A number of students at New York University Shanghai were recently arrested by Chinese Communist Party police. The university warned students that such incidents can happen to anyone and that the university may not be able to intervene within 24 hours of a student’s detention. Some experts believe that this incident may have a chilling effect that discourages foreign students from studying in China. On the other hand, the incident comes on the eve of the U.S.-China talks, and questions have been raised about the political motivation of the arrested children, who include children of U.S. Defense Department employees.
The university’s financial interests with the Chinese Communist Party have also come under scrutiny in the U.S. media in the wake of this incident. The chairman of the New York University Republicans urged the university to divest from China.
On the evening of March 12, nine NYU Shanghai students, including six Americans, were arrested on two occasions by Chinese Communist Party police. The Washington Post obtained the information from university employees as well as from U.S. officials.
According to a student and university faculty member, two American students were arrested by Chinese Communist Party police at a bar, with the male student kicked in the head and the female student suffering bruises as plainclothes officers attempted to make the arrest .
A second arrest that night involved seven students from the United States, Finland, Morocco and Malaysia, students and university staff said. They were taken as they gathered for a birthday party. The students tested negative for drugs and were released after 11 to 16 hours, they added.
One student told the WaPo that the police used unnecessary force and showed up without wearing police identification or uniforms, causing confusion and fear.
The newspaper said it is not unusual for Communist Party police to show up at private homes during anti-drug operations, but it is unusual for them to show up in plain clothes without any apparent escalation.
Questions arise over whether arrests are politically motivated
According to the WaPo, it is unclear whether the students were arrested as part of the Communist Party’s so-called “anti-drug” enforcement policy, or whether they were targeted for political reasons in the context of deteriorating relations with the United States. The incident comes on the eve of high-level U.S.-China talks.
According to an anonymous student, the two American students arrested at the bar, “the boy was actually kicked in the head and bled by the police, and they didn’t have an interpreter, so they didn’t know what was going on. The girl was beaten for trying to escape the two plainclothes officers who were not wearing police signs. The boy who was kicked was just trying to call the public safety department at the NYU Shanghai campus.”
Sources close to the case told the WaPo that both Americans’ Parents work for the U.S. Department of Defense.
When asked about the arrest, a U.S. State Department spokesman said, according to the WaPo, “China’s (Communist Party) legal system can be opaque, and enforcement of local laws can be arbitrary. China’s judicial system is “not independent of political influence.
In addition, a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Free Beacon that they are aware of the incident and are prepared to intervene if necessary. The spokesperson also mentioned that the State Department has issued travel advisories for U.S. citizens traveling in China, highlighting the “opaque” and “arbitrary enforcement” of Chinese (Communist) laws.
“The welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad is one of the State Department’s highest priorities,” the spokesperson said. “We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular services in the event that a U.S. citizen is detained abroad.”
NYU Shanghai dismissed the Washington Post’s implication of the incident in U.S.-China geopolitics, according to Voice of America. “The Washington Post article implies that our students may have been targeted for political reasons because some of them are U.S. citizens,” said an email sent to all students by David Pe, the university’s director of student affairs.
“Based on our current knowledge of the incident, we have no evidence to support this belief.” Peng Hanzhi said.
Arrests threaten to affect willingness to study abroad
NYU Shanghai told students that every student could be exposed to such incidents in the future, reminding everyone to be prepared because there was very little the university could do in the first 24 hours of the incident, according to an email from Peng Hanzhi.
“It is unlikely that the university will be able to communicate with you directly during the first 24 hours.” The email said, “The police do not allow the school to intervene during the period from the Time a person is taken into custody until the drug test results come back. The police have a 24-hour investigation period and make a decision whether or not to charge.”
“This is typical of Chinese (Communist) legal procedures.” Julian Ku, a law professor at Hofstra University, told Voice of America, “So it’s a little scary.”
Professor Ku said it’s really a 24-hour black box, “where the school basically says, we can’t help you.”
Voice of America reports that Yu Ping, an NYU alumnus and independent commentator, said, “As a pioneering higher Education institution with a U.S.-China partnership, it makes sense for NYU to be the first to offer help to its own students when they encounter local police enforcement; and it’s not against Chinese law to deal with the police within 24 hours. Even if the university has friction with the police as a result, it is still promoting greater compliance with its law enforcement.”
If such incidents continue to occur, students will be less likely to want to go to China, which will be a problem for NYU, according to Professor Goo Joo-lun.
The Washington Post said, “Some students and parents have complained about a lack of support from school officials during detentions.”
NYU’s deal with the Chinese Communist Party draws attention
The incident also then brought attention to NYU’s financial ties to the Chinese Communist Party in the U.S. media. The Washington Free Beacon reported that NYU received millions of dollars from its financial deal with Beijing. According to public financial disclosures, the university has received more than $47 million in gifts and contracts from China, including more than $2 million directly from the Chinese Communist regime from 2014 to 2019. Of the $47 million, about $43 million came from “anonymous” sources in China, with the vast majority of the anonymous payments classified as gifts rather than contracts.
The university has not specified the donors of such funds or how they influence university decisions and programs.
Rachelle Peterson, a senior fellow at the National Association of Scholars, said the financial clout China (the Chinese Communist Party) has in U.S. universities influences everything from university programs to curriculum decisions. Communist funding is often provided in secret and comes with strings attached.
“The Free Beacon believes that the Communist Party’s influence over New York University allows it to treat its students poorly and without fear.
“Free Beacon says NYU Republican Chairman Bobby Miller has urged the university to divest from China.
Miller said NYU Republicans are not surprised that Chinese Communist police are harassing NYU Shanghai students.
“We urge the NYU administration to conduct a thorough investigation of the incidents involved and to re-examine NYU’s presence in Shanghai to ensure the safety of the student body and separation from this dictatorial regime.” Miller said.
Miller said the attacks should bring a moral reckoning to campus administrators.
“This latest incident raises serious questions about the viability of the university’s relationship with the Chinese (Communist) government, one of the world’s worst human rights abusers and a major geopolitical adversary of the United States.” Miller said.
“In 2019, reports revealed that NYU’s Shanghai campus offered a “civics education” course for students that included “Mao Zedong Thought” and a course on the history of the Chinese Communist Party.
In 2013, Chen Guangcheng, a blind Chinese human rights lawyer, was forced to leave New York University. Chen was originally a visiting scholar at the university. Chen said it was the result of pressure on NYU from the Chinese Communist authorities. The university, for its part, denies it.
Peterson noted that the American university’s branch campuses in China were the target of additional pressure from Beijing. After New York University launched NYU Shanghai in 2012, other elite universities, such as Duke and UC Berkeley, have followed suit, establishing their own campuses in China’s major technology and economic centers.
“The Free Beacon warns that cooperative exchanges between U.S. universities and China pose a serious risk to American students and U.S. national security. The Communist Party’s industrial espionage regime uses researchers at research universities to steal sensitive U.S. technology, some of which has military applications. In January, a report by the Washington Free Beacon found that Communist Party entities linked to the military have funneled at least $88 million to dozens of U.S. universities over the past six years.
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