Attacks on Western think-tanks
China's sanctions on the prominent Washingtonbased think-tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has prompted a great wringing of hands. While I empathize with those affected, I do take issue with some of their specific concerns.
The proximate reason for the sanctions - which may extend to individuals - is thought to be an opinion piece by four CSIS researchers in support of the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), which itself was sanctioned by China.
Global Times claimed MERICS "has actually been colluding with anti-China forces over the years since it was established in 2013" and was sanctioned not only because of its research but because "it is the largest Chinese research center in … Europe. Cutting off ties with China means its research channel will hardly be sustainable and its influence will be critically hit." Perhaps that is the intent of the sanctions on CSIS and at least four other US think-tanks that have achieved the same "distinction."
Apparently MERICS' cardinal sin in Beijing's eyes was to support the claim that China is engaged in genocide in Xinjiang. This is a controversial allegation, and all sides of the issue should be examined by objective analysts. As for the article published by CSIS, it should have been possible to "stand with MERICS" while maintaining distance from such a controversial claim.
Nevertheless, I get it. For Western scholars it hurts in a personal visceral way. State bans on research institutions and individual scholars because of their views attacks the basic premise of a "free society." It also potentially disrupts or damages the careers of many who will have to analyze their chosen country of focus remotely and in isolation from primary sources.
However, Western analysts might have anticipated that the Chinese government would lash out against attacks that could affect its hold on power. As Shi Yinhong, director of the American Studies Institute at Renmin University, explains, "You have to make Chinese people believe that the Chinese government, the central committee of the CCP, is the best defender of China's national interests and honor."
As one analyst put it, Beijing apparently decided that it is "better to lose friends but look strong than to show weakness and threaten public legitimacy at home."
This is not to justify China's actions or to suggest that the authors of the concerned article should have refrained from voicing their opinions. It is an attempt to delineate the reasons for the present situation.
The door to "genuine scholarly exchange" has been closing for some time. Indeed, this latest backlash goes with the territory of being an expert on a country that the US has designated a strategic competitor and a threat to the US-led international order - and, some believe, the very "American way of life."
US-China "competition" has become for many - and even some analysts - a clash of ideologies generating dysfunctional mistrust and suspicion on both sides.
Let's face it. The US and China are engaged in a soft-power war. They are vying for the hearts and minds of Asia and in particular the countries surrounding the South China Sea. It should come as no surprise that this war or its effects have spilled over into the sphere of education and research, even targeting individual scholars.
This sad situation has been building for some time. Both countries have been monitoring (harassing) individuals sub rosa for decades. But public US government China-bashing reached a crescendo under president Donald Trump and his secretary of state Mike Pompeo. According to Pompeo, "China has sent propagandists into our press conferences, our research centers, our high-schools and colleges."
Now this focus on individual Chinese in academia and their affiliated home institutions has been continued under President Joe Biden. US Senator Mark Warner told the Brookings Institution, "I have been convening meetings between the intelligence community and outside stakeholders in business and academia to ensure they have the full threat picture and, hopefully, make different decisions about Chinese partnerships."
Chinese students are under particular suspicion and those studying in particular science and technology fields must undergo additional screening, sometimes resulting in delayed visas.
Republicans introduced legislation in the US House of Representatives and Senate that would deny visas to Chinese researchers affiliated with Chinese military institutions. US intelligence agencies are now encouraging American research universities to develop protocols for monitoring students and visiting scholars.