Beijing is trying to reposition its relationship with Washington and rebuild its political footprint in the Indo-Pacific region, and the March 18 high-level meeting between the U.S. and China was a key moment. The meeting was preceded by two clashes in Shanghai, where police raided American students.
The Washington Post reported on March 16 that the two incidents were separate, both occurring on the same evening last week, and that a total of nine overseas students from New York University in Shanghai, six of whom were U.S. citizens, were arrested.
In one incident, two American students were arrested by plainclothes police in a Shanghai bar. The young man arrested was allegedly kicked in the head by police, and the other woman suffered bruises.
In another incident, seven students from the United States, Finland, Morocco and Malaysia were raided by plainclothes police at their homes during a birthday party.
The report quoted NYU Shanghai staff as saying that all seven arrested tested negative for drugs and that they were released after being detained for 11 to 16 hours.
Of particular note was the fact that the Shanghai police were all dressed in plain clothes, with no badges, no identification, and no translators on hand, creating considerable fear and confusion among the seven students. One of the students stated that the police used unnecessary force.
“One student was kicked in the head by the police and kept bleeding. They didn’t have an interpreter, so they didn’t know what was happening. One girl tried to run away from two plainclothesmen who didn’t have a badge and was beaten. The one who was kicked in the head was just trying to call NYU Shanghai’s public safety department.”
Reports indicate that the Parents of the two battered students are employed by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The report highlighted the fact that it came on the eve of meetings between Secretary of State Antony Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Communist Party Foreign Affairs Director Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Alaska; and said it was unclear whether their arrests were part of an increasingly aggressive anti-drug campaign by authorities or whether they were targeted for political reasons as U.S.-China relations deteriorated. and were targeted.
The report added that while it is common for Chinese Communist police to break into private homes, it is rare for violence to be initiated in plain clothes and without an escalation of the situation.
A State Department spokesman was also asked about the incident. He said, “The Chinese Communist Party‘s legal system can be opaque, and the enforcement of local laws can be arbitrary. And the CCP’s judicial system is subject to political influence and is not independent.”
New York University Shanghai, also known as NYU Shanghai, was built by East China Normal University in cooperation with New York University, the first international university established in cooperation with the U.S. and China, the Communist Party officially advertised.2019 Foreign media revealed that students at the university were forced to study the history of the Communist Party and the deeds of important figures. The university later responded that the course was offered at the request of the Chinese Communist government and that non-Chinese students were not required to take it.
Recent Comments