{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20131123004038/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2331", "Wolf: Science And Academic Community Should Advocate For Chinese Colleagues Silenced By Regime", "2013-11-15", "2013", "2013-11", "Republican", "House", "VA", "Frank Wolf", "W000672", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Contact: Jill Shatzen  \n\t(202) 225-5136\n\n\tWOLF: SCIENCE AND ACADEMIC COMMUNITY SHOULD ADVOCATE\n\tFOR THEIR CHINESE COLLEAGUES WHO ARE SILENCED BY REGIME\n\n\tWashington, D.C. (November 15, 2013) \u2013 Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) today asked the U.S. scientific and academic communities to become a voice for their beleaguered colleagues in China who are being silenced or oppressed by their government, specifically citing the recent firing of Xia Yeliang, an outspoken economics professor at Peking University.\n\n\tIn a letter yesterday to the leaders of many of the nation\u2019s leading science organizations, Wolf noted the \u201crelative silence from the American academic community when their Chinese colleagues are imprisoned for free speech\u201d compared to the uproar over legislation limiting NASA\u2019s bilateral collaboration with the Chinese government.\u00a0\n\n\tWolf has been the subject of recent criticism by some in the science community over the misinterpretation of legislation he authored that provoked a boycott of an upcoming conference at a NASA center in California.\u00a0 NASA has admitted the mistake was theirs and has resolved the issue.\u00a0 Wolf is the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA.\n\n\t\u201cIf the science community is to threaten boycotts of American conferences over restricted access, it should be up in arms at the treatment China\u2019s own academic community by its own government,\u201d wrote Wolf, long recognized as one of Congress\u2019 leading voices of the persecuted around the globe.\u00a0 \u201cAs has been widely documented, the abuses sustained by Chinese academics and thinkers goes well beyond their ability to participate in a particular conference. \u00a0\u00a0It involves censorship, loss of wages and livelihood, unjust termination and in some cases imprisonment.\u201d\n\n\tWolf also announced that the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission will hold a hearing in the coming months on the lack of academic freedom in China and invited the groups he wrote to participate.\u00a0 Wolf is the co-chairman of the commission.\n\n\t\u201cI urge your organization and membership to take up the cause of human rights, to use the entr\u00e9e you have with Chinese scientists and government officials to advocate on behalf of your fellow academics and researchers and to communicate in no uncertain terms to the Chinese government that the most profound notions, the greatest discoveries, and the richest debate that has emerged from our own nation are the result of the free and unfettered exchange of ideas \u2013 cornerstones of our own democracy and the foundation of any free society,\u201d Wolf wrote.\n\n\tClick here for The Washington Post editorial Wolf cited in his letter.\n\n\tThe full text of the letter is below.\n\n\tI write to share with you an editorial which recently ran in The Washington Postregarding the firing of an economics professor, Mr. Xia Yeliang, from Peking University in China in retribution for his criticism of the Communist Party.\u00a0 I believe the American academic community, including your association\u2019s membership, should be aware of and concerned about this repression, which is sadly all too common in China.\n\n\tAccording to the editorial, \u201cEager to burnish its international connections, Peking University recently signed an agreement with the Association of American Universities and the League of European Research Universities in which it pledged to respect academic freedom. Mr. Xia\u2019s firing demonstrates the emptiness of that promise. It shows that Chinese universities continue to be subject to political orders from the Communist leadership, which under Mr. Xi has launched a new campaign of repression against dissent.\u201d\n\n\tWhile deeply troubling on a host of levels, this case is hardly an anomaly.\u00a0 Human rights broadly speaking are daily under assault in China and the academy is no exception. \n\n\tThe Chinese government is an equal opportunity oppressor of human rights advocates, academics and people of faith \u2013 Catholic bishops, Protestant house church leaders, Tibetan monks and nuns, Uyghur Muslims and Falun Gong practitioners to name a few.\u00a0 Harassments, intimidation and imprisonment are the order of the day.\u00a0The Chinese government maintains a brutal system of slave labor camps on the order of the Soviet gulags.\u00a0 Common criminal languish behind bars with Chinese Nobel laureates who dared to question the regime\u2019s authority.\u00a0 China has a thriving business of harvesting and selling for transplant kidneys, corneas and other human organs from executed prisoners, including political prisoners.\u00a0 All of these examples are symptomatic of a broken system in China.\u00a0 A system infused with corruption and threatened by dissent. \u00a0Despite explosive economic growth, China remains a \u201cclosed society\u201d when it comes to information.\u00a0 The Chinese government recognizes that ideas have consequence and they go to great lengths to restrict Chinese citizens\u2019 access to information through the \u201cGreat Firewall\u201d which censors so-called \u201coffensive\u201d speech.\u00a0\n\n\tAgainst this backdrop it is not surprising that the government\u2019s repression seeps into academia.\u00a0 The U.S. Department of State\u2019s annual human rights report described the situation this way: \u201cThe government continued restrictions on academic and artistic freedom and political and social discourse at colleges, universities, and research institutes. Instructors generally were told not to raise certain sensitive topics in class, such as unrest in the Middle East or the 1989 Tiananmen massacre. The General Administration of Press and Publications, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television, and the Central Propaganda Department issued restrictive regulations and decisions that constrained the flow of ideas and people. Some academics self-censored their publications, faced pressure to reach predetermined research results, or were unable to hold conferences with international participants during politically sensitive periods.\u201d\n\n\tGiven these realities any U.S. academic institutions \u2013 including administrators, faculty and scientists \u2013 must be clear-eyed when entering into a partnership with a Chinese educational institution or attending a conference sponsored by the Chinese government or affiliated entities.\u00a0 The long arm of Chinese government repression knows no bounds, and absent a clear moral compass which refuses to participate in, or as is more likely, turn a blind eye to such abuse, respected American thinkers and universities could find themselves complicit in stifling academic freedom, restricting access to information and ultimately repressing human freedom.\u00a0 \n\n\tAs you may have read last month, a number of American scientists threatened to boycott a conference held at a NASA center because misguided information was circulated by the center\u2019s staff that Chinese scientists were restricted from attending.\u00a0 As the author of language limiting NASA\u2019s bilateral collaboration with the Chinese government, I worked to quickly clarify that the statute did not, in fact, restrict these Chinese scientists and urged NASA to correct the error, which they did. \n\n\tIn light of these recent incidents, I can\u2019t help but note how the American scientists willingness to boycott the NASA conference over this mistake stands in stark contrast to the relative silence from the American academic community when their Chinese colleagues are imprisoned for exercising free speech.\u00a0 If the science community is to threaten boycotts of American conferences over restricted access, it should be up in arms at the treatment China\u2019s own academic community by its own government.\u00a0 As has been widely documented, the abuses sustained by Chinese academics and thinkers goes well beyond their ability to participate in a particular conference. \u00a0\u00a0It involves censorship, loss of wages and livelihood, unjust termination and in some cases imprisonment.\n\n\tLooking ahead, I urge your organization and membership to take up the cause of human rights, to use the entr\u00e9e you have with Chinese scientists and government officials to advocate on behalf of your fellow academics and researchers and to communicate in no uncertain terms to the Chinese government that the most profound notions, the greatest discoveries, and the richest debate that has emerged from our own nation are the result of the free and unfettered exchange of ideas\u2014cornerstones of our own democracy and the foundation of any free society.\n\n\tIn that vein, in the months ahead I intend to convene a hearing through the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission which looks broadly at issues of academic freedom and the repressive role of the Chinese government and I invite you to begin considering what your association might contribute in that regard as I hope to solicit testimony from a myriad of groups including scientific associations, academic institutions and the like regarding steps they are taking to resist censorship and related issues and even promote human right and basic freedoms as the opportunity presents itself.\n\n\tBest wishes.\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sincerely,\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\n\n\t\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frank R. Wolf\n\n\tMember of Congress", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20131123004038/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2331"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9054937399923801, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}