In June 2007, the New York University Chinese Culture Club posted an online statement attacking NTDTV's Chinese Classical Dance Competition. Why did a Chinese student club attack a Chinese dance competition?
In the following interview Dr. Ye Ke, who was chair of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at the University of Southern California in 1998 and 1999, reveals how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) infiltrates and controls overseas Chinese groups.
Reporter: Dr. Ye, how did you feel when you read the statement by the Chinese Culture Club?
Ye: I was surprised but then not, because I know the Chinese Club is controlled by the Chinese Consulate, and such open attacks using excessive means are increasing now.
Reporter: In what sense were you surprised?
Ye: The leaders of the student association have not had any past conflicts with Falun Gong practitioners or NTDTV. So the students themselves shouldn't be holding grudges against Falun Gong and NTDTV. Where did this shameless hatred come from? It came from the Chinese Consulate, who has been controlling overseas Chinese people from behind the scenes. This can be seen from the wording of the CCP statement given to the student associations.
The statement used offensive language that is very typical of the CCP's political movements. It was pretty unbelievable that such propaganda appeared on a U.S. campus. Why would the students association call Falun Gong a cult? How could they claim that all Chinese students at NYC reject Falun Gong? Many students may practice Falun Gong or have friends and family that are practitioners. And I'm sure the student associations know this. It was just the CCP's own slanderous propaganda—especially the statement, "The persecution of Falun Gong was welcomed by everyone in society." The students are only following the CCP's orders.
Reporter: What is the relationship between the overseas Chinese student associations and the Chinese Consulates?
Ye: The Chinese student associations were first established to help Chinese students who had just arrived in the United States. In addition, it provided social activities and communication between students. They were mostly run by volunteers. However, because funding was tight, the consulate initiated funding. Unless students had the determination and ability to operate the associations completely independently, they would find it too easy to rely on Chinese consulate funding. The consulate also monopolizes communication channels to Mainland China. As a result, the Chinese Consulates gained control of the student associations effortlessly.
In addition, when the Chinese consulate couldn't do something or not convenient to do something, they would use the student associations to do it. There is a strong incentive for the consulate to firmly control the student associations. In fact, it has been using, controlling, and monitoring student associations for a long time. The consulate's manipulative involvement changed the organizational nature of the student associations.
Reporter: From your experience, how does the CCP control student associations?
Ye: It uses several ways to administer control:
1. Controlling Student Leaders Through Benefits and Incentives
For example, the student leaders may be invited periodically to the consulate for dinner; they may also be invited to other social occasions. When a communist regime leader comes from China, the consulate organizes students to welcome them. Many students think this was an honor. The student association leaders will also be introduced to political and business people from Mainland China or other local groups controlled by the CCP.
2. Providing Funds to Student Associations
Since most Chinese students in the United States are not wealthy (at least that was the case when I was in school), the associations did not charge membership dues or activity fees. They would often have problems funding activities.
The student associations usually receive funding from three sources:
- From the school as a student organization,
- From the community or through advertising and donations, and
- From the Chinese consulate.
Consular support was a major part. When we held large-scale activities, for instance the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year's Day, the money from the Chinese consulate was often the main source. When I was chairman, the consulate gave funding of $200 to $700 to the student association. When the persecution against Falun Gong began, I heard that the consulate gave even more money to the student associations. We can say that the student associations have become financially dependent on the Chinese consulate as long as they do their bidding.
3. Monitoring Emails
Because the Chinese Consulate's email address is included with the students' email list, the Chinese Consulate receives all public emails. This way, the CCP monitors the student associations' activities. In fact, because the Consulate or its staff is neither a student nor a scholar, it is immoral and wrong to do such a thing.
4. Controlling Student Officer Elections
Because the student associations are loosely organized, normally when students come from mainland China, they would automatically be enrolled as member. However, the total members who participate in regular activities would only be 20 per cent or less of its membership. For example, while I was in school, about 300 to 500 students were on the student e-mail list. It would be considered a good turn out if only 60 to 100 students turned up at these activities.
During our association election for a chairperson, an invitation was sent out to all members before the election. If only one person decided to run, then he or she would automatically be elected as the chair. If there was more than one candidate, then voting was required. Normally the person who ran for the office already had some binding relationship with the Chinese Consulate, so they would not be so worried about not being re-elected.
Consulate interferences were quite covert at times. For instance, if a pro-democracy activist or others decide to run the election, then the Chinese Consulate would use their networks to control the election to prevent those people from being elected. I personally know that such things happened in the association's 2004 election at the University of Minnesota.
Reporter: How does the Chinese Consulate make use of the associations? That is, what do they want to achieve?
Ye: They use student associations to mobilize Chinese students and to spread their propaganda. They use the students to fashion "grand" welcomes for the VIPs visiting from mainland China, or attend other big celebration events to make the CCP look good.
They also require the association to pay attention to the trends of some groups. These kinds of things the Chinese Consulate can't achieve alone by itself. In my time as chairman, I mainly worked to prevent the Chinese pro-democracy movement from gaining ground.
Later, the Chinese communist regime began to persecute and incite hatred against Falun Gong. The Chinese Consulate is an extended arm of the CCP to persecute Falun Gong overseas. It became very obvious that they used the student associations to hold activities to criticize Falun Gong such as forums and petitions. I know at that time many students within different groups were not against Falun Gong. However, they were forced to follow the Chinese consular orders. After the communist media outlet stationed overseas made some changes to the content of the news, they then sent these falsified reports back to China to deceive the Chinese people.
The Chinese Consulate also used the student associations to collect private information on Falun Gong practitioners.. They converted the student associations all over the world into spy agencies. Many students who have been used still fail to understand that this in fact violates the rights and freedoms of others. Moreover, they have not realized that the Chinese Communist Party will continue to treat them as informants who do such dishonorable things.
Reporter: Have you seen the CCP media coverage on the online statement from New York University Chinese Culture Club?
Ye: Yes I feel it is quite ridiculous. Just as I have said, the operations of student associations are actually controlled by the Chinese Consulates who are carrying out the orders of the Chinese communist regime. So, even though the NYUCCC followed orders, it simply does not represent all Chinese students and scholars.. Many Chinese students have expressed their annoyance of these association leaders being controlled by the Chinese Consulate.
The Student association itself is a service organization instead of a representative body. It is only an ordinary Student Union. It is a lie when the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at Colombia University says it represents 4,000 Chinese members. This is like what the Chinese Communist Party always does—speaks on behalf of the whole nation.
Reporter: Well as someone who has experienced these control tactics, do you have anything to say to those students being controlled and manipulated by the Chinese Consulate?
Ye: In the past, I was also engaged in such things so I understand the students' mentalities. In fact, they have no grudges or conflicts with New Tang Dynasty TV and Falun Gong. The Chinese Consulate stirred up trouble and provoked these conflicts to serve the unjust orders of the CCP. Creating a mass struggle between people is the Communist Party's ideology and approach to create conflict and struggle. I sincerely hope student leaders choose not to follow the Chinese Consulate. It is the CCP's principle to set Chinese against Chinese in hateful struggles, in order to continue the legacy of maintaining power for the communist regime at any cost. There is simply no future in it.
Feeds