In the Wake of White Paper Movement, Universities Must Speak Out For Chinese Students at Risk

In late 2022, a wave of protests against rights abuses swept across Mainland China, marking the largest scale of civil disobedience the country had seen in 30 years. Many protestors have since been arrested, including a number of graduates from international universities. Following this crackdown, many current international students from China with dissenting views are living under intensified fear. We, a group of scholars and students from around the world, call on universities, faculties, and others to speak up for Chinese students and scholars at risk.

Background on the White Paper Movement 

In November 2022, following three years of draconian Covid-control measures, a series of protests erupted throughout China. The catalyst was a fire in an apartment building in Ürümqi city, in China’s Xinjiang region. 10 people died, and residents blamed lockdown-related restrictions for impeding rescue efforts. 

Following the fire, Chinese residents in Shanghai, Beijing, and many other cities took to the streets to memorialize the deceased and express their discontent. More than 60 protests across 31 cities in China were recorded in the span of nine days. These protests would later become known as the White Paper Movement, because — instead of signs with written demands — many protestors held up a blank sheet of paper in fear of government retaliation.

Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged the frustration within China, especially among young students, and the government at various levels have since relaxed Covid control rules. 

Arrests related to the protests

Freedom of assembly, freedom of demonstration, and freedom of speech are enshrined in the Chinese Constitution. Nonetheless, the Chinese Government has arrested not only participants in the protests, but also people who posted information about the protests on social media. The exact number of detained protesters is unclear, though the Wall Street Journal has been able to tally more than 20 detentions in Beijing alone. 

Some protestors have been detained for ambiguous, catch-all charges such as picking quarrels and provoking trouble” and “endangering public security”, crimes that carry lengthy sentences.

Here is an incomplete list of the arrested: 

Cao Zhixin 曹芷馨, graduate of Renmin University, editor at Peking University Press 

Hou Jinyi 侯金艺, graduate of University of Warwick, audit associate at KPMG (yet to be conformed by news outlet)

Li Kangmeng 李康梦, student, Nanjing Media College (yet to be conformed by news outlet)

Li Siqi 李思琪, graduate of Goldsmiths College, freelance journalist

Li Yuanjing 李元婧, graduate of the University of New South Wales, accountant at PwC Beijing

Qin Ziyi 秦梓奕, graduate of University of Chicago, film maker and journalist (currently out on bail)

Xin Shang 辛赏, graduate of Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, graduate of Westminster University, filmmaker 

Zhai Dengrui 翟登蕊, graduate of Beijing Foreign Studies University, teacher 

Kamile Wayit, enrolled college student at Shangqiu Institute of Technology

Many of the arrested are former international students. It is difficult to deny that their advocacy for rights and freedom reflects their global education and experience. As scholars and students, we share their convictions and are deeply sympathetic to their plight.

You can watch a subtitled video here recorded by Cao Zhixin before her arrest. In this video, she pleaded to the international community: “please don’t let us disappear”.

Current students at risk

Inspired by the White Paper Movement, many Chinese students abroad have recently expressed empathy for the Ürümqi fire victims and voiced discontent with abusive government policies. If identified by Chinese authorities, the students may face interrogation or detention upon their return home. Their activism can also bring government harassment to their families and friends in China.

Chinese international students do not enjoy the same freedoms as their peers, and are routinely surveilled by Chinese embassies and consulates. Traditionally, universities have prioritized their research interests, while overlooking threats to academic freedom and issues of censorship. Few universities acknowledge the disparity in students’ rights to speak, let alone provide support to students when persecuted by authoritarian countries like China. 

The authors of this open letter, some of whom are current international students, are disappointed to see that most universities have remained silent on China’s human rights violations, including violations against their current and former Chinese students. The student authors fear that if they lose their freedom when they return home after this semester, their universities, departments, professors, classmates, could not and would not speak up for them. 

What should universities do? 

International condemnation and pressure works. The Chinese authorities have on many occasions released political prisoners after their plight is publicized by international media organizations. After the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago issued a public statement in support of its alumna Qin Ziyi, she was released on bail within one day – though other factors may have contributed to her release, too. 

We, the undersigned, call for administrations, staff, and students at the University of New South Wales, Westminster University, University of Warwick to follow the example set by University of Chicago and Goldsmiths College, by issuing public statements and demanding the release of their former students. 

We ask scholars and students from other institutions to join us in this call and speak out against a worsening human rights record in China. We also ask universities to honor their duty of care, and take proactive steps to ensure students are safe, and have equal rights to exercise their freedom of speech.

Some academics have declined signing this letter citing a need to retain field research access to China. Maintaining research access is a pointless exercise until China’s human rights records improve. In the current repressive political environment, field research can not yield meaningful empirical data. Respondents in China are unlikely to speak without fear or favor. And those who stay silent on the persecution of current or former Chinese students for the sake of protecting research access, collaborations or funding undermine the basic norms of human decency and endanger academic freedom.

Should you have additional information about those who have been detained or disappeared in relation to the White Paper Movement, or if you are in a position to testify for the detainees, please send relevant information to concerned_scholars_white_paper@proton.me.  

Thank you for your time and consideration. 

Sign this letter via this link.

By 17th February, This letter has already been signed by:

Geremie Barmé, Australian National University, Emeritus Professor

Susan D Blum, The University of Notre Dame, Department of Anthropology 

Michel Bonnin, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales

Anne-Marie Brady, University of Canterbury, Department of Political Science and International Relations

Claire Brennan, James Cook University

David Brophy, University of Sydney

Susan Burns, University of Chicago, Department of History

Katia Buffetrille, École pratique des hautes études 

Kevin Carrico, Monash University, Chinese Studies

Claire Makhlouf Carter, Goldsmiths University of London

Sandrine Catris, Augusta University 

Louise Chambers, University of London, Goldsmiths College, Department of Media, Culture & Communications

Anita Chan, Australian National University

Jonathan Chan, University of Cambridge, English Department & Yale University, Council of East Asian Studies

Yangyang Cheng, Yale University

Katherine Chu, CSU, Dominguez Hills 

Catherine Churchman, Victoria University of Wellington NZ

Michael Clarke, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney

Donald Clarke, George Washington University Law School

Kate Clayton, La Trobe University

Alison Conner, University of Hawaii

Kelly Currie, Former US Ambassador to the UN ECOSOC

Michael Davis, Wilson Center

Evan Dawley, Goucher College, History Department

Louise Edwards, UNSW

Alexandre Erler, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hx East Asia Community

Jacob Eyferth, University of Chicago, Department of History

Jack Feldman, Georgia Institute of Technology, Professor Emeritus

Chongyi Feng, University of Technology Sydney, School of Communication

Lewis Fischer, University of Melbourne 

Simon Foale, James Cook University, College of Arts, Society and Education

Andreas Fulda, University of Nottingham

Or Goldreich, University of Chicago, Department of Statistics

Anna Hayes, James Cook University

Mark Harrison, University of Tasmania

Michael Gibbs Hill, William & Mary, Modern Languages & Literatures

Jennifer Gully, William & Mary, German Department

Victoria Hui, University of Notre Dame

Paola Iovene, University of Chicago, East Asian Languages and Civilizations

Harlan Jencks, University of California, Berkeley

Séagh Kehoe, University of Westminster

Thomas Kellogg, Georgetown University Law Center

André Laliberté, University of Ottawa, School of Political Studies

Angela Last, University of Leicester, School of Geography, Geology and the Environment

Andrew Law, Newcastle University

Kari Lehti, Aalto University 

Yvonne Leung, College of Professional Studies and Health Sciences

Steven Levine, University of Montana, Department of History

Perry Link, University of California, Riverside; Comparative Literature

Joanne Lipman, Yale University, Political Science Department

David Lyons, University of Chicago

Robert Macfarlane, University of Cambridge, English Department

Daniel Mattingly, Yale University, Department of Political Science

Christine Marran, University of Minnesota, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies

Carole McGranahan, University of Colorado, Anthropology

James McMurray, University of Sussex, Anthropology Department

Michaelis Michael, University of New South Wales

Michaela Mitchell, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Biomedical Engineering 

James Millward, Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, Dept. of History

William Nee, Chinese Human Rights Defenders

Jeffrey Ngo, Georgetown University, Dept. of History

Joseph North, Yale University, English Department

Paul North, Yale University, Germen Department

Nick Osbaldiston, James Cook University

Shaun ODwyer, Kyushu University

Caryl Phillips, Yale University, English Department

Joe Phillips, Yonsei University - Underwood International College

Paola Pademi, Università di Napoli L’Orientale

Patrick Poon, Meiji University, Institute of Comparative Law

Tim Pringle, University of London, SOAS

Jianzi Qi 

Johanna Ransmeier, University of Chicago, Department of History

Ly Ren, University of British Columbia, Gender Race and Social Justice Institute

Michael Richardson, Newcastle University, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology

Nathan Ruser, Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Adam Sexton, Yale University, English Department

Meredith Shaw, University of Tokyo

Rui Shen, Morehouse College

Alex Simonelis, Dawson College, Computer Science Department

Joanne Smith Finley, New Castle University, East Asian Studies, School of Modern Languages

Dorothy Solinger, Univ. of California Irvine, Political Science Department (Retired)

Biao Teng, Hunter College, City University of New York

William Thornton, National Cheng Kung University

Rian Thum, University of Manchester, Department of History

Grace Tien, Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management

Sabine Trebinjac, CNRS

Yuhsin Tsai, University of Notre Dame

Rory Truex, Princeton University, Department of Politics

Arthur Waldron, University of Pennsylvania. Dept of History

Hsing-Chung Wang, Soochow University, Department of Political Science

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, UC Irvine, History Department

Marianne Wolf, Freie University Berlin

Teresa Wright, Department of Political Science, California State University, Long Beach, Political Science Department

Bin Xu, Emory University, Department of Sociology

Vicky Xu, Australian Strategic Policy Institute 

Joseph Yi, Hanyang University (Political Science), Seoul, Korea; Hx East Asia Community

Wang Zheng, University of Michigan

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