【大紀元2020年12月12日訊】2020年12月9日，美國國務卿蓬佩奧在亞特蘭大佐治亞理工學院演講。以下是演講視頻（中英文字幕）、中文翻譯和英文原文。
地點：佐治亞理工學院，亞特蘭大，佐治亞州，美國
卡布雷拉校長：因此，這樣的背景，他絕對具有令人著迷的背景，我感到無比榮幸-佐治亞理工學院所有人都感到無比榮幸，請加入我歡迎美國國務卿， 熱烈歡迎。蓬佩奧國務卿。請。
蓬佩奧：謝謝。謝謝。非常感謝你。謝謝。感謝你的介紹。歡迎大家，早安。我喜歡文科院長在這裡。當我在學校時，要確保我掌握了句號和段落，一切都正確，這始終是一個很大的挑戰。我喜歡數學，零和一。卡布雷拉校長，感謝你今天對我的熱情洋溢的介紹。我要親自感謝你和林在這裡接待我們的整個團隊。我來的時候並不總是那麼簡單。特別是在這些日子裡，所有要求都變得更加棘手。我感謝你的準確周到。
還要感謝佐治亞理工學院的所有領導人和學生，所有在觀看的人，我感謝你們加入我，希望今天的對話愉快。我有一些開幕詞，然後卡布雷拉校長和我將有機會進行熱烈的交談。
我知道我們有一位特別的客人，一些好朋友：前國會議員菲爾·金格里在這裡。菲爾，很高興見到你。尚布利斯議員，也謝謝你。當我被提名擔任中央情報局局長時，尚布里斯參議員是如此親切。他在情報界花了很多時間。你對我如此仁慈，幫助我弄清楚上上下下，我對此深表感謝。很高興再次見到你。
正如卡布雷拉校長所說，我雖然在西點美國軍事學院學習工程，但是我開個玩笑，不要開車穿過與我有關的橋樑。這是很久以前了。
我的一些同學最終進入了陸軍工程兵團。我碰巧指揮一個騎兵部隊。但是我可以告訴你，當你覺得M1A1坦克的加農炮視線模糊時，數學就變得非常重要。
我也要說，即使是國務院，你談到了人們離開這個學院後有去從事外交職業的。在我的國務卿辦公桌上碰到的第一件事是，在伊拉克的一座橋樑上有一座重要的水壩，它正陷入麻煩之中。我們如何挽救它，如何把資源用在一個困難的地方。我們有美國政府最好的工程師，其中一些人在美國國務院為我工作，試圖找出最好的解決方案，最好的承包商，以及我們將如何保護巴格達和伊拉克人民。如果大壩倒塌，這個歷史悠久的幼發拉底河河谷和底格里斯河河谷的下游地方可能遭受洪水侵害。因此，你在這裡的所有工程師都去國務院網站state.gov。轉到網站，仔細看一下。我們歡迎你在美國國務院的求職。
現在，你知道我沒有迷路。我知道這是喬治亞州而不是喬治亞國。 （眾笑。）但是重要的是，我來這裡談論今天面對的這個話題，因為在這裡，美國國家安全與像這樣的重要研究機構中發生的事情有著深刻的交集。
我會先講一個簡短的故事，今天也在這裡說王飛凌教授給了我們一個解釋。教授，你在哪裡–我沒看到你坐在那裡？歡迎。很高興見到你。
幾年前，王教授去中國旅行，在中國境內遭安全人員逮捕。他被關押在一個祕密地點兩個星期。王教授受到了審問和威脅。它們（中共，下同）想了解他關於中國的研究以及他在我的母校西點軍校教書的經歷。那些故事他能講得比我好。但是它們認為它們可以恐嚇他或者招募他，因為他是華人。
謝天謝地，他（王飛凌）今天能和我們在一起。值得慶幸的是，在來自很多地方領導的壓力下，包括這所大學和卡特中心，他被釋放了。
我認為我們可以從中得到的教訓是很清楚的。那就是中共想得到我們擁有的東西，並且它們會不擇手段來獲取它。它們會偷我們的東西。它們將向中共的批評者施壓，讓他們保持沉默。它們會不惜一切代價。
我來到這兒與美國人民討論的這個問題很重要，因為美國人必須知道中共是如何為了自己目的而毒害我們高等教育機構的，以及這些行為是如何削弱我們的自由和美國國家安全的。如果我們不自我教育，如果我們不能誠實面對正在發生的事情，我們就會被北京打敗。
現在，我們這個國家，乃至整個自由世界，花了很長時間才明白中國（中共）今天的發展路線。事實上，我們還沒有完全明白，世界各國也沒有完全明白。
有人對此事負責，但是那不是最重要的部分，因為長期以來共和黨人、民主黨人、學術界、研究機構、商界的領導人都認為，通過與中國進行貿易和接觸，中共會自我改革，它會放鬆，它會擁抱經濟自由和政治自由，它會給世界各地的自由帶來較小風險。
但是我們得到的卻不是這樣。相反，中共利用由此創造的財富來加強對權力控制，加強對中國人民的控制，建立一個世界上從未見過的利用高科技進行壓迫的國家。
習近平總書記已經表明了他的意圖。你只要聽聽他說什麼就行了。他說，他希望完全控制國內局勢，並使中國成為世界頭號強國，而且他已經開始著手那個項目了。
他正在建設人民解放軍隊（中共軍隊），他操縱著國際組織為北京的利益服務。正如我們在電視上看到的，就在過去的兩天裡，他在全世界範圍內進行著一場巨大的施加影響戰役。
對於今天坐在家裡的你們中一些人來說，這似乎是一個很遙遠的事情，但是對於習近平來說，這是一個野心勃勃的行動。我必須說，他一直在關注著我們每一個人。
在過去的一年裡，我曾經在華盛頓DC與美國各州州長，在威斯康星與州議員，與硅谷的科技領袖以及許多其他團體就此進行過交談。我已經和他們談過這個挑戰。今天，我想談談在美國各地的學校，特別是研究機構，以及像我今天站在這裡的地方正在發生的事情。
想一想，中國共產黨的科學家並不是癌症治療的先驅，我們是。生產安全的COVID疫苗的不是朝鮮的生物化學家，我們是。伊朗人在超級計算方面並不領先。不是，事實上，是我們領先。自由的世界和自由的人民產生了這些優越的結果。我們應該為此感到非常自豪。
但是我們有義務對其進行保護，保存，以確保從現在起10年，50年和100年都是如此。
因為在像這個校園這樣的地方，科學家們已經開創了量子計算、人工智能、兒科技術，甚至包括可以在沒有人類控制的情況下自主運行的機器人——我必須說這讓我有點害怕。
你看，中共知道它永遠比不上我們的創新。它有國有企業，但是那是一個獨裁政權，以政府為中心。這就是為什麼它每年送40萬學生到美國學習，每年40萬學生在我們的大學學習，都來自一個國家。這並非偶然。
中國國內的許多高端工業基地都是基於偷來的技術，或者從其他國家購買的技術，都不是國產的。
北京不希望中國研究人員留在美國。事實上，在他們接受訓練後，它們希望他們回國。它們想引誘他們回國，目的只有一個，就是為社會主義祖國服務。
你看，中共的宣傳機器不能容忍它們討厭的美國人或中國人揭露它們破了產的制度，也不能容忍揭示中國人在自由社會中確實可以繁榮昌盛的事實。
它不希望你知道我要告訴你的內容。現在，讓我們澄清一下。我想確保我的語言今天很準確。當我說「中國」時，我是在說中國共產黨。像我們所有人一樣，我愛和珍視我們的華裔美國人社區，以及生活在美國的華人以及也生活在中國的華人。我們要為他們提供好東西。
我要「真誠地」說，因為發生過像王鑫（Xin Wang，音譯）這樣的案例，他是加州大學舊金山分校的一名研究員，據稱他隱瞞了自己是人民解放據（中共軍隊）軍官的身分，一直在收集加州大學舊金山分校實驗室的信息。好消息是聯邦調查局逮捕了他。
還有，季超群在位於芝加哥的伊利諾伊理工學院學習電氣工程。他曾試圖應徵參加美國軍隊，據稱他隱瞞了自己與中共情報部門的關係，後者讓他負責在自己工作的地方招募工程師和科學家。
這只是兩個例子，但是更重要的是：中共為了獲取有價值的情報，不惜動用美元，就像它們使用斗篷和匕首一樣。
有許多美國學者經常在美國納稅人的資助下進行研究，但是被吸引到中共的人才招聘計劃中。中共付給他們對他們來說很大的一筆錢，讓他們為中共，或者在中國，做與他們當前領域相關的研究，然後經常利用他們的智慧成果來建立中國（中共）的軍事力量。
一名來自我的家鄉堪薩斯州的研究人員和哈佛大學化學系系主任都墮入了這個陷阱。大家想想吧。
國家情報總監約翰‧拉特克利夫（John Ratcliffe）最近把中共戰略描述為「搶劫、複製、取代」。
但是，我想在國家情報總監的列表上再多加一個R，那就是「壓制」（Repress）。
楊舒平是一名來自中國的學生，就在幾年前的2017年，她在馬里蘭大學的畢業典禮上致辭，讚美美國「言論自由的新鮮空氣」，她很快就被妖魔化，並且受到中共宣傳機構的騷擾。我向你保證，雖然我不能告訴你一切，但是這不是巧合。
2018年喬治亞大學的一名學生在談到中共祕密警察時說，「他們不斷地騷擾我，要求我提供海外民運積極分子和持不同政見者的活動信息，他們對維吾爾人和藏族人的活動尤其感興趣。」
校園裡一些中共的最大受害者是無辜的中國人自己。這是一場悲劇。我們有責任監督此事。
另一個例子，在普林斯頓大學，就在今年，中國政治課的學生被迫在作業中使用代號，以免中共發現他們的身分並且依據嚴苛的新版《國家安全法》起訴他們自由表達對香港和中共的看法。就在這裡，這一切就發生在美國，發生在美國學生身上。
美國學生談論「安全空間」是為了躲避他們不喜歡的思想。中國學生需要安全空間來學習他們喜歡的思想。多麼鮮明的對比啊！
在美國大學就讀的中國學生也生活在恐懼之中，害怕他們在國內的家人會因為他們在美國課堂上說的話而被逮捕，被審問，被折磨，甚至更糟。
但是，中共並不僅僅針對中國人，它們也想影響美國的學生、教授和行政人員。
你看，它們知道，左傾的大學校園裡充斥著反美思想，他們的反美信息很容易成為（中共的）目標。
這就是為什麼它們在我們的校園裡建立了孔子學院。在川普（特朗普）總統的領導下，我們的國務院已經明確表示這些孔子學院是沒有任何好處的。許多已經撤掉了，許多校園已經看到了這一點，他們選擇關閉這些學院。但是就在這裡，在喬治亞州，衛斯理學院在梅肯（Macon）仍然有一個。
你看，這就是為什麼校園裡也有名為中國學生學者協會的組織。他們由中共大使館或中共當地領事館指導，資金幾乎都是由那裡提供。其目的是：密切監視學生，並推動支持北京的事業。
現在，你可能會認為在熱愛自由的地方，比如喬治亞理工學院等機構，全世界範圍內的學者、學校行政人員、學校教師都會更加憤怒地抗議中共赤裸裸的盜竊以及公然侵犯我所描述的自由，然而這種情形我們很少看到。
嗯，為什麼呢？為什麼學校要自我審查？他們這樣做通常是出於害怕冒犯中國。
事實上，我必須得告訴你們，麻省理工學院沒有興趣讓我到他們的校園來做這些評論。拉斐爾‧賴夫（Raphael Reif）校長暗示，我的觀點可能會侮辱他們的華裔學生和教授。當然，沒有什麼比這更偏離事實的了。我的這番話正是要保護這些人，要保護他們的自由。
我必須說，對「傷害感情」的反對做出讓步則正中中共下懷。它們密切關注著美國。這是中共在回應世界各地合理批評時經常說的話，大家可以看到。
這個黨怎麼可能知道中國人民的感受呢？從來沒有人投票。
共產黨怎麼會知道中國人民的感受，因為沒人會投票？
我們不能讓中共利用政治正確來對抗美國的自由。我們必須保護和維護它。
絕不應該讓所謂種族主義或者恐華症的虛假叫囂阻擋對中共活動的徹底曝光。
可是我們經常看到美國校園在靜靜地接受審查。這是由中共推動的，其結果往往是遠遠背離了理想主義，我們的那麼多大學都被北京收買了。
我跟大家說一說周維拉（Vera Zhou，周月明）的遭遇。
她是美國永久居民，來自中國，是華盛頓大學的大四學生。
2017年10月，也就是三年前，她去中國看望父親。地方當局把她關進再教育營，在那裡對她再教育5個月，軟禁18個月，因為她使用了虛擬專用網絡訪問她學校的網站，也就是在我說話的時候，你們中的許多人正在做的事。
看我們這邊，我們看到的情形是：我們的國務院團隊、周維拉的母親、中國人民的好朋友傅希秋（Bob Fu）竭力懇求華盛頓大學出面呼籲讓她返校。
但是華盛頓大學聯邦關係辦公室主任，一個名叫薩拉‧卡斯特羅（Sarah Castro）的女人說大學不會提供幫助，因為它與中國有一筆數百萬美元的交易。
現在，感謝上帝，維拉最終被釋放並回到了美國，但不是因為華盛頓大學，也不是因為它與中共達成的交易。
美國教育部在過去幾年發現，自2013年以來，美國學校從中國獲得了大約13億美元的資金。這只是我們所知道的。很多，比如哥倫比亞大學，很多學校都沒有報告真實的數字。
這些學校還會做出哪些更多的糟糕決定？既然他們已經上了中共資金的釣鉤。
他們將能夠選拔哪些教授或保持沉默？
他們會迫使哪些教授合作，或者讓他們閉嘴？
還有哪些盜竊和間諜行為他們會置若罔聞？作為結果，他們會達成什麼交易？
你看，我們有很多事要做。我提出了一些模式和做法，每個美國人都需要了解。
我們需要對此做出反應，越早越好。我們的政府已經開始這樣做了，但是還有大量的工作要做。
我們不能允許這個專橫的政權竊取我們的東西，建立他們的軍事力量並洗腦我們的人民，或買斷我們的機構來幫助他們掩蓋這些活動。
我們不能，我們不能讓中共摧毀學術自由，學術自由曾保佑我們的國家，也保佑我們擁有像我今天站在這裡的這樣的偉大學府。
但是，我們需要你的幫助。
我們需要學生們的幫助，我們需要教師們的幫助，我們需要全美各級政府的幫助。我們需要受託人監督他們的捐贈基金，監督他們的大學與中共以及中共支持的集團達成的交易。
我們需要管理者關閉孔子學院，並調查由中共基金支持的所謂學生團體在他們的校園裡到底在做什麼。政府會提供幫助，但是我們需要人們協助我們。
我們需要科研人員警惕欺詐和盜竊，需要學術界抵制中共的錢財誘惑。
我們需要學生們能真正捍衛言論自由，捍衛他們自己的言論自由，包括那些在美國長大的人，尤其是在我們校園裡的中國學生的言論自由，他們來到這裡是為了學習，改善他們的權利和生活，享受我們在美利堅合眾國提供給他們的自由果實。
我們需要你們團結一致，向當權者說出真相，抵制校方施加壓力實施審查以便與北京達成交易，這種事情已經發生過多次了。
讓我們行動起來吧。讓我們高舉自由的旗幟，捍衛我們的學校，捍衛這些機構的基礎。這將有助於我們的國家安全，有助於抵抗我們這個時代的主要威脅——中共。
卡布雷拉校長，我期待著我們的熱烈對話。
我感謝大家今天早上的關注。
願上帝保佑喬治亞州和美國。謝謝您今天早上在這裡來我。 （掌聲）
The Chinese Communist Party on the American Campus
SPEECH
MICHAEL R. POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DECEMBER 9, 2020
MR CABRERA: So with that background, his absolutely really has a fascinating background, and I’m incredibly honored – incredibly honored on behalf of all of us at Georgia Tech to welcome and please join me for a warm welcome to the Secretary of State of the United States, Secretary Pompeo. Please.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thanks. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks for that kind introduction. Welcome. Good morning, everyone. I love having the liberal arts dean back there. It was always a big challenge when I was in school making sure I got the periods and the paragraphs, everything just right. I like the math, zeros and ones. President Cabrera, thanks for the very warm introduction that you gave me today. I want to personally thank you and Lynn for hosting our entire team here. When I come, it’s not always simple. And especially in these times, it’s even trickier with all the requirements. I thank you for getting that right.
And thank you too to all the leaders here at Georgia Tech and students. Those of you watching virtually, I appreciate you joining me for what I hope will be a good conversation today. I have some opening remarks, and then President Cabrera and I will have a chance to have a lively conversation.
I know we have a special guest, some good friends: former congressman Phil Gingrey is here. Phil, good to see you. Senator Chambliss, thank you too. When I was nominated to be the CIA director, Senator Chambliss was so gracious. He had spent so much time in the Intelligence Community. You were so gracious to me to help me figure out what was up and what was down, and I deeply appreciate that. It’s good to see you again.
As President Cabrera said, I graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point studying engineering, although I joke, don’t drive across a bridge that I had anything to do with. It’s been an awfully long time.
Some of my classmates ended up in the Army Corps of Engineers. I happened to command a cavalry unit. But I can tell you math matters an awful lot when you’re bore-sighting the cannon of an M1A1 tank.
And I’ll say, too, even the State Department – you talked about people leaving this institution going on to careers in diplomacy. One of the first things that came across my desk as Secretary of State was there was an important dam across a bridge in Iraq and it was in trouble, and we were trying to figure out could we figure out how to save it, could we figure out how to deploy resources in a difficult place. And we had the best engineers in the U.S. Government, some of whom worked for me at the United States Department of State, trying to figure out the best solution, the best contractor to bring in, how we would do this to protect Baghdad and the downstream places in this historic Euphrates River Valley and the Tigris River Valley from potential flooding should the dam collapse. So all you engineers out there, state.gov. Go to the website, take a good look at it. We would welcome your career in the United States Department of State.
Now, you know I’m not lost. I know this is Georgia the state not Georgia the country. (Laughter.) But it’s important that I come here to talk about the topic that I have in front of us today because this is the place where American national security intersects deeply with the things that happen at important research institutions like this one.
I thought I’d start with a quick story, by way of explanation. Professor Fei-Ling Wang is with us here today. Professor, where – I didn’t see you sitting? Welcome. Nice to see you.
Several years ago, Professor Wang took a trip to China where he was scooped up by security agents inside of China. He was held in a secret location for two weeks. Professor Wang was interrogated and threatened. They wanted information about his research about China and his time teaching at my alma mater, West Point. He could tell you the stories better than I could. But they thought they could intimidate him or perhaps recruit him because he’s ethnically Chinese.
It’s a blessing he’s here with us today. And thankfully, he was released after pressure from the leadership of lots of places, including this very university and the Carter Center.
The lesson I think that we can take away from this is clear. It’s that the Chinese Communist Party wants what we have, and they will do whatever they must do to take it and get it. They will steal our stuff. They will pressure critics of the Chinese Communist Party to keep quiet. They will do whatever it takes.
And it’s important to come and talk with the American people about this because Americans must know how the Chinese Communist Party is poisoning the well of our higher education institutions for its own ends, and how those actions degrade our freedoms and American national security. If we don’t educate ourselves, if we’re not honest about what’s taking place, we’ll get schooled by Beijing.
Now, it’s taken this country and indeed, the entire free world, a long time to understand the trajectory that China is on today. In fact, we’re not quite there yet everywhere in the world.
There’s no one to hold accountable for this. That’s not the important part. Because for a long time, Republicans, Democrats, leaders all across academia, institutions, commercial space thought that by trading and engaging with China that the Chinese Communist Party would reform itself, it would loosen up, it would embrace economic and political freedom, and it would present less risk to freedom around the world.
But instead, that’s not what we got. Instead, the Chinese communists used the wealth that was created by this to tighten their grip on power, their grip on power over the Chinese people, and to build a high-tech repressive state like the world has never seen.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has made clear his intentions. You only have to listen to what he says. He says he wants total control at home, and to make China the number-one power abroad. And he’s well on his way to working on that project.
He’s building up the People’s Liberation Army. He’s manipulating international organizations for Beijing’s benefit. And he’s engaging – as we have seen in TV only just these last two days, he’s engaging in a vast influence campaign all across the world.
And that may for some of you sitting at home today seem like a long ways away and very ambitious touch for Xi Jinping to make, but I must say he has his eye on each and every one of us.
Over the past year I’ve talked to America’s governors in Washington about this, state legislators in Wisconsin, tech leaders in Silicon Valley, and many other groups. I’ve gone out to talk to them about this challenge. And today, I want to talk about what’s happening in schools across America, especially research institutions and places like where I’m standing today.
Just think about it. Chinese Communist Party scientists aren’t pioneering cancer cures. We are. And it’s not North Korean biochemists that are producing safe COVID vaccines. We are. And Iranians aren’t ahead in supercomputing. No. In fact, we are. It is the free world and free peoples that produce these superior results. And we should be very proud of that fact.
But we have an obligation to protect it, to preserve it, to make sure that that’s the case 10 and 50 and 100 years from now.
Because on places like this campus, scientists have pioneered quantum computing, artificial intelligence, pediatric technology, even autonomous robots that can function without human control – and I must say that frightens me just a bit.
Look, the Chinese Communist Party knows it can never match our innovation. It has state-owned enterprises; it’s an authoritarian regime; it is a government-centric focus. That’s why it sends 400,000 students a year to the United States of America to study – 400,000 students a year studying in our universities come from one country. It is no accident.
Much of the high-end industrial base inside of China is based on stolen technology, or technology purchased from other nations. It’s not home-grown.
Beijing doesn’t want Chinese researchers to stay here in the United States. Indeed, after they’re trained, they want them to come back. They want to induce their return for the singular purpose of serving the Socialist Motherland.
Look, the Party’s propaganda apparatus cannot tolerate pesky Americans or Chinese nationals exposing its bankrupt system, or the fact that the Chinese people can actually flourish when they are in free societies.
It doesn’t want you to know what I’m about to tell you. Now, let’s be clear. I want to be sure that my language is precise today. When I say “China,” I’m talking about the Chinese Communist Party. I love and value, as we all do, our Chinese American community, and the Chinese people that live here in the United States and those that live in China as well. We want good things for them.
And I say “genuinely” because of cases like Xin Wang, a researcher at the University of California at San Francisco, who allegedly lied about being a People’s Liberation Army officer, all the while collecting information on UC-SF labs. The good news is the FBI nabbed him.
And Ji Chaoqun studied electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He tried to enlist in the United States Army. He allegedly omitted his ties to Chinese intelligence, which tasked him with recruiting engineers and scientists where he was working.
These are just two examples, but what’s more: the Chinese Communist Party deploys dollars just as much as it does cloaks and daggers to get its hands on valuable knowledge.
There are many American scholars – often doing research funded by American taxpayers – that have been lured into the Chinese Communist Party’s talent recruitment programs. The CCP pays them what is for them a fortune to do research related to their current fields for, or in, China – and then often uses the fruits of their brainpower to build its military strength.
A researcher from my home state of Kansas was caught up in this trap, as was the Harvard chemistry department head. Think about that.
The Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, recently described the CCP’s strategy as “rob, replicate and replace.”
But I want to add another “r” to the DNI’s list: I want to add “repress.”
Yang Shuping, a student from China, delivered a commencement address at the University of Maryland back in 2017, just a couple years back now. She praised “the fresh air of free speech.” She was soon demonized and harassed by CCP propaganda – propaganda outlets. I promise you, while I cannot tell you everything, that was no coincidence.
One University of Georgia student said of the CCP secret police in 2018, quote, “They have harassed me repeatedly and asked me to give them information about the activities of overseas democracy activists and dissidents, [and] they are particularly interested in the activities of Uyghurs and Tibetans,” end of quote.
Some of the CCP’s biggest victims on campuses are innocent Chinese nationals themselves, and this is a tragedy. We have a responsibility to police this.
Another example: At Princeton, just this year, students in a Chinese politics class were forced to use code names on their work, lest the CCP discover their identities, and prosecute them for free expression of views on Hong Kong and the CCP under its draconian new national security law. That’s right here. This happened right here in the United States of America. American students.
American students talk about “safe spaces” as shelter from ideas they dislike. Chinese students need safe spaces to learn of the ideas that they love. What a stark contrast.
Students from China at American universities also live in fear that their families back home will be arrested, will be interrogated, tortured – or worse – because of things they say in an American classroom.
But look, the CCP doesn’t just target Chinese nationals. They want to influence American students as well, professors and administrators too.
Look, they know that left-leaning college campuses are rife with anti-Americanism, and present easy targets for their anti-American messaging.
That’s why they planted Confucius Institutes on our campuses. And under President Trump, our State Department has made very clear these Confucius Institutes are literally up to no good. Many have gone away. Many campuses have seen that and they’ve chosen to close down these institutes. But right here in Georgia, Wesleyan College still has one in Macon.
Look, it’s why there are groups on campuses called Chinese Students and Scholars Associations here too. They’re directed and almost always funded by the Chinese Embassy or a local Chinese consulate. Its purpose: to keep tabs on students and to press pro-Beijing causes.
Now, you would think at freedom-loving places like Georgia Tech and institutions and scholars all across the world, administrators, school faculty would be more up in arms about the Chinese Communist Party’s outright theft and flagrant violation of freedoms that I’ve described, but we see it too seldom.
Well, why? Why do schools censor themselves? They often do it out of fear of offending China.
Indeed I must tell you that MIT wasn’t interested in having me to their campus to give this exact set of remarks. President Raphael Reif implied that my arguments might insult their ethnic Chinese students and professors. But of course nothing could further from the truth. These are the very people that this set of remarks is intended to protect, to protect their freedoms.
And I must say, the yielding to the objection of hurt feelings plays right into the Chinese Communist Party’s hands. They watch America closely. It’s what the party says constantly in response to legitimate criticism around the world. You can see it.
And how would the party know how the Chinese people feel anyway, as no one ever gets to vote?
Look, we can’t let the CCP weaponize political correctness against American liberties. We have to protect and preserve them.
Fraudulent cries of racism or Sinophobia should never drown out a candid exposure of the activities of the Chinese Communist Party.
But we see too often on American campuses that there is silence and censorship. It’s being driven by the Chinese Communist Party. It usually boils down to something far less idealistic. So many of our colleges are bought by Beijing.
Let me tell you about Vera Zhou.
She’s a permanent of the resident of the United States of America. She’s originally from China and a senior at the University of Washington.
In October of 2017, so just on three years ago, she returned to China to visit her father. Local authorities put her in a re-education camp, a re-education camp for five months and under house arrest for 18 months after using a virtual private network connection to connect to her school’s website, something many of you are doing even as I speak.
Back here, we saw this. Our State Department team; Vera’s mother; Bob Fu, a great friend of the Chinese people, desperately petitioned the University of Washington to advocate for her return.
But the University of Washington, a woman named Sarah Castro, head of the federal relations office, said – she said that the university wouldn’t help because of a multi-million dollar deal with China.
Now, thank God, Vera was eventually released and returned to the United States, but no thanks to the University of Washington and no thanks to the deal that it had made with the Chinese Communist Party.
The U.S. Department of Education over the last years has found that schools have taken an estimated $1.3 billion from China since 2013. That’s just what we know about. Like so many – like Columbia – so many schools that have failed to report the true amounts.
What more – what more bad decisions will schools make because they are hooked on Chinese Communist Party cash?
What professors will they be able to co-opt or to silence?
What theft and espionage will they simply overlook? What business deals will get done as a result of that?
Look, there’s a lot of work to do. And I have laid out a pattern and practice that every American needs to know about.
And we need to begin to respond to this sooner rather than later. And our administration has begun to do that, but there is an awful lot more work to do.
We cannot allow this tyrannical regime to steal our stuff, to build their military might and brainwash our people, or buy off our institutions to help them cover up these activities.
We cannot – we cannot let the CCP crush the academic freedom that has blessed our country and blessed us with great institutions like the place that I am standing today.
But we need your help.
We need help of students. We need help of faculty. We need help of administrations all across America. We need trustees to police their endowments and the deals their universities are striking with the CCP and CCP-backed groups.
We need administrators to close Confucius Institutes and investigate what so-called student groups backed by the CCP money are actually up to on their campuses. The government will help, but we need people to assist us.
We need researchers to be vigilant against fraud and theft, and the academic community to reject the CCP’s financial siren songs.
And we need students to truly stand for free speech – the free speech for themselves, those who grew up here in America, and especially the free speech of Chinese students who are on our campuses, who are here to study and learn and to improve their rights, their lives, and to enjoy the fruits of the freedom that we provide them here in the United States of America.
Look, we need you all to speak to truth to power in solidarity when administrations exert pressures on censorship as has so often happened to project deals – protect deals with Beijing.
Let’s do this. Let’s carry forward a banner of freedom to defend our schools, what these institutions were built upon. It will aid our national security. And from the central threat of our time, the Chinese Communist Party.
President Cabrera, I’m looking forward to our vigorous conversation.
I thank you all for your attention this morning.
May God bless the State of Georgia and the United States. Thank you for having me here this morning. (Applause.)
