungushi International Convention Center, had been donated by the Chinese government in 2022, with a 30 million USD grant to renovate the facility for the 2022 African Union Heads of State Summit.
This is not the first time that Taiwan has been shut out of international events regarding human rights because of Chinese pressure. On September 17, 2025, the Taiwan Association for Human Rights (TAHR) was informed that it would not be allowed to speak on a panel that senior researcher Shih Yi-hsiang was scheduled to participate in that day, although the event had been advertised the day before with Shih’s picture and TAHR’s logo on the first day of the conference on September 16th. The event was to have taken place as a hybrid event. Other participants in the event were also warned not to discuss Taiwan-related issues. The day after on September 18th, Indonesian migrant fishermen Mudzakir, the head of longtime fishermen union FOSPI-PMFU, was told not to speak about Taiwan.
Still, it proves another level of coercion to force the cancellation of as large as an event of RightsCon altogether because of participation by Taiwanese participants. RightsCon previously took place in Taiwan in 2025, which saw the participation of not only many Taiwanese civil society organizations, but representatives of government.
Although that RightsCon was held in Taiwan is not entirely surprising, considering the deteriorating human rights outlook in many parts of Asia, while the human rights situation in Taiwan has remained relatively unchanged. It is possible that China is hoping to send a message to large-scale international conferences that they face possible retribution if they host events in Taiwan.
Indeed, this is not the only time in recent memory that China has demonstrated its influence over African countries to shut out Taiwan either, with a trip by President Lai Ching-te to visit Taiwan’s only African ally, Eswatini, cancelled after Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Seychelles revoked the rights for Lai’s plane to pass through their airspace. Though Eswatini proves a questionable ally for democratic Taiwan, given that it is ruled by an authoritarian monarchy, this proved another case in which China has reacted strongly to Taiwanese presence in Africa, and been able to cause local governments to react against Taiwan on its behest. Several days later, it has now been announced that Lai has covertly traveled to Eswatini on a plane that Eswatini sent to Taiwan on April 30th.