Rayhan Asat, a Uyghur lawyer in the U.S., had his screen hacked while attending a video seminar at Brandeis University.
Friday, November 13, 2020.
Rayhan Asat, a Uighur lawyer in the United States, is participating in a video seminar at Brandeis University, one of the top private universities in the United States. The title of the seminar is: “Cultural Genocide: Uyghur Policy in China’s Xinjiang Province.
Asat was in the middle of her presentation when her computer screen was suddenly hacked and her PowerPoint (presentation slides) was written in green and red pen: “Hypocrisy” and “Thank you for two hours of farts and lies,” “It’s all fake!”
“It was horrible. I tried not to look at the screen because it was all written in big red letters,” Asat recalled to VOA.
The symposium, organized by students at Brandeis University, brought together five experts from academia and the legal profession to discuss current Chinese policy on Xinjiang.
James Millward, a scholar of Xinjiang who was one of the guest speakers and a professor of history at Georgetown University, told VOA that prior to the symposium, the university’s president’s office, the advisor who organized the students, and the university’s Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion received many letters of protest from Chinese students.
The Chinese students were urged to send letters by the university’s Chinese Student and Scholar Association (CSSA), which issued a statement in a WeChat, noting that the title of the symposium, “Cultural Genocide,” was a very serious word, and that it was a “very serious” event. Confronting China’s one-sided and critical academic activities” would “make the Chinese student body feel insecure,” and provided a template for a protest email encouraging Chinese students to write to the school administration to cancel the event. A template for a protest email was provided, encouraging Chinese students to write to the school administration to cancel the event.
Chinese students disrupt campus speeches by playing Chinese national anthem and abusing guest speakers
The university did not cancel the event, and the symposium went on as scheduled. “But when Indiana University professor Gardner Bovingdon started his talk, someone played the Chinese national anthem,” recalled Mihuajian, “and then it was during Asat’s talk, I think someone used the writing function of the Zoom video software, and in her of scribbling on the PowerPoint.”
“I have given dozens of presentations on this topic over the past few years, and this is the first time I have encountered such a disturbance. The most offensive disturbance was directed at Ms. Asat, a Uyghur, who discussed the international law implications and her brother, who was wrongfully imprisoned by authorities,” Miwakian tweeted.
Ms. Asat works as an international litigator in Washington, D.C., specializing in anti-corruption and international investigation cases. She is also active as a voice for her brother, who has been missing for four years.
Her brother, Iqbal, an entrepreneur from Xinjiang, went to the United States in 2016 to represent China in a leadership training program run by the U.S. State Department. After returning to Xinjiang from the program, he lost contact with her, and Asat learned through U.S. lawmakers that Iqbal had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for “inciting hatred between ethnic groups.
No one has yet come forward to take responsibility for the disruption of the campus speech.
A Chinese student from Brandeis University, A (who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect his privacy), told the Voice of America that he was 80 percent sure that the Chinese students were responsible. He said that the CSSA posted templates of the protest emails mentioned above in many of his WeChat groups, and that some of the original conversations in some of the groups included “Brothers go to zoom and punch him” and “Pull a group? If it had been held as scheduled, it would have flushed him,” reads the words.
“The people who did both didn’t make public appearances in the group. I also can’t quite think of any reason for students from other countries to hack the panel,” he said. “The CSSA’s public profile is ‘registered at the Consulate General in New York,’ but I don’t know if there’s any embassy signaling about this.”
The reporter contacted the president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at Brandeis University and did not receive a response by deadline. The university’s media office also did not respond to Voice of America’s request for an interview, and Asat said the university is investigating the matter.
Similar incidents highlight Beijing’s involvement in American higher education
In recent years, there have been frequent protests at Western universities by Chinese students who oppose and attempt to obstruct the dissemination of ideas on campus that do not conform to China’s official position.
On February 11, Uighur activist Rukiye Turdush was invited to speak at McMaster University in Canada about “re-education camps” in Xinjiang, during which he was met with protests from Chinese students.
According to a 2018 report by the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, written by 32 scholars, Chinese embassies and consulates, through the China Student and Scholar Association (CSSA), block activities on Western campuses that are deemed sensitive by Chinese authorities; the CSSA also serves as a channel for political “peer monitoring” of Chinese students, and can even exert pressure on family members of students.
According to a 2018 report by the Wilson Center, China’s influence and intervention in American universities is increasing.
According to the report, the Chinese government’s interference in American higher education includes: protesting guest speakers invited by U.S. schools through Chinese embassy and consulate staff, demanding the cancellation of seminars on “sensitive issues” related to Chinese politics, collecting the words and actions of university faculty and students through international students, and threatening to deny visas to researchers in exchange for changing academic topics.
Asat said her experience is a reflection of the report.
“I think this incident is a prime example of the Chinese government’s long arm intervening on American campuses. I don’t think anyone would be willing to sacrifice their academic or professional careers to engage in this kind of behavior that is clearly an infringement on other people’s freedom of speech and personal space,” she said. ”
The influence of CSSA has caused headaches for some American colleges and universities. The Chinese student population has become the economic lifeblood of some colleges and universities, often paying expensive full tuition and helping to promote diversity on campus. Many college CSSAs will mention on their websites that they have received support or guidance from the Chinese Consulate, but deny that they are involved in any political activity. It is difficult for outsiders to find documented evidence of their apparent coordination with Chinese officials.
Chinese student A said he did not like being represented by the CSSA. “I don’t think this organization, which usually does nothing and has a public profile filled with job search and GRE preparation ads, can represent me. I think their vocalization and their relationship with the authorities made me feel like my expression of my political leanings would be dangerous, as well as the fact that I couldn’t contradict them and stop them in public for well-known reasons, which made me feel powerless,” he said.
Asat said that although the experience saddened her, she was warmed by Chinese students who stood up to apologize to her during a question-and-answer session at the seminar, as well as Chinese students who tweeted messages of apology and encouragement to her. “I hope that Western-educated Chinese students will stand with us instead of helping the Chinese government oppress us,” she said.
Professor Mihuajian also said that there were many Chinese names at the symposium. “I’m very happy to see these Chinese students. Because they’re an important group and they need to know what’s really going on.” He said that although he has seen many news reports about the ethnic sentiments of Chinese students, in his personal experience, “Chinese students often surprise me the most.”
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