Yale scholars’ trip to Xinjiang turned into a propaganda tool for the CCP? Shen Rongqin reveals the 4 steps of United Front: Even if you don’t accept money, you will be used

The CCP’s united front does not necessarily rely on money, even normal academic exchanges may become propaganda tools! Shen Rongqin, associate professor at York University in Canada, pointed out that the consulting company Strategy Risks recently released a report, using the example of two scholars from Yale University who visited Xinjiang, revealing how the Chinese government, through officially arranged forums and cultural itineraries, transformed the positive evaluations of international scholars into "third-party endorsement" of Xinjiang policies.

The report pointed out that the scholar couple Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, who chair the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, went to Kashgar, Xinjiang in June 2024 to participate in the "International Forum on the History and Future of Xinjiang." This meeting, which brought together hundreds of Chinese and foreign experts, seemed to simply discuss history, religion and culture, but behind the scenes Pan Yue, then deputy director of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, played an important role.

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The two visited Kashgar University, mosques, the ancient city of Kashgar and other places under official arrangements, and then publicly talked about the cultural preservation of Xinjiang's ethnic minorities, cultural diversity and the harmony between man and nature. The report pointed out that the relevant speeches did not touch on surveillance, detention and human rights controversies in Xinjiang, but were quoted by Chinese state media and included in the official narrative supporting Xinjiang policies.

According to Strategy Risks analysis, this operation can be divided into four steps: first establishing long-term exchanges through religious, environmental and cultural issues, then arranging official-led forums and visits to obtain positive reviews from international scholars, and finally having the official media amplify the remarks and repackage them into political propaganda. The report also cited a report in the English version of China Daily on June 14, 2024 as an example, pointing out that the newspaper placed Tucker's affirmation of Xinjiang's cultural preservation in the same article as the Chinese official's rebuttal of human rights charges.

The report also noted that some of the institutions visited have cooperative relationships with the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. The Corps was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2020 for human rights abuses involving Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities.

It is worth noting that the report did not identify the scholar couple as accepting money or benefits from the Chinese government, but instead pointed out the more hidden risks of united front: scholars may only make observations in their own professional fields, but relevant remarks are taken out of the original context by the official and become propaganda material to defend Xinjiang policies. This also highlights that the boundaries between academic exchanges and political propaganda may be more blurred than outsiders imagine.