The University of California, San Diego, has invited the Dalai Lama as its commencement speaker in June, and a group of Chinese students at the university is rallying to stop his speech. There may be more to the events than meets the eye, however, as a social media posting said to be from the student group states it has been given directions by the Chinese Consulate.
\nThe Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet, and has been in exile since March, 1959, when he fled Tibet fearing the Chinese occupiers intended to abduct him. Tibet was invaded by the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s People\u2019s Liberation Army in Oct. 1950. The CCP pushes a line that it \u201cliberated\u201d Tibet, and heavily censors the topic, while calling the Dalai Lama a \u201cseparatist.\u201d
\nThe group trying to prevent the speech is a local branch of the Chinese Student and Scholars Association (CSSA), a nationwide student organization known to receive funding and directives from the CCP through its consulates.
\nThe CSSA has openly stated it is working under the guidance of the Chinese regime.<\/p>\n
It published a statement on WeChat that states, translated from Chinese, that in regards to the Dalai Lama going to the university, \u201cthe Chinese Student and Scholar Association has asked the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles for instructions, and having received the instructions are going to implement them.\u201d According to \u201cChina\u2019s Espionage Dynasty: Economic Death by a Thousand Cuts,\u201d published<\/a> by the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology, a cybersecurity think tank, CSSAs are active in more than 150 U.S. universities. Preventing a speech by the Dalai Lama may not seem like a big deal, but for the CCP, its use of censorship and controlled narratives are cornerstones of its hold on power. It simultaneously pushes its own narratives on issues, peppered with disinformation, while also using extreme censorship to stop the true narratives from being known. The University of California, San Diego, has invited the Dalai Lama as its commencement speaker in June, and a group of Chinese students at the university is rallying to stop his speech. There may be more to the events than meets the eye, however, as a social media posting said to be from the student […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45421"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIt tells students to not act outside official guidance of the CCP, and says \u201cspecific measures to be taken will be elaborated on in future announcements.\u201d
\n\u201cOur association has been forced to take tough and unyielding measures,\u201d it states.
\nThe statement appears to have been taken offline, but a Web archive of the page is still available<\/a>.
\nThe \u201cabout us\u201d page<\/a> on the University of California, San Diego, CSSA website states, translated from Chinese, that it is a \u201cpublic benefit organization\u201d and is \u201caffiliated to the Chinese Consulate General in Los Angeles.\u201d It also says it works as a \u201cChinese embassy bridge.\u201d<\/p>\nOvert Espionage<\/h2>\n
\nOfficially, it states, the CSSAs help native Chinese students by acting as a bridge between China and foreign institutions. On the other hand, \u201cCSSAs may also be a pivotal overt espionage platform for the Chinese government.\u201d
\n\u201cThe vast majority of CSSAs receive funding from the Chinese government or have an active liaison via the consulate back to the CCP,\u201d it states.
\nIt adds that CSSAs may work to \u201cpersuade students to act as temporary or prolonged intelligence assets,\u201d and that \u201cThrough CSSAs, students can be manipulated into passing intellectual property or research back to their home state or planting malware on a university system.\u201d
\nAccording to an FBI podcast<\/a> on April 14, 2014, it\u2019s not uncommon for foreign intelligence agencies to manipulate students to achieve their objectives\u2014and the students are often unaware they are being used until they\u2019re already in over their heads.
\n\u201cTo foster the relationship, foreign intelligence operatives will flatter and encourage students, show interest in their future success, and even promise to help them obtain a government-issued visa or work permit\u2014but it\u2019s all disingenuous and empty promises,\u201d it states.
\nIt adds, \u201cThe truth is, the operatives are just using the student as a pawn to achieve their own ends, without concern for the student\u2019s welfare or future.\u201d<\/p>\nControlling the Narrative<\/h2>\n
\nThe issue of Tibet\u2014which includes the CCP\u2019s suppression of Tibetan Buddhists\u2014is one of the CCP\u2019s five \u201cno-go topics,\u201d which also includes its persecution of Falun Gong, its persecution of Muslim Uyghurs, the issue of Taiwanese independence, and the issue of democracy in Hong Kong.
\nThe CCP\u2019s censorship apparatus stretches beyond its own borders, and looks to control similar narratives being raised by foreign governments and news outlets.
\n\u201cIn many cases, Chinese officials directly impede independent reporting by media based abroad,\u201d states a 2013 report<\/a> from the Center for International Media Assistance.
\nIt adds, however, that \u201cmore prevalent\u2013and often more effective\u2013are methods of control that subtly induce self-censorship or inspire media owners, advertisers, and other international actors to take action on the CCP\u2019s behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"