Chinese Students and Scholars Association

The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) (Chinese: 中国学生学者联合(谊)会; pinyin: zhōngguó xuéshēng xuézhě liánhé (liányí) huì) is the official organization for overseas Chinese students and scholars registered in most colleges, universities, and institutions outside of China. The associations in different institutions share a same name. The primary function of CSSA is mostly responsible for helping away-from-home Chinese in their life, study, work, and other issues, to bring Chinese students together on campus. CSSA also serves as a bridge between the Chinese and other communities, spreading Chinese culture. The groups typically host events such as annual Chinese New Year galas, holiday celebrations, and academic forums.[1][2]

The CSSA started in late 1970s when China started sending students to study overseas. On July 1989, representatives from over 200 CSSAs gathered in Chicago for the First Congress of Chinese Students and Scholars, then established their national association as the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS). IFCSS was very active to represent CSSAs in lobbying congress and in protecting Chinese students' rights for many years.

After IFCSS, no national association exists to represent all CSSAs, thus CSSAs act in various agendas including job seeking, entrepreneurship, innovation, pro government, pro democracy and many others. It also caused controversy and even became a subject in vice president Mike Pence's Oct 2018 policy speech on China.[3]


Controversy

The associations are sponsored by Chinese embassy and consular officials, and the Chinese government has a consistent policy toward Chinese students and scholars since 1990[4]. The documents and emails obtained by Foreign Policy in 2018 showed that the Georgetown University CSSA accepted funding from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. , which amounted to roughly half its total annual budget.[2] A former CSSA-Pittsburgh chairman said on Sina-Weibo that their chapter received a US$6000 yearly budget from the Chinese consulate.[5] The organization has been criticized for trying to control and monitor the speech of Chinese students and professors in Western countries, and for involvement in espionage in various countries including Canada, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom.[6][7][8][9]

In 2011, Cambridge University disbanded their CSSA chapter after the society's president, Chang Feifan, announced that she would enter a second term without election, and refused to provide the university a copy of the society's constitution. Students and staff alleged that the CSSA was controlled by the Chinese embassy, and that the embassy had advised the CSSA president to continue her reign without holding an election.[10]

In 2015, Columbia University disbanded their CSSA chapter after violations of multiple financial and student organizational policies.

In a 2017 New York Times article, chapters of CSSA were described as having "worked in tandem with Beijing to promote a pro-Chinese agenda and tamp down anti-Chinese speech on Western campuses."[7] The University of California, San Diego chapter is protesting against the university's decision to invite the 14th Dalai Lama to speak at its 2017 commencement.[11]

In 2017, the CSSA chapter at the University of Maryland attacked a commencement speech delivered by a Chinese student, which praised freedom of speech, following similar criticism of the speech by Chinese state media.[12]

References

  1. ↑ "CSSAs in USA". The Office of Educational Affairs of the Embassy of P.R.China in USA. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  2. 1 2 Allen Ebrahimian, Bethany (February 14, 2018). "Chinese Government Gave Money to Georgetown Chinese Student Group". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 16 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Remarks by Vice President Pence on the Administration's Policy Toward China". 4 October 2018.
  4. ↑ "Directive on Policy Toward Chinese Students and Scholars in the United States and Canada, March 1990", in Nicholas Eftimiades, Chinese Intelligence Operations, (Annapolis MD: Naval Institute Press 1994): 117-39.
  5. ↑ "Sina-Weibo backup via Weibo Kankan". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on 2017-06-06. Retrieved 2017-06-06.
  6. ↑ Corr, Anders (4 June 2017). "Ban Official Chinese Student Organizations Abroad". Forbes.
  7. 1 2 Saul, Stephanie (4 May 2017). "On Campuses Far From China, Still Under Beijing's Watchful Eye". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ Luard, Tim (22 July 2005). "China's spies come out from the cold". BBC News.
  9. ↑ "Li-Li Whuang poursuit sa thèse". Le Parisien. 4 September 2008.
  10. ↑ "Chinese Students & Scholars Association disaffiliated from University". Varsity. 3 December 2011.
  11. ↑ Horwitz, Josh (19 September 2017). "China is retaliating against a US university for inviting the Dalai Lama to speak at graduation". Quartz.
  12. ↑ Denyer, Simon; Zhang, Congcong (23 May 2017). "A Chinese student praised the 'fresh air of free speech' at a U.S. college. Then came the backlash". The Washington Post.
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