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9-4-2018 There is an epidemic of self-censorship at U.S. universities on the subject of China, one that limits debate and funnels students and academics away from topics likely to offend the Chinese Communist Party. This epidemic stems less from the hundreds of millions of dollars Chinese individuals and the Chinese Communist Party spend in U.S. universities, or the influx of students from mainland China—roughly 350,000 in the United States, up more than fivefold from a decade ago. Rather, it is that some people in American academia, too eager to please Beijing or too fearful of offending China and the Chinese people, have submitted to a sophisticated global censorship regime. This weakens not only their scholarship and integrity, but also their negotiating power with Beijing over issues such as access for research, conferences and other academic collaborations, and joint programs between American and Chinese institutions.
More than 100 interviews over the last six months with professors, students, administrators and alumni at U.S. universities reveal a worrying prevalence of self-censorship regarding China. In a previously unreported incident, Columbia University’s Global Center in Beijing canceled several talks it feared would upset Chinese officials, according to a person familiar with the matter....Robert Barnett, who ran Columbia University’s Modern Tibetan Studies Program from its founding in 1999 until stepping down in 2017, emphasized that Columbia never actively restricted his work, but that there was often “a very strong tendency within the university, and with many prestigious institutions in the U.S., not to include people who study the kind of subject I work on in any kind of academic collaborations in China or in dialogues with Chinese delegates.” https://newrepublic.com/article/150476/american-elite-universities-selfcensorship-china
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Vice-Premier Deng Xiaoping's January 1979 visit to Washington initiated a series of important, high-level exchanges which continued until the spring of 1989. This resulted in many bilateral agreements, especially in the fields of scientific, technological, and cultural interchange, as well as trade relations. Since early 1979, the United States and the PRC have initiated hundreds of joint research projects and cooperative programs under the Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology, the largest bilateral program.[77]
On March 1, 1979, the two countries formally established embassies in each other's capitals. In 1979, outstanding private claims were resolved and a bilateral trade agreement was completed. Vice President Walter Mondale reciprocated Vice Premier Deng's visit with an August 1979 trip to China. This visit led to agreements in September 1980 on maritime affairs, civil aviation links, and textile matters, as well as a bilateral consular convention.
The threats of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia were major factors that brought Washington and Beijing closer than ever before.[78] Sino-US military cooperation began in 1979; American arms sales to China were initiated, and in 1981 it was revealed that a joint Sino-US listening post had been operated in Xinjiang, near the Soviet border.
Chinese demands for advanced technology from the US were not always met, in part due to opposition from Congressmen who either distrusted technology transfer to a communist nation out of principle or concern that there was no guarantee that such technology would not end up in the hands of unfriendly third parties. In 1983, the US State Department changed its classification of China to "a friendly, developing nation", thereby increasing the amount of technology and armaments that could be sold. The skepticism of some US Congressmen was not entirely unmerited as China during the 1980s continued to sell arms to Iran and other states that were openly hostile to American interests.
As a consequence of high-level and working-level contacts initiated in 1980, New York City and Beijing become sister cities, US dialogue with the PRC broadened to cover a wide range of issues, including global and regional strategic problems, political-military questions, including arms control, UN, and other multilateral organization affairs, and international narcotics matters.[79]
High-level exchanges continued to be a significant means for developing US–PRC relations in the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan and Premier Zhao Ziyang made reciprocal visits in 1984. Reagan's visit to Beijing went well, however a speech he made criticizing the Soviet Union and praising capitalism, democracy and freedom of religion was not aired on Chinese state TV. In July 1985, Chinese President Li Xiannian traveled to the United States, the first such visit by a PRC head of state. Vice President Bush visited the PRC in October 1985 and opened the US Consulate General in Chengdu, the US's fourth consular post in the PRC. Further exchanges of cabinet-level officials occurred between 1985 and 1989, capped by President Bush's visit to Beijing in February 1989.
Shortly after being elected president in 1980, Ronald Reagan made a speech criticizing the PRC and welcoming restoration of ties with Taiwan. These remarks aroused initial panic in Beijing, but Reagan's advisers quickly apologized for his comments, and the president-elect soon retracted them.
Reagan's first two years in office saw some deterioration in Sino-US relations due to the president's vociferous anti-communism, as well as the inability of the two nations to come to a common understanding over the Korean standoff, the Israel–Palestine conflict, or the Falkland War. In 1982, Deng Xiaoping, in a reiteration of Mao Zedong's "Three Worlds" theory, criticized both the US and Soviet Union for imperialism. ...
In the period before the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, a growing number of cultural exchange activities gave the American and Chinese peoples broad exposure to each other's cultural, artistic, and educational achievements. Numerous mainland Chinese professional and official delegations visited the United States each month. Many of these exchanges continued after the suppression of the Tiananmen protests.[80]
Since the renewal of Sino-American relations in early 1979, the Taiwan issue remained a major source of contention. After the announcement of the intention to establish diplomatic relations with Mainland China (PRC) on 15 December 1978, the Republic of China (Taiwan) immediately condemned the United States, leading to rampant protests in both Taiwan and in the US.[81] In April 1979, the US Congress signed into law the Taiwan Relations Act,[82] permitting unofficial relations with Taiwan to flourish, on the one hand, yet the right of the US to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character, on the other. The expanding relationship that followed normalization was threatened in 1981 by PRC objections to the level of US arms sales to the Republic of China on Taiwan. Secretary of State Alexander Haig visited China in June 1981 in an effort to resolve Chinese concerns about America's unofficial relations with Taiwan. Vice President Bush visited the PRC in May 1982. Eight months of negotiations produced the US-PRC Joint Communiqué of August 17, 1982. In this third communiqué, the US stated its intention to gradually reduce the level of arms sales to the Republic of China, and the PRC described as a fundamental policy their effort to strive for a peaceful resolution to the Taiwan question. China's Ambassador to Washington, in an interview with CGTN in April 2018, is quoted as saying that Sino-American relations hinge largely upon the US-PRC Joint Communiqué signed between the two parties and where the USA had agreed not to challenge the PRC's sovereignty over the island of Taiwan, but to respect China's "anti-secession law," until such time that Taiwan will be reunified with the Mainland.[83] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China–United_States_relations#Normalization
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Accessing an elite American education is big business in China. The test preparation industry alone was worth $3.9 billion in 2016. There are now 340,000 Chinese nationals seeking degrees in the United States, about one-third of all foreign students. Of course, many of these students will have gotten into their schools through pure hard work, and preapplication tutoring doesn’t necessarily undermine the students’ own achievements. But there are now hundreds of companies in China that promise to help students navigate the admissions system and put together an application that guarantees success.
One company that offers help with applications is Bonday, which is headquartered in Shanghai. Although Bonday doesn’t promise a fail-safe success rate, prices for its services start at 200,000 RMB ($29,800) for packages that include soft-skills training, advice on summer schools, and help with editing personal essays. Bonday has placed students at universities such as Princeton, Harvard, and the University of Chicago. Another company, Guangzhou-based Jiazhou Education, offers a more affordable option: a U.S. college application prepared by them costs 48,000 RMB ($7,150), and they claim to have a 99 percent success rate in receiving offers from top American universities.
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-Saint Germain: 4-22-1984, Easter, at Camelot, Los angeles via Mesenger E C Prophet
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The Chinese government plans to offer scholarships to cover the cost for students who enroll. "They'd walk out debt-free," he says. Siegel says this is all part of China's effort to attract international scientists. "We've hired from Brazil; Mexico; the United States," he says. "We have people from Germany; from the U.K. From Korea — from all over.” …There's no question that the amount of money available for research in China is going up. The country has made it clear it plans to be a global leader in high-tech manufacturing. China created the Thousand Talents Plan to attract top researchers from around the world. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/11/27/669645323/china-expands-research-funding-luring-u-s-scientists-and-students
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Now drawing increased attention are the Confucius Institutes. These Communist Party-sponsored educational collaborations are on more than 100 U.S. university campuses and often operate through opaque arrangements with host institutions. And while nobody wants to demonize educational or cultural exchanges between the United States and China, the push for more transparency in and oversight of these collaborations is gaining steam.
“Communist China is infiltrating American universities to meddle with our curricula, silence criticism of their regime, and steal intellectual property including sensitive dual-use research,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). “The Confucius Institutes are the velvet glove around the iron fist of their campaigns on our campuses. The American government needs new tools to protect the integrity of our universities and research, and to block academic espionage.”
Cruz is introducing legislation intended to boost government authorities’ capacity to deal with foreign intelligence organizations operating inside the American education system. Called the Stop Higher Education Espionage and Theft Act of 2018, the bill doesn’t mention China by name, but it is a clear attempt to give the U.S. law enforcement community more tools to deal with the Chinese Communist Party’s expansion inside American educational institutions. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/josh-rogin/wp/2018/05/22/preventing-chinese-espionage-at-americas-universities/?utm_term=.2ea490b6f2c6
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On April 30, 1984, during President Reagan’s trip to Beijing, the U.S. and China signed a series of new agreements. The agreements were for scientific and cultural exchanges, economic cooperation, and the development of nuclear energy.
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