releases: https://web.archive.org/web/20131123004038/http://wolf.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=34&itemid=2331
Data license: MIT · Data source: dwillis/congress-press
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| 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 | legacy | Contact: Jill Shatzen (202) 225-5136 WOLF: SCIENCE AND ACADEMIC COMMUNITY SHOULD ADVOCATE FOR THEIR CHINESE COLLEAGUES WHO ARE SILENCED BY REGIME Washington, D.C. (November 15, 2013) – 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. In a letter yesterday to the leaders of many of the nation’s leading science organizations, Wolf noted the “relative silence from the American academic community when their Chinese colleagues are imprisoned for free speech” compared to the uproar over legislation limiting NASA’s bilateral collaboration with the Chinese government. Wolf 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. NASA has admitted the mistake was theirs and has resolved the issue. Wolf is the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA. “If the science community is to threaten boycotts of American conferences over restricted access, it should be up in arms at the treatment China’s own academic community by its own government,” wrote Wolf, long recognized as one of Congress’ leading voices of the persecuted around the globe. “As has been widely documented, the abuses sustained by Chinese academics and thinkers goes well beyond their ability to participate in a particular conference. It involves censorship, loss of wages and livelihood, unjust termination and in some cases imprisonment.” Wolf 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. Wolf is the co-chairman of the commission. “I urge your organization and membership to take up the cause of human rights, to use the entrée 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 – cornerstones of our own democracy and the foundation of any free society,” Wolf wrote. Click here for The Washington Post editorial Wolf cited in his letter. The full text of the letter is below. I 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. I believe the American academic community, including your association’s membership, should be aware of and concerned about this repression, which is sadly all too common in China. According to the editorial, “Eager 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’s 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.” While deeply troubling on a host of levels, this case is hardly an anomaly. Human rights broadly speaking are daily under assault in China and the academy is no exception. The Chinese government is an equal opportunity oppressor of human rights advocates, academics and people of faith – Catholic bishops, Protestant house church leaders, Tibetan monks and nuns, Uyghur Muslims and Falun Gong practitioners to name a few. Harassments, intimidation and imprisonment are the order of the day. The Chinese government maintains a brutal system of slave labor camps on the order of the Soviet gulags. Common criminal languish behind bars with Chinese Nobel laureates who dared to question the regime’s authority. China has a thriving business of harvesting and selling for transplant kidneys, corneas and other human organs from executed prisoners, including political prisoners. All of these examples are symptomatic of a broken system in China. A system infused with corruption and threatened by dissent. Despite explosive economic growth, China remains a “closed society” when it comes to information. The Chinese government recognizes that ideas have consequence and they go to great lengths to restrict Chinese citizens’ access to information through the “Great Firewall” which censors so-called “offensive” speech. Against this backdrop it is not surprising that the government’s repression seeps into academia. The U.S. Department of State’s annual human rights report described the situation this way: “The 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.” Given these realities any U.S. academic institutions – including administrators, faculty and scientists – 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. 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. As 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’s staff that Chinese scientists were restricted from attending. As the author of language limiting NASA’s 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. In light of these recent incidents, I can’t 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. If the science community is to threaten boycotts of American conferences over restricted access, it should be up in arms at the treatment China’s own academic community by its own government. As has been widely documented, the abuses sustained by Chinese academics and thinkers goes well beyond their ability to participate in a particular conference. It involves censorship, loss of wages and livelihood, unjust termination and in some cases imprisonment. Looking ahead, I urge your organization and membership to take up the cause of human rights, to use the entrée 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—cornerstones of our own democracy and the foundation of any free society. In 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. Best wishes. Sincerely, Frank R. Wolf Member of Congress | 1 | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z | 2026-03-30T12:14:52Z |