Western scholars, worried about arbitrary arrest, have given up visiting Hong Kong and China in recent years.
For decades, Hua Zhijian has visited China several times a year, staying in the land of God throughout 2018. His research has not been on the most sensitive issues of Tibet or Taiwan, but he has written about multiculturalism and student protests in mainland China, and has appeared in contact with people he says the Communist Party is “clearly unhappy” with.
He has written articles in solidarity with the academic movement in mainland China and even in support of the anti-China movement in Hong Kong. He said that given the current situation, he would risk indefinite detention if he set foot in mainland China, although the chances are low, but the consequences would be very serious if the situation came true, so he did not want to take the risk.
The Hong Kong Baptist University, for example, cancelled a world press photo exhibition scheduled to be held on the university’s campus on security grounds, and the Hong Kong Public Library took down many books written by Huang Zhifeng, Chen Shuzhuang and Chen Yun. Hua Zhijian said he thought he would come to Hong Kong more after giving up going to mainland China, “but now I feel that Hong Kong is actually not safe either”.
Hua Zhijian’s case is just the tip of the iceberg.
The reporter interviewed a dozen academics, NGO staff and media workers who had traveled regularly to mainland China before the Newcastle pneumonia Epidemic, but said they would not want to return to mainland China even if the epidemic prevention restrictions were lifted one day because they feared for their personal safety. Some in the international business community say they also need to be careful what they say when they are not in mainland China, so as not to upset the Chinese Communist Party and affect their business.
The bizarre detention of a handful of foreigners in mainland China in recent years has struck fear into the hearts of many Westerners, especially those in politically connected professions. As President Xi Jinping promotes a Culture of nationalism and engages in war-wolf diplomacy with Western governments, some fear they could be targeted if their governments get into a diplomatic spat with Beijing.
Many see the detention of two Canadians in December 2018 as a turning point in the matter. The Chinese Communist Party arrested Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat, and Michael Spavor, another Canadian citizen, after huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver following her arrest in connection with a lawsuit filed in the United States. Their detention is believed to be a bargaining chip by the CCP to pressure Canada to release Meng, but Beijing denies the allegation.
Australian journalist Cheng Lei of CGTV, a subsidiary of CCTV, was also detained last August, but the Chinese did not charge her with leaking state secrets until February of this year. Kang Mingkai and Spavor were charged with “spying on state secrets” last year.
Gordon Mathews, an American who heads the anthropology department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said several of his colleagues who have spent their lives studying mainland China are also trying to redirect their research to avoid visiting the country.
William Nee of the American civil society group “China Human Rights Defenders” is also afraid to go to mainland China again, he said, and some of his friends around him, who ask themselves the risk factor is lower than that of Commingkai and Spavor, also decided not to visit mainland China. Nee said that the question is no longer just “what did I do to get detained?” Anyone can be jinxed simply because of their nationality, saying that if the Chinese Communist Party arrests academics and think tank members, “it’s hard for anyone to feel safe.
The report also cites Thomas Nunlist, an analyst at risk management consultancy Hill & Associates, as saying that multinational companies have become significantly more concerned about the risk of employee detention in recent years, and that while the risk of detention for businessmen, students and tourists in general remains low, the “risk factor” is increasing. The “risk factor” is increasing, with those who are dual nationals, have political ties or government backgrounds being at greater risk.
Nong Lister said the Communist Party has made more than 50 arrests of foreigners between 2009 and 2020, about half of which involved “sensitive activities” such as human rights or North Korea, but some of those arrested were simply studying the history and geography of the Communist Party, areas that were previously considered politically insensitive. In addition to direct detention, the Chinese authorities may also try to prevent some foreigners from leaving the country, creating a disguised detention effect, with foreigners of Chinese descent being the most at risk, but there are also non-Chinese people affected, including Irish businessman Richard O’Halloran, who has not yet been able to return to his Home country.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded that the claim that foreigners are at increased risk of arbitrary detention is not true, stressing that the Chinese government has always protected the rights and safety of foreigners in mainland China under the law. Even walking on the street at night, I am not afraid. The Chinese Foreign Ministry also said that Meng’s experience in Canada was what made her detention arbitrary and that it was hoped she would return to mainland China as soon as possible.
Last December, the U.S. government issued a travel advisory for nationals traveling to China, stating that Chinese authorities arbitrarily enforce local laws, including arbitrary and wrongful detentions, and restrict the departure of U.S. citizens and citizens of other countries without due process of law. “The Travel Advisory also states that the CCP authorities use arbitrary detentions and restrictions on foreign nationals to, among other things, compel individuals to participate in investigations by the CCP authorities, force Family members to return to mainland China from abroad, influence the CCP authorities to resolve civil disputes in favor of mainland Chinese citizens, and as a bargaining chip against foreign governments.
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