College campuses throughout the U.S. are currently a battleground of political and social thought between liberals and conservatives. Right-leaning students speaking out in favor of free and open debate to share their views have largely been silenced by majority-liberal campuses.
Sincere and open debate has seemingly never been harder. But in some places, it’s actually worse than you think.
According to a report from Foreign Policy, the Communist Party of China has set up party cells on American college campuses in an effort to monitor and control Chinese international students studying abroad in exchange programs.
The report noted that in mid-2017, a group of nine students and faculty from Huazhong University of Science and Technology formed a Chinese Communist Party branch in a dorm while at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign during a summer program. During that program, they held meetings to “strengthen ideological guidance.”
Additionally, one student told Foreign Policy that before they attended UIUC in the fall of 2017, they had to attend a lecture on the dangers of the anti-Communist group, Falun Gong, which had been banned in mainland China, but remains active in the U.S.
Exchange students are even encouraged to report on others they feel are faltering or starting to express “harmful ideology” to the party.
“The rising number of overseas party branches is a new phenomenon, showing the growing influence of the [Chinese Communist Party] and China,” a November 2017 report in the party-aligned Global Times newspaper states. “Overseas party cells are also responsible for promoting party and government policies.”
What’s happening at UIUC is a big problem. It would be one thing if this was just occurring at one institution. However, that’s not the case. This type of party cell, set up by the communist government of China, has appeared in California, Ohio, New York, Connecticut, North Dakota, and West Virginia.
If you were worried before about the rise of communism on college campuses by American leftists, the Chinese Communist Party deserves at least some of the blame. The party founded by Mao Zedong, who famously declared that the freedoms of speech and assembly and the vote do not extend to reactionaries, has changed much but retains its unwillingness to tolerate dissent.
As cordial and respectful as the relationship has been between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump has done virtually nothing to curb President Xi’s bad behavior when it comes to expanding his own power. It’s not about trade deficits or stealing intellectual property to which Trump has addressed those issues by implementing tariffs on steel, aluminum, and soybeans in an effort to punish China. Specifically, President Trump hasn’t done enough to address China’s growing influence that gives communism a solid foothold here in the U.S.
The solution isn’t that simple. The U.S. Constitution protects U.S. citizens and non-citizens alike. Expressing pro-communist views is not illegal in this country. On top of that, if Trump decided to expel all Chinese students and faculty because of the views they hold, he could create a significant amount of tension between him and Xi. It could even be damaging to President Trump’s strategy with respect to finding a peaceful solution with North Korea and their nuclear program.
However, what President Trump can do is encourage on-campus students who truly oppose the agenda of the Chinese government to speak out and illustrate how their policies and influence are harmful to not only Chinese citizens but to the rest of the world as well. Bottom line: The answer to harmful or ignorant speech is more speech.
