Senior Manager for East Asia at @NEDemocracy. posts on China/中国, human rights, IR, Catholicism, trail running. Views expressed are my own.
Washington, DC
- Tweets 46,780
- Following 7,847
- Followers 15,601
- Likes 37,569
Pinned Tweet
My op-ed in the @Diplomat_APAC is now opt!
In the piece, I analyze some recent cases involving suppression of #Christianity in China, and try to make sense out of the logic behind China's governance of religions more broadly.
thediplomat.com/2021/08/in-c…
26
49
138
William Nee retweeted
Thank you, it is well-written on the important but forgotten subject that needs to attention of many that help in policy making in Washington and across the globe.
📢 My op-ed in @thehill is out:
The piece answers a paradox: many Uyghurs overseas continue to deal with detained relatives & transnational repression.
Meanwhile, some non-Uyghurs may assume the situation has improved, as the re-education camps are no longer in global headlines
1
7
10
561
📢 My op-ed in @thehill is out:
The piece answers a paradox: many Uyghurs overseas continue to deal with detained relatives & transnational repression.
Meanwhile, some non-Uyghurs may assume the situation has improved, as the re-education camps are no longer in global headlines
11
29
73
3,595
Finally, governments should protect families.
@GulchehraHoja recently lost her brother and father, leaving her mother, who she has not seen in 25 years, without a caregiver. China has not allowed her mother to obtain a passport. She should be allowed to reunite with her mother.
1
2
119
Six Catholics with Down syndrome served Mass for the pope today.
I've seen this referred to online as a "spectacle," a "publicity stunt," and "emotional manipulation."
I'ts none of those things. It's Catholic. If it wouldn't happen at your parish, the pope ain't the problem.
68
210
3,072
41,604
William Nee retweeted
I probably have a slightly different view than both @RushDoshi and @JacquelineNDeal but what I like is a clear debate. The old way had major problems; we won't do it better without thought. And debate crystallizes ideas.
I’m usually not attacked for being naive on China. But I believe strongly in sending students, with appropriate protections, to China. I was one of these students.
I cannot see why our piece should be controversial, but realize there are some who believe all exchanges should be halted. I am not among them.
Here is our argument:
-Longstanding federal programs that encourage US students to learn about China — like Fulbright, CLS, and Boren — should be funded by the US government. We had similar exchanges with the Soviets, and of course with China, in the past.
- Given growing risks to students in China, those participating in these programs must be protected from harassment or threats of arbitrary detention, which are growing, and which are why these programs were difficult to renew in the past.
- But there is a way out. Summits provide an opportunity to achieve commitments that protect these programs and their students. Trump should (1) elevate these programs into leader-level deliverables, and (2) reach formal (or, more likely, informal) agreements to insulate them from politics. The former sends a signal not to touch these programs and the latter sustains it.
- As part of this effort, Min Zin and other scholars and students arbitrarily detained or exit banned by China must be released.
- We did not write this in the piece, but obviously these efforts should be accompanied by proper orientation and training for students before they visit China. That was also the case for these programs in the past. It is more criticism now.
We have done all this before. It has worked before too. Leader-level recognition of certain programs in China can provide protection.
The US desperately needs China expertise. After a surge among millennials, what expertise we did have faces a cliff as students lose interest in and opportunities for studying China and Chinese.
That is a problem.
1
4
25
13,940
