China bought many American Colleges says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a speech given at the Georgia Institute of Technology last Wednesday, December 9, 2020.
According to a report by Breitbart, Pompeo criticized schools for self-censoring anything against China. He said many of these colleges, despite being places who love freedom, nonetheless censor out of fear of offending China.
"Now, you would think at freedom-loving places like Georgia Tech and institutions and scholars all across the world, administrators, school faculty would be more up in arms about the Chinese Communist Party's outright theft and flagrant violation of freedoms that I've described, but we see it too seldom. Well, why? Why do schools censor themselves? They often do it out of fear of offending China," he said.
Pompeo's speech, whose full transcript is available in the US Department of State Website, was entitled "The Chinese Communist Party On The American Campus". The website also contains the full video of the said speech.
Pompeo said Georgia Tech may find his speech offensive considering there are Chinese students and professors there. However, he pointed out that "we can't let the CCP weaponize political correctness against American liberties. We have to protect and preserve them. Fraudulent cries of racism or Sinophobia should never drown out a candid exposure of the activities of the Chinese Communist Party."
He raised that this fear and this desire to be politically correct has actually made American campuses mum about it. Aside from that, he highlights that it reveals a hold China have on the school's ownership.
"But we see too often on American campuses that there is silence and censorship. It's being driven by the Chinese Communist Party. It usually boils down to something far less idealistic. So many of our colleges are bought by Beijing," he stressed.
He cited the case of Chinese graduate and permanent US resident Vera Zhou from the University of Washington who returned to China only to experience detention from the government in a re-education camp that made her use a "virtual private network connection to connect her to her school's website".
A team including the Chinese graduate's family and the US State Department petitioned the University of Washington to advocate for her return. However, the university declined "because of a multi-million dollar deal with China." Zhou was returned to America through the efforts of the States Department Team.
In his speech, Pompeo also revealed that the U.S. Department of Education have discovered that financing of $1.3 billion from China have been received by American schools since 2013. The amount, he said, isn't reflective of the total amount received since many schools have failed to report in full.
He called on students, members of the faculty, administrations and all those involved in the academe "across America" to act on the matter and not "let the CCP crush the academic freedom that has blessed" the country "with great institutions" like Georgia Tech.
He actually said this after his talk through his Twitter account.
As I emphasized at @GeorgiaTech, we can't let the Chinese Communist Party subvert the academic freedom that has blessed America with many great academic institutions and incredible innovative centers. We'll need to work together to counter the CCP's malign influence. pic.twitter.com/TbXwtqX0sS
"” Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) December 10, 2020
During his speech, Pompeo also spoke to the students present on the role of science and technology in American diplomacy and its great risk to national security, along with the vaccine for COVID-19. He also advised students to "grow where you're potted" and to take care of their reputation, which is reflective of their character.
Before becoming the Secretary of State on April 2018, Pompeo was a representative from the 4th District of Kansas where served under the Committees on Energy and Commerce and on House Intelligence.
