I think it’s something that should be considered, but it would be useful to provide more than anecdotal support. Are threats of violence really that common? What clear sources are there for that statement?
The usual. WaPo/NYTimes both did several stories like this. But keep in mind that one result of suppression of free speech is the lack of clear sources. So anecdotal is sometimes the best we got.
The article you cite is regarding journalists. While I accept that this is bad, the comment above as I understood it was regarding threats against regular people for speaking freely.
I’m not saying that doesn’t occur, but I would be interested in non-anecdotal sources. If any exist.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/world/asia/china-xinjiang...