A: The CCP's record of human rights violations is widely aware by the international community, but yet too vast in scale to be fully recorded. Speech by the mainland Chinese people is often "harmonized" (censored), and even grassroots cadres of the CCP are forbidden from criticizing the central government. The CCP arbitrarily smears and trumped-up charges against people with different opinions, often in the name of "rule by law." This practice has caused tremendous harm to individuals like Taiwanese nationals Chung Ting-pang and Li Ming-che, as well as former members of the Hong Kong bookshop, Causeway Bay Books, Lam Wing-kee and Gui Minhai. The CCP sees the rule of law not as a tool to protect the people but as a weapon to control freedom of thought.