Beijing human rights activist immobilized by COVID-19 app

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Wang Yu, hailed by the U.S. as an International Woman of Courage, has already been arrested, imprisoned and harassed by the Chinese Communist Party for her work as a human rights lawyer representing activists, Uyghur scholars and Falun Gong practitioners. This year, her movements within her home country also have been restricted by a color-coded app on her phone that’s supposed to protect people from COVID-19.

The health codes have become ubiquitous in China as the country has struggled to contain the novel coronavirus, pushing the public to a breaking point that erupted in protests late last month. The government announced last week it would discontinue the national health code, but cities and provinces have their own versions, which have been more dominant. In Beijing last week, restaurants, offices, hotels and gyms were still requiring local codes to enter.

Even after lockdowns end, some dissidents and activists predict the health codes will remain in place in some form.

Drawing on telecommunications network data and PCR test results, health codes are relatively simple. Everyone is assigned a QR code on their phone that switches between green, yellow or red, depending on factors such as whether they’ve been in the same spot as someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 (yellow) or if they themselves have tested positive (red). Only people with green codes can go about normal daily life.

Wang’s experience, however, shows the codes can become another tool of social control in China.

In March, she travelled to Datong, an industrial coal-mining hub in northern China, to offer counseling. While largely prevented from practicing law in China, she said she still provides advice as a “citizen advocate” on human rights cases.

Located about 215 miles...