Under Xi Jinping’s rule, the PRC Party-state has intensified domestic repression to levels not seen in decades, as illustrated by the fate of hundreds of human rights lawyers and activists rounded up in 2015, or most shockingly, the build-up of “re-education” detention centers in Xinjiang, holding hundreds of thousands, perhaps over a million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities.
The wave of domestic repression has been accompanied by increasing efforts to limit freedom of expression even beyond the PRC’s borders, both in overseas Chinese communities, where independent media have been largely taken over by entities connected with the CCP United Front and Propaganda systems, and even among foreign entities, such as academic publishers or commercial firms.
Another form of this escalation are the unprecedented attacks on foreign scholars and researchers of contemporary China, be it in the form of Cultural Revolution-style in-class harassment for their views and opinions, denial of visas, threatened or actual libel suits or, in some cases, detentions during research visits in Mainland China.
In New Zealand, Anne-Marie Brady, an academic who investigated the CCP’s influence in local politics has become the target of a series of incidents which, taken together with attacks from Party-directed media, are consistent with an intimidation campaign. New Zealand authorities have been less than forthcoming in their support for a prominent scholar targeted by a foreign power, at times even adopting a dismissive posture – an attitude appreciated by PRC state media.
In response, we initiated an open letter in support of Brady and her research. The letter, with 169 initial signatories, was published on the Sinopsis website on Thursday 6 December and remained open for signatures for approximately one week. The 303 signatories include academics, think-tankers, journalists, human-rights activists, politicians and others, based in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France (including New Caledonia), Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, China (including Hong Kong), Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the United States.
Since the text was made public, the letter has been covered in the New Zealand Herald, Hlídací pes, The Guardian, Radio NZ, Ming Pao 明报, The New York Times, RFA, Mandarin Pages (华页) and NPR.
[Post updated on 12 December]
Sinopsis and Jichang Lulu
Open letter on harassment campaign against Anne-Marie Brady
We, the undersigned concerned scholars and others with an interest in China, have been alarmed and appalled by the recent wave of intimidation directed against our colleague, Professor Anne-Marie Brady, in apparent retaliation for her scholarly research on contemporary China.
Anne-Marie Brady, a scholar of Chinese politics affiliated with the University of Canterbury, has investigated the external propaganda and political influence mechanisms employed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in New Zealand and beyond. Her 2017 paper Magic Weapons, based on extensive Chinese and English-language sources and previous scholarship on the PRC political system, described the CCP’s use of United Front tactics to control extra-Party forces, intensified at home and abroad under current CCP secretary general Xi Jinping. Professor Brady has accompanied her research with specific policy recommendations on how the New Zealand government can deal with the CCP’s political influence operations. These policy recommendations have attracted wide interest far beyond New Zealand.
Since the publication of her work on global United Front work, Brady’s home and office have been subjected to burglaries, during which no valuable items other than electronic devices were stolen. Most recently, her car was found to have been tampered with in ways consistent with intentional sabotage. According to media reports, Interpol and the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) are involved in the investigation. In China, academics were interrogated by Ministry of State Security agents after their institutions hosted Brady. Brady has also been personally attacked in media under the direction of the CCP, both in the PRC and in New Zealand. Taken together, these circumstances make it likely that this harassment campaign constitutes a response to her research on the CCP’s influence, and an attempt to intimidate her into silence.
Despite the evidence of CCP interference provided in Brady’s research, of which the harassment campaign appears to be a further example, the New Zealand government has been slow to take action and failed to acknowledge that a problem exists. Professor Brady’s repeated requests for additional SIS and police protection have been ignored for four months.
Far from unique to New Zealand, the CCP’s global United Front tactics and other political influence operations have been documented in other locations, in Europe, Oceania, Asia and the Americas. Small nations can be especially vulnerable to the PRC Party-state’s exploitation of asymmetries in economic power and relevant expertise to advance its political interests. Whether within or without the limits of the law of their target countries, these activities have considerable effects on their societies and merit evidence-based research and the attention of politicians and the media. The harassment campaign against Brady risks having a chilling effect on scholarly inquiry, allowing the CCP to interfere in the politics of our societies unfettered by informed scrutiny.
We urge the New Zealand authorities to grant Professor Brady the necessary protection to allow her to continue her research, sending a clear signal to fellow researchers that independent inquiry can be protected in democratic societies and conducted without fear of retribution.
We join other voices in support of Professor Brady, which have included statements by a New Zealand Chinese community organisation, some of her Canterbury University colleagues, New Zealand academics and two Australian Sinologists, as well as many others on social media.
We further hope decision makers and the public at large, in New Zealand and elsewhere, will engage with evidence-based research on the CCP’s United Front tactics, such as Brady’s Magic Weapons, and give due consideration to policy advice emanating from such research.
Signatories (303)
Martin Hála, Charles University and Sinopsis.cz
Jichang Lulu, independent researcher
Filip Jirouš, Sinopsis.cz
Kateřina Procházková, Sinopsis.cz
Klára Schwarzová, Sinopsis.cz
Anna Zádrapová, Sinopsis.cz
Abduweli Ayup, Uyghur linguistic rights activist, writer
Hernán Alberro, CADAL
Bengt Albons, former China correspondent for Dagens Nyheter
Alexander B. Alexiev, Professor, Sofia University
Jamil Anderlini, journalist
Patrik Andersson, Aalborg University
Nathan Attrill, PhD Candidate, Australian National University
Hermann Aubié, Aston University
Ross Babbage, Chief Executive Officer, Strategic Forum
David L. Bandurski, Co-Director, China Media Project
Michael Barr, FAHA, Flinders University
Michael Beckley, professor, Tufts University
Wolfgang Behr, Asien-Orient-Institut Universität Zürich
Jean-Philippe Béja, Research Professor Emeritus, CNRS
Thorsten Benner, Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi), Berlin
Bill Bishop
Jan Boháč, Asian Studies Graduate
Ellen Bork, Visiting Fellow, Project 2049 Institute
Joseph Bosco, former China Country Director, Office of the Secretary of Defense
Julia Bowie, Center for Advanced China Research
Hal Brands, Johns Hopkins SAIS
Sarah M Brooks, International Service for Human Rights
Dr. Douglas Brown, John Abbott College, Sainte Anne de Bellevue, Quebec
Ela Brzozowska, editor and translator, Warsaw
Stéphane Burette, gérant atelier de mécanique marine, Nouvelle-Calédonie
Charles Burton, Brock University
Dr Joe Burton, Senior Lecturer, University of Waikato
Reinhard Bütikofer MEP, Bündnis90/Die Grünen
Darren Byler, Department of Anthropology, University of Washington
Harald Bøckman, Visiting Senior Fellow, London School of Economics and Political Science / University of Oslo
Dag Inge Bøe, social anthropologist
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Professor of Political Science, Hong Kong Baptist University
William A. Callahan, London School of Economics
Alan Cantos, physical oceanographer and Director of the Spanish Tibet Support Committee (CAT)
Yaxue Cao, China Change
Kevin Carrico, Macquarie University
Erin Baggott Carter, Assistant Professor, School of International Relations, University of Southern California
Danielle Cave, Deputy Head, International Cyber Policy Centre, The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and PhD Scholar, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, ANU
Lenka Cavojská, sinologist
John Cenngar, Centre for China Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong
Anita Chan (Prof.), Co-editor, The China Journal, Australian National University
Zhigang Chan, New Zealand Values Alliance
Thomas Chase, Monash University
Vaea Chebret, École H. Ohlen, Nouméa
Chen Weijian, Editor, Beijing Spring
Chen Yonglin, Campaign Coordinator of the Sydney Network for Democracy in China (SN4DC)
Dr. Lifen Cheng, Department of Sociology and Communication. University of Salamanca
Alvin Y.H. Cheung, Affiliated Scholar, US-Asia Law Institute, NYU School of Law
Jocelyn Chey, University of Sydney
Tarun Chhabra, policy analyst
Andrew Chubb, postdoc fellow, Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program
Włodzimierz Cieciura, assistant professor, Department of Sinology, University of Warsaw
E. Ann Clark, Associate Professor (retired), University of Guelph
Donald Clarke, Professor of Law and David A. Weaver Research Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
Professor Jerome A. Cohen, NYU Law School
J Michael Cole, China Policy Institute (U Nott), Research Associate CEFC
Marcus Coll, Master’s student, University of Canterbury
Gabriel Collins, Rice University
Anders Corr, Corr Analytics
Demetrius Cox, independent researcher
Peter Dahlin, Director of Safeguard Defenders
Toby Dalley, University of Canterbury
Gloria Davies, Professor of Chinese Studies, Monash University
Chandler Davis, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics, University of Toronto
Béatrice Desgranges, retired philosophy teacher, France
Rush Doshi, Brookings-Yale Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
June Teufel Dreyer, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Miami
Mathieu Duchâtel, Deputy Director, Senior Fellow, Asia and China Programme, European Council on Foreign Relations
Ryan Dunch, Professor, History and Classics, Director, Program in Religious Studies, University of Alberta
Denisa Dundrová
Ian Easton, Research Fellow, Project 2049 Institute
Elizabeth C. Economy, Council on Foreign Relations
Charles Edel, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney
Eric Edelman, Johns Hopkins SAIS
Kingsley Edney, University of Leeds
Eaglenton Edward
Joshua Eisenman, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
Johan Elverskog, Southern Methodist University
José Elías Esteve Moltó, Universitat de València
Lars Ellström, independent researcher
Carlos Fara, political consultant and vice president, CADAL
Katarína Feriančíková, Charles University
Steve Fore, School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong (retired)
Fredrik Fällman, Associate Professor of Sinology, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Feng Chongyi, University of Technology Sydney
Niall Ferguson, Milbank Family Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford
Raúl Ferro, journalist, head of the Advisory Council, CADAL
Magnus Fiskesjö, Department of Anthropology, Cornell University
John Fitzgerald, Swinburne University of Technology
Martin Flaherty, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
Thomas Foght, Investigative journalist, Radio24syv
Matthew Foley, Khon Kaen University, Thailand
Lindsey Ford, Director for Political-Security Affairs, Asia Society Policy Institute
Philippe Forêt, PhD, Co-director, Environmental Humanities Switzerland
Ivan Franceschini, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and Australian National University
Vanessa Frangville, Université libre de Bruxelles
Aaron Friedberg, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University
Edward Friedman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison
Eli Friedman, Cornell University
Dr Andreas Fulda, School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham
Torbjørn Færøvik, writer and historian, kinaforum.com
Kateřina Gajdošová, Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Charles University
Bernabé García Hamilton, Secretary, CADAL
Julian Garrett, Networks Automation & Digitalisation Program Manager, Vodafone UK
Roger Garside, former British diplomat
Ursula Gauthier, grand reporter, L’Obs
Petr Gerneš, student, Department of South and Central Asia, Charles University
Luke Gilkison, “Chinese Studies graduate, Victoria University of Wellington
David Gitter, Center For Advanced China Research
Jeremy Goldkorn, editor-in-chief of SupChina
Green Party, Czech Republic
Louisa Greve, Uyghur Human Rights Project
Gerry Groot, University of Adelaide
A.Tom Grunfeld, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus
Joanna Grzybek, Jagiellonian University
César Guarde-Paz, PhD Chinese Philosophy, University of Barcelona
Guo Shan-yu, Charles University
Rosemary Haddon, (formerly) Massey University
Vladimir Hajko, Ph.D., Mendel University in Brno
Ian Hall, Professor of International Relations, Griffith University
Terry Halliday, Research Professor, American Bar Foundation; Honorary Professor, Australian National University
Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Canberra
Mette Halskov Hansen, University of Oslo
Mark Harrison, University of Tasmania
Jonathan Hassid, Iowa State University
Jerker Hellström, Head of Asia and the Middle East Programme, Swedish Defence Research Agency
Laurens Hemminga, City University of Hong Kong / Leiden University
Anne Henochowicz, independent scholar
Daniel Herman, former minister of culture, KDU-ČSL
Samantha Hoffman, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Marie Holzman, Solidarité Chine, Paris
Leta Hong Fincher, independent sociologist
Charles Horner, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Chris Horton, journalist
Dr. Robert Horvath, Department of Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University
Ann Hou, Australian nurse
Fraser Howie, author and independent China analyst
Jakub Hrubý, Oriental Institute, Czech Academy of Sciences
Rob Huebert, University of Calgary
Peter Humphrey, Research Affiliate at King’s Collge London, and Research Affiliate at Harvard University Fairbank Center
Carlos Iglesias, human rights lawyer
Saša Istenič Kotar, Assist. Professor, University of Ljubljana
Joel Petersson Ivre, Graduate student, Yonsei University
J. Bruce Jacobs, Emeritus Professor of Asian Languages and Studies, School of Languages, Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics, Monash University
Dr. Van Jackson, Senior Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington
Jakub Janda, Executive Director, Head of Kremlin Watch Program, European Values Think-tank
Johnson Jiang, New Zealand Values Alliance
Rodney Jones, Wigram Capital Advisors (HK)
Coraline Jortay, Université libre de Bruxelles
Patrick Jory, University of Queensland
Alex Joske, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Shanthi Kalathil, International Forum for Democratic Studies, National Endowment for Democracy
Elsa B. Kania, Harvard University
Karina Kapounová, sinologist, Charles University, Prague
Séagh Kehoe, Teaching Fellow in Modern Chinese History, School of History, Politics and IR, University of Leicester
Thierry Kellner, Université libre de Bruxelles
Peter G. Kevan, FRSC, FRES, FRSB, FLS, University Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph
Jeffrey C. Kinkley, Portland State University
Earl H. Kinmonth, Professor Emeritus, Taisho University
Katrin Kinzelbach, Global Public Policy Institute, Berlin
Jakub Klepal, Executive Director, Forum 2000 Foundation
Ondřej Klimeš, Czech Academy of Sciences
Mike Koen, civil engineer and technical writer
František Kopřiva, MP, Czech Pirate Party
Zuzana Košková, University of Freiburg
Adam Kozieł, Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Dr Mei-fen Kuo, The University of Queensland
Alan J. Kuperman, University of Texas at Austin
Petr Kutílek, lecturer in transitional politics, Prague
Václav Laifr, PhD candidate, Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Charles University
Michael Laha, Program Officer at Asia Society’s Center on U.S.-China Relations
André Laliberté, Professor, School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Françoise Lauwaert, Université libre de Bruxelles
Le Cheng, New Zealand Values Alliance
Professor John Lee, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
James Leibold, La Trobe University
Steve Levine, Department of History, University of Montana, USA
Filip Lexa, Sinologist and Indonesia expert, Charles University, Prague
Jake Lin, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies
Jon R. Lindsay, Assistant Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto
Perry Link, Princeton University
Jianping Liu, New Zealand
Torbjörn Lodén, Emeritus Professor, Stockholm University
Olga Lomová, Charles University
Nicholas Loubere, Lund University
Julia Lovell, Birkbeck College, University of London
Adrián Lucardi, head of the Academic Council, CADAL
Nauja Lynge, author and blogger on Jyllandsposten
Maree Ma, Vision Times Media Corporation (Australia)
Jaime Malamud Goti, constitutional lawyer, Academic Advisor, CADA
T M McClellan, PhD, Independent scholar, formerly Senior Lecturer (Chinese) in The University of Edinburgh
Barrett L. McCormick, Professor, Marquette University
Kevin McCready, former AusAID official, translator
Paul Macgregor, historian and heritage consultant, Victoria, Australia
Richard McGregor, Lowy Institute
Anne McLaren, Professor, Chinese Studies, FAHA, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne
Thomas G. Mahnken, Johns Hopkins SAIS
Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania
Maurizio Marinelli, University of Sussex
William D. Markle, Illinois Institute of Technology and Zhejiang University of Science and Technology
Peter Mattis, Research Fellow, China Studies, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation
Alexander Maxwell, Victoria University of Wellington
Michael Mazza, Visiting Fellow, American Enterprise Institute
Rory Medcalf, Australian National University
Jonathan Mirsky, historian of China, former journalist in China and Tibet
Benny Mok ARICS
Michelle S. Mood, Assistant Professor, Political Science & Asian Studies, Kenyon College
Stephen L. Morgan, Professor of Chinese Economic History, University of Nottingham
Zbyněk Mucha, indologist and tibetologist, Charles University
Luisetta Mudie, translator
Ian Mukherjee, independent analyst
Eske Møllgaard, Department of Philosophy, University of Rhode Island
Andrew J. Nathan, Columbia University
Adam Ni, Visiting Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University
Cassy O’Connor MP, Tasmanian Greens Leader
Shaun O’Dwyer, New Confucianism scholar, Kyushu University
Mareike Ohlberg
Max Oidtmann, Georgetown University
Jojje Olsson, journalist and author
Charlie Parton, Associate Fellow, RUSI
Minxin Pei, Professor of Government Claremont McKenna College
Shiany Perez-Cheng, PhD candidate. University of Salamanca
Gaia Perini, University of Bologna
Sam Pheloung, Master’s student, University of Canterbury
Eva Pils, King’s College London
Garrie van Pinxteren, China correspondent and sinologist
Philip Regal, Emeritus Professor, University of Minnesota
Sybil Rhodes, President, CADAL
James A. Rice, (formerly) Department of Philosophy, Lingnan University
Sophie Richardson, PhD, China Director, Human Rights Watch
Stein Ringen, Professor of Political Economy, King’s College London
Liliana De Riz, political scientist, Academic Advisor, CADAL
Sean Roberts, The George Washington University
Kaz Ross, School of Humanities, University of Tasmania
Warren Henry Rothman, author and independent China analyst
Dr Ji Ruan, Senior lecturer at Auckland University of Technology
Stuart Russell, Macquarie University School of Law, Sydney Australia (retired)
Terence Russell, Asian Studies Centre, University of Manitoba
Fergus Ryan, Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Lukáš Rychetský, journalist, A2
Gabriel Salvia, Director General, CADAL
Katarzyna Sarek, Jagiellonian University
Łukasz Sarek, Asia Research Center, War Studies University, Poland
Elaine C. Sartorelli, University of São Paulo
David Schak, Adjunct Associate Professor, Griffith Asia Institute
Sigrid Schmalzer, Professor, History Department, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Matt Schrader, editor, Jamestown Foundation China Brief
Lesley Seebeck, Australian National University
Mark Selden, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, State University of New York at Binghamton
James D. Seymour, Columbia University
Hanna Shen, Polish journalist
Victor Shih, associate professor, UC San Diego
Susan L. Shirk, Research Professor, UC San Diego
Jan Sládek, Charles University Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology, vice-dean for information resources
Prof. Martin Slobodník, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
Joanne Smith Finley, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies, Newcastle University
Angela Stanzel, Senior Policy Fellow, Institut Montaigne
Janice Gross Stein, University of Toronto
Mark Stokes, Project 2049 Institute
Jorge Streb, economist, Academic Advisor, CADAL
Piotr Strzałkowski, PhD Candidate, Edinburgh
Yutong Su, Journalist, Germany
Petr Suchý, Department of International Relations and European Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University
Jia-rui Sun, independent writer, New Zealand
Marina Svensson, Lund University
Henryk Szadziewski, Uyghur Human Rights Project and University of Hawaii
Josef Šlerka, Head of New Media Studies Department at Charles University
Hiroki Takeuchi, Southern Methodist University
Teng Biao, US-Asia Law Institute, New York University
Bradley A. Thayer, University of Texas San Antonio
Martin Thorley, University of Nottingham
Rian Thum, University of Nottingham
Alan Tidwell, Director, Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
Rory Truex, Princeton University
Glenn Tiffert, historian
Aki Tonami, University of Tsukuba
Steve Tsang, Professor of Chinese Studies, SOAS University of London
Professor Jonathan Unger, Political & Social Change Department, Australian National University
Geoff Wade, independent researcher, Canberra
Professor Arthur Waldron, University of Pennsylvania
Christopher Walker, National Endowment for Democracy
Corey Wallace, Graduate School of East Asian Studies, Freie Universität Berlin
Gerrit van der Wees, George Mason University
Janette Wilcox, EAL teacher, Kangan Institute, Australia
Corey Willis, MA, Beijing Normal University
Scott Wingo, University of Pennsylvania
Casper Wits, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge
Dr Rosalie Woodruff MP, Tasmanian Greens
Andréa Worden, independent researcher
David Curtis Wright, University of Calgary
Teresa Wright, Department of Political Science, California State University
Weiguo Xi, New Zealand Values Alliance
Michael Yahuda, Emeritus Professor, LSE, Visiting Scholar, Sigur Center for Asia Studies, The Elliott School, George Washington University
Wai Ling Yeung, Western Australia Department of Education
Freeman Yu, human rights activist, New Zealand
Lukáš Zádrapa, Institute of Far Eastern Studies, Charles University Prague
Joshua Zhai, New Zealand Values Alliance