Thread by @AMFChina

【 BREAKING 】@thetimes reports that 400+ academics have signed an open letter in solidarity with Dr Finley. The signatories criticise the political censorship of the Chinese Communist Party, which now jeopardises scholarly cooperation with China /1

thetimes.co.uk/article/freedo…

Such global support for Dr Finley marks a decisive pushback against the CCP’s threat to academic freedom. In 2020 100+ scholars from 71 academic institutions across 16 countries had already signed another open letter condemning the HK security law /2

theguardian.com/education/2020…

So what is happening here and what do we need to know? In an article for the International Journal of Human Rights @InRights (in peer review) David Missal @DavidJRMissal and I have pointed out that the CCP poses a serious threat to academic freedom at home and abroad /3

Under General Secretary Xi Jinping the Chinese Communist Party weaponised China's domestic academia through the party directives Seven Don’t Speaks & Doc No 9. Chinese academics never enjoyed much autonomy, but whatever they once had was taken away /4

chinafile.com/document-9-chi…

In 2019 the CCP imposed changes on university charters such as "dropping the phrase 'freedom of thought' and the inclusion of a pledge to follow the Communist party’s leadership". The goal is a Gleichschaltung of Chinese academia by a unified narrative /5

theguardian.com/world/2019/dec…

Dr Elizabeth Perry has highlighted that "Chinese universities have introduced new regulations that encourage intellectuals to align their academic output even more closely with official priorities". This has led to enforced political compliance /6

link.springer.com/article/10.100…

Many academics whose voices were considered as political threats have been heavily sanctioned, often by terminating their employment contract, sometimes even by cancelling their right to pension and sometimes by long, arbitrary prison sentences /7

scmp.com/article/159856…

According to Dr Cai Xia, a former renowned professor at the Central Party School “over the course of (Xi Jinping’s) tenure, the regime has degenerated further into a political oligarchy bent on holding on to power through brutality and ruthlessness." /8

foreignaffairs.com/articles/china…

Beat Hotz-Hart has pointed out that "the authorities have started to influence the academic discussion also in other countries" under the pretext of defending the national sovereignty of China, which nowadays means defending the party-state /9

nzz.ch/meinung/vorsic…

China's censorship regime has not stopped at its borders. In recent years numerous Western China specialists have been harassed, either for their critical scholarship, for publicly critiquing the CCP and its ill-guided party policies, or for both /10

indexoncensorship.org/2019/08/china-…

Professor Anne-Marie Brady @Anne_MarieBrady became a prominent victim of the CCP's intimidation tactics following the publication of "her 2017 paper Magic Weapons, which details the extent of Chinese influence in New Zealand" /11

theguardian.com/world/2019/jan…

On 22 March Dr Adrian Zenz @adrianzenz & Dr Bjoern Jerdén @bjornjerden were singled out by the party-state in its disproportionate counter-sanctions following the Magnitsky sanctions by the EU, US, UK and Canada on Chinese officials /12

bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…

On 26 March Dr Jo Smith Finley @j_smithfinley was sanctioned by the Chinese party-state in retaliation for Dr Finley publicly speaking out against the "perpetration of crimes against humanity and the beginnings of a slow genocide" in Xinjiang /13

bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

Dr Antoine Bondaz @AntoineBondaz, a China expert at the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research who had publicly defended French lawmaker's planned visit to Taiwan was insulted by the Chinese Embassy in France as a 'small-time thug' /14

reuters.com/article/us-fra…

The widely respected German China specialists Dr Mareike Ohlberg @MareikeOhlberg and Dr Kristin Shi-Kupfer @gusiting were attacked by the CCP mouthpiece Global Times as 'far-right', 'anti-China' and accused of '[defaming] China's human rights record' /15

globaltimes.cn/page/202103/12…

I myself have experienced smear campaigns and cyber bullying for my research and commentary on the struggle for democracy in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. This non-exhaustive list of bullied China specialists shows the scale of the problem /16

rfa.org/english/news/c…

In the following I would like to outline what 1) democratic governments, 2) universities, 3) learned societies, 4) China specialists as well as 5) laypersons with an interest in current Chinese affairs can do to better protect #AcademicFreedom and #FreedomOfSpeech /17

【 What governments can do 】

They should establish a whole-of-government task force which provides strategic guidance on issues ranging from academic freedom, industry cooptation, cyber attacks, disinformation campaigns, to threats against the Chinese diaspora etc /18

And while higher education (HE) is a public good, in the past few decades it has been hollowed out by financialisation and commercialisation. Governments need to sufficiently fund HE institutions and protect HE from the whims of market forces /19

medium.com/ussbriefs/the-…

And while in liberal democracies governments should not interfere in the self-government of universities, they also have a constitutional obligation to mitigate international threats to academic freedom. Universities should be reminded of their commitment to #AcademicFreedom /20

【 What universities can do 】

UK universities should swiftly implement the @UUKIntl guidelines 'Managing risks in Internationalisation: Security related issues'. The key task ahead will be to engage in #EthicalDueDiligence and #ReputationManagement /21

universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-ana…

Universities worldwide should also heed the excellent advice of @GPPi and "apply the [Academic Freedom Index] to protect and promote academic freedom worldwide" /22

gppi.net/2021/03/11/fre…

【 What learned societies can do 】

Scholars will need to discuss how to mitigate the CCP’s threat to China’s domestic and international academia. The @UniOfBuckingham conference "Academic freedom under threat" can be seen as a best practice example /23

taylorvinters.com/academic-freed…

【 What China specialists can do 】

Dr Teng Biao @tengbiao has called on western academics to reject self-censorship. With the signing of the open letter in defence of Dr Finley leading China specialists across the world have done exactly that /24

publicseminar.org/essays/oppress…

I would add that Western China scholars should continue to research *both* 'official China' (represented by the party-state) as well as 'unofficial China' (including academics, doctors, citizen journalists, and young students who no longer accept the CCP’s rule by fear) /25

The Chinese party-state has also lost much of its adaptive capabilities of the previous Hu/Wen era. Under Xi Jinping we have seen accelerated regime decay and pathological learning. This development towards atrophy needs to be better understood in contemporary Chinese studies /26

【 What laypersons can do 】

We can all educate ourselves about the dire human rights situation in Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Hong Kong. And please share your insights with friends and colleagues. Together, we shall overcome /27

Last but not least I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the leadership by Dr Nick Megoran @NickMegoran, a political geographer at Newcastle University. He was the key author of the open letter. It is this kind of lived solidarity which makes academia worthwhile /End

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