On July 1, 2024, the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party launched a probe into Harvard University, seeking answers after student protestors were violently dragged, interrogated, and followed by Chinese individuals during an April protest of Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng’s speech at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The Select Committee expressed grave concerns about transnational repression by the Chinese government and the involvement of international students from China in acts of harassment and intimidation condoned by the Chinese government against its critics. In a letter to Harvard University’s President Garber, the Select Committee requested that Harvard provide it with a briefing and answers to a series of questions.
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After this incident, the student victims at Harvard felt terrified, unsupported, and unsafe. Their peaceful protest of the Chinese government’s human rights abuses resulted in violence and threats as well as disciplinary action from the university. The injustice and censorship of an authoritarian regime have permeated this democratic country and been condoned at one of America’s most prestigious academic institutions.
Unfortunately, this case is not an isolated one. The CCP has increasingly applied its surveillance and censorship capabilities to monitor, deter, and punish protesters and activists overseas. Numerous human rights organizations […] have released detailed reports documenting transnational repression at American universities and issued guidelines for universities to best protect their students and staff. Unfortunately, current practices at Harvard and elsewhere fall far short of these guidelines.