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发帖数: 57 | 1 Visiting scholars set up party branch at UC Davis
“help overseas Chinese scholars avoid negative mind corrosion from being
subjected to the news environment abroad”
by [email protected]
China’s Communist Party briefly had a chapter at a California university
By Echo Huang
Seven Chinese scholars visiting the University of California, Davis, set up
a local chapter of China’s Communist Party to guard against the “corrosion
” of western ideas—only to realize they had set up a potentially illegal
organization under US law.
Mu Xingsen, a visiting thermal engineering scholar from China’s University
of Dalian Technology, founded the party branch in early November—an act
that Mu’s university praised as “setting an example for overseas party
members.” The idea was to study party doctrine, including lessons from the
just-concluded 19th Party Congress, according to the South China Morning
Post, which first reported on the chapter.
The branch, made up of six party members and one probationary member, held
its first meeting on Nov. 4, at the Davis campus. The group discussed
various topics, including differences between the Chinese and American
political systems. The group members “reminded each other of the possible
dangers caused by the large-scale riot brought by the imminent attacks from
local terrorist group Antifa,” according to an account (link in Chinese)
from Mu’s school on Nov. 9. The notice has since been removed. The term “
Antifa” originated with European groups opposed to fascism in the 20th
century, but is now being used for US left-wing activists who strongly—and
occasionally violently—protest Trump and white nationalists.
Mu’s branch was originally planning to promote itself to colleagues and
neighbors from China, with a plan to hold meetings every two weeks. Such a
branch would help overseas Chinese scholars avoid negative mind corrosion
from being subjected to the “news environment abroad,” said a cached
version of the deleted report, and help party members keep track of one
another.
That didn’t go as planned. Mu, who was selected as the branch’s party
secretary during the first meeting, told the SCMP that the branch had been
dissolved over the past weekend, citing concerns about violating “local
laws” without elaborating. One possibility is that Mu’s branch could be
considered an agent of a foreign political party. Under America’s Foreign
Agents Registration Act (FARA), individuals and groups acting on behalf of a
foreign political party must register with Department of Justice in advance
. Party branches play a grass-roots education role, and the party requires
every member to be part of one. Mu didn’t immediately reply to Quartz’s
request for comment.
Mu’s case comes amid growing concern about China’s political influence in
academic settings overseas, as large numbers of Chinese students head out to
study in countries including the US, the UK, and Australia. Campuses with
large numbers of Chinese foreign students have faced pressure over
activities perceived as unflattering to China. In February, Chinese students
and alumni from the University of California, San Diego expressed
disapproval of the school’s commencement invitation to the Dalai Lama, whom
Beijing views as a dangerous separatist. Later, a branch of the Chinese
government barred Chinese scholars from receiving state funding to study
there.
In September, the chief of an association representing Australia’s elite
universities said that there have been instances of Chinese government
interference in the country’s campuses, though she described them as “
isolated” and said the response should be measured.
Last week, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a
bipartisan US Congressional group, made a recommendation that Congress
should amend FARA (pdf, p. 4) so that Chinese state media employees can be
registered as foreign agents, citing concerns over “intelligence gathering
and information warfare.” |
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