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China’s Hong Kong national security law has raised concerns about speech and academic freedom among Syracuse University’s international student community.

The country’s supreme legislature passed the Hong Kong national security law on June 30. The law’s ambiguity allows Chinese law enforcement to classify a wide range of speech, including expressions of support for Hong Kong’s independence from China, as crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. These crimes carry up to a lifetime sentence in prison.

The law’s passage has led Chinese international students in the United States, including those at SU, to worry that they may face repercussions for taking classes deemed subversive in their home country.

Clare Coey, an SU senior studying advertising, said she and her family in Hong Kong were saddened when they first heard about the law’s passing.

Coey was born and raised in Hong Kong and came to the U.S. to study. Now, she is not sure whether she’ll go back to Hong Kong after she finishes school. The law may affect students and professors who travel to China as well as those who have family ties there, she said.

“If your family was here (in the United States), and you wanted to stay here to establish yourself and your career in the states, I think you’ll be fine,” Coey said. “But if you know certain things, or are preaching certain things, and want to head back, it’ll definitely affect your career and your life.”

Some U.S. universities have red-flagged China-related courses this fall, warning that they may contain material Chinese authorities consider “politically sensitive,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 19. At Princeton University, students enrolled in such classes will use codes instead of real names at the top of their assignments.

Dimitar Gueorguiev, a political science professor who teaches Chinese politics at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, said SU has not yet applied measures to protect Chinese students like some other colleges have. But that hasn’t stopped him from taking precautions in his own classes. Gueorguiev does not allow recordings of his lectures, and he requires students to participate in his class in real time, he said.

In an article he co-authored in August, Gueorguiev and four other authors provided guidelines on how to teach China-related classes after the law was enacted. While professors should remain aware of possible risks, it is important that educators resist self-censorship, he wrote.

“An expansive interpretation of the (national security law) would be very costly for the Chinese state to enforce, but by avoiding ‘sensitive’ topics we may inadvertently enforce the shadow ourselves,” he wrote in the article.

Gueorguiev said students from China face greater risks when participating in related class discussions.

Article 38 of the law allows for its application regardless of citizenship and resident status or geographic location, which means it can include international students from mainland China and Hong Kong studying in the U.S. The full text of the law was not made public prior to its passage.

Christine Foo, the president of SU’s Hong Kong Student Association, said the law’s vague nature has caused panic among people in Hong Kong.

The national security law is aimed at Hong Kong residents who have protested the Chinese government’s influence in the region. Pro-democracy protests swept across the region in 2019, leading SU to conclude its study abroad program there early.

When the British government transferred control of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the Chinese government initially promised the region a high level of autonomy for the next 50 years under its “one country, two systems” policy.

Several activists in Hong Kong have faced prosecution since July under accusations of violating the national security law.

Gueorguiev emphasized the importance of academic freedom and resistance toward any form of self-censorship, while also maintaining awareness of political dangers, especially as they pertain to SU’s international students.

“Being more thoughtful in how we bring China into the classroom is worth the effort, irrespective of the (national security law),” Gueorguiev said.

Published on October 18, 2020 at 10:00 pm

Contact Francis: btang05@syr.edu | @francis_towne