>

Chinese students stealing western education to benefit the CCP
The ones that signed are sponsored scholarship students that probably represent more than a couple of million dollars worth of investment.
China is more afraid of someone finishing their training, running away and claim asylum. A young trained doctor will easily find shelter in any first world country. >

China has police stations in foreign countries to deal with this. If you are of Chinese descent, you are not safe from the Chinese police in most major western cities >

Anyone else find it weird that we call these police stations? Obviously in western democratic countries these police have no way to effect a legal arrest or detain someone. Unless they step into an embassy. They have no way to legally compel someone to step into a plane and return to China, they operate using blackmail and other underhanded tactics. Supposedly they convince 220,000 people in a year to return in this way. Supposedly 2 passenger planes of people a day are compelled to return to face crimes in China.
Why are so many Chinese people committing so many crimes against the state? How are the Chinese police so effective? Didn't you hear, it's impossible to escape the Chinese police. 
...Are these claims part of the fear tactic? >

They may not be able to legally compel someone, but they can make the lives of any family still living in mainland China a living hell.  It's not about physically coercing them onto the plane.  It's about insinuating all the terrible things that will happen to mom and dad if they don't do as they're told. >

I don't doubt their blackmail capabilities.
So there's over a hundred Chinese police overseas stations. If we believe the numbers, each station is coercing 6 Chinese people a day. Shouldn't we have something like safe escort services for when Chinese people visit these stations to renew their passport so they don't get blackmailed in person? Require proceedings to be done in English with a real domestic officer present? >

That's the thing about blackmail, though.  It's illegal, but if the people report it, what is the US going to do about what China is doing to their families in response.  Let's assume that these people report the blackmail to the authorities.  The Chinese government then finds some reason to raid their parents' home back in China, convict them of some trumped up charges, and their families suffer political pressure until the person decides to cave in and go back home to mainland China.  No country has a right to interfere with another countries legal system, so China is essentially holding everyone hostage.  The proceedings could all be done in English in front of a domestic officer and it would go along the lines of this:
"Have you heard from your family recently?  I hear that the Chinese government is cracking down on social activists.  Say, didn't your mom make a post criticizing the government not too long ago?  Seemed pretty critical to me, anyway.  You should probably go back home to China and make sure that she's doing well.  It's good to take care of your mother, after all."
And there's nothing that any country would be able to do about it. >

We need good anonymous reporting and tracking of these issues so they can be logged. 
The only solution I see for these people is to completely cut ties with your family and make yourself uncontactable so that blackmail on your family can't be used. I know that's not realistic for 99% of people, especially students or those who are on a temporary visa. >

China doesn't care whether or not you've cut ties with your family.  They will hurt them until you come back because it costs them literally nothing to do so.  They can throw them in a political prison where they will never see the light of day again and forget they ever existed and it wouldn't cause the Chinese government to blink at the effort.  Combine this with the heavy enforcement since youth of the importance of family bonds and taking care of your parents and you've got yourself proper leverage.
Not returning to China when urged?  We'll throw your parents into prison for speaking out against the government.  Don't care about your parents?  That's fine, neither do we.  We'll keep your parents in prison and wrangle up your cousins, uncles, and aunts and do the same.  Don't care about them, either?  Then we'll start hunting down your old friends and colleagues from before you left and add them into the mix.  Seems like a lot of people that you've known while growing up have suddenly started talking bad about the Chinese government.  How much are you willing to bear the responsibility for?  How much will others suffer until you cave to the demands?  How many of your loved ones will be in a cold and moldy prison cell begging for you to come home and cursing your name every day that you've abandoned them? >

So basically, this systems great weakness is if they try and use it on either a sociopath or a true believer. >

Or a very spiteful  person. >

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)


The Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter has obtained evidence of letters being written by Chinese doctoral students before their entry into Sweden apparently "Swearing loyalty" to the ruling Communist party in their home country, among other agreements.
The newspaper mentioned the Karolinska Institute, Lund University, Uppsala University and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm - and said it had identified at least 30 students who went through the Chinese Scholarship Council stream and had signed these agreements.
The CSC is run by China's education ministry, and promotes international academic exchange with universities across the world - hundreds of Chinese students go through it every year to destinations in the USA, UK, Sweden and others.


Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: student^#1 letter^#2 University^#3 CSC^#4 country^#5 >

If I understand this correctly, my country (North Macedonia) had/has a similar program. 
The government gives out scholarships for premium foreign universities, but you also sign a contract which compels you to work for the government (or in a private sector job in the country) for at least 3 years after you finish your studies. Breach of the contract means you must pay back the entire value of the scolarship. 
The conditions are set up so that the government/country gets some return on their investment. Otherwise, it's just subsiding the economy of the more developed states to which the recipients of the scolarships will inevitably emigrate to upon completing their studies. >

Same as my dad, scholarship from jr high to university, then sent abroad for masters then PhD from a prestigious American university. Only catch is he had to work for the government forever afterwards >

I guess CCP does not trust its citizens to be loyal enough going out of country. >

China must be such a great place since nobody wants to leave! >

This is so bizarre. Imagine going on holiday or going abroad to study and the government insisting you need to pledge your loyalty to the country. The CCP are fucking creepers man. >

Don't American school kids pledge loyalty to their country every day? >

Yeah, but we don't have to sign agreements not to defect when we take field trips. And even if we did, contracts with minors are legally non-binding in the US. There is a degree of difference here, and it is significant. >

Don’t Americans also pay taxes to the US government despite working in other countries…? >

China does this too. Most find ways to not report it though. >

No, China doesn't. The only two countries in the world with citizenship-based taxation are the US and Eritrea. >

It's domiciliary based. It's a minor distinction, but important, because you can become non-domiciled, whilst retaining citizenship. What they've been doing recently is cracking down on foreign resident, Chinese domiciled citizens. >

And if they decide not to be loyal when in Sweden ?  That’s why not having relatives is a great asset. >

Obviously a pledge like that means technically nothing in the west, but it's a powerful reminder to the students that big brother is watching you, they know where you live and they know where your family members live. They also have have a network of unofficial chinese police stations all over the world, one of them is in sweden. >

They have student spies at most noteworthy western universities. My wife is from Shanghai and went to school in San Diego. She attended a few meetings of the school’s Chinese student association and stopped going when she realized it was just a place to show CCP loyalty and narc on other Chinese students. >

CIs have been closed in many countries because they are just centers for CCP propaganda and expat control. >

I’d run away too if I’d be a Chinese citizen. >

China fucking sucks. I have plenty to say about the US, but I feel downright patriotic when I read about the underhanded shit China does. >

China is what Russia/USSR wanted always to be. I am happy that russian communists were more stupid and did not use their chance and Russia is just a gas station with nukes and gaint corruption. >


I pledge that I will steal as much intellectual property from Sweden for China as I can! >

It's not stealing if you don't get caught. 
- chinese proverb. >

china already owns lots of stuff, the car Volvo and large part of renewable power infrastructure for example. >

Yeah but they want the future tech, and uni is where it's at >

Dictators gonna dictate. 🤫 >

Yea, because that's a completely normal non-paranoid thing to do.
Little hint if you have to make people sign loyalty pledges so they won't run away, you might be doing something wrong. >

Yep, also promoted QAnon, and election fraud narratives in the 2020 election. Operated bot campaigns to influence the election in favor of Donald Trump. Connected to the far right cult Falun Gong and their media operation Shen Yun. You'd think people who would in all other circumstances be critical of this source would now as well given their involvement in promoting the far right in America. >

It’s weird that every time I bring up something wrong that the CCP is doing, I get downvoted to heck. It’s always whataboutism’s, deflections, and projections. >

If they have to go through all this, maybe they should stay in Mainland China. >

These are scholarship students funded by the CCP. Pledging loyalty is weird but the situation isn't that uncommon,many funded students have contracts to work for their national government for a few years.
Also it's one of those things where most Chinese people roll their eyes, do what is required and take the money. >

Good point, but it's about a lot more than money:

“What really worried me was that there is also a wording that the student’s guarantor, who is usually a close relative, cannot leave the country for an extended period as long as the student is staying abroad,” said David Gisselsson Nord, vice dean for internationalisation at Lund University’s medical department.

The student's family is also held hostage. >

The guy's name, "Gisselsson" literally means "son of a hostage" in Swedish. That's the weirdest coincidence I've seen today. It's not a very common name, either. Never seen it before. >

It would be more like “whipson”, gissel is a form of whip and hostage is “gisslan” >

These are state sponsored scholarships, it’s basically a contract - the state invests money in the student's education abroad (usually $250k to $400k for a master’s and/or a PhD), in return, the student must return to China and work in a designated institute or capacity for a certain amount of time.
If the student pays for their tuition and stipend by themselves, or receive a scholarship from the university they attend, they are free to go as they please once they graduate. Some choose to return, some decide to stay and look for a job abroad. Even if a student sponsored by the CSC decides to breach the contract, they do have to pay back the sponsored sum, but are not faced with harsh punishments, like having their families sent to jail. 
I don’t think the case mentioned in the article is true - I know friends who study in the US via funds through CSC, but their parents were able to travel abroad, for their graduation/summer travel and such. 
Source: am Chinese, was a graduate student at a US institute and received scholarship generously offered by the institute. 
I find these sensational titles to be detrimental to the general audience, especially in a time where communication and mutual understanding are in such sparse supply.
Communication is the way forward, we don’t need any more misinformation. >

Yes, but the key sticking points is that the student must pledge support to The Party.  And that their guarantor is forbidden from leaving China until they finish their education and return home. >

Nationalism is the Chinas' answer to all of their problems. >

I wonder why other countries that people want to live in don’t do this? >

I, too, do not ever want to set foot in CCP territory. I mean a Winnie the Pooh jokes once a few years ago, so yeah. >

What if someone immigrates out of China and takes citizenship in another country? >

They automatically lose their Chinese citizenship if they acquire the citizenship of another country. It changes their ability to enter, exit, and work in China. They will no longer receive Chinese consulate services. It was a real heartache for a colleague of mine, who opted to remain a permanent resident instead of getting citizenship. >

Certified China moment >

CCP is pathetic. Like religious people who think their deity is all powerful but can’t handle a caricature of its main prophet, this kind of behavior reeks of insecurity. >

China needs to stay in China! >

I guess I don't understand why universities pay for Chinese students to come study for relatively free all the while making education for locals stupid expensive. >

It’s actually the exact opposite.
International fees are inexorbitant, nearly 3 times the price. The influx of rich Chinese students are the only thing keeping some universities afloat, which is why they sometimes they are forced to turn a blind eye to their unethical practices like cheating. 
These Chinese students are still paying the same high fees but it’s the government who sponsors them. In payment for their scholarship, they usually have to be bound to public service at home for several years before being able to embark privately. 
It’s a very popular programme in Asian countries. I was one of them. However, because my government has no ability to enforce the rule, a lot of people end up never returning home. Because why would they work public sector with little pay on cheap currency, when you can work in a developed nation in a high paying sector where the dollar to dollar value is much higher. It’s a huge brain drain issue. >

Imagine a country where they make kids as young as 5 recite loyalty oaths EVERY MORNING before classes start to a flag. 
Just imagine. What a world. >

Did the article mention the PhD was fully paid for by the government??? If a employer pay to train employees, employer should expect the person came back and work for him? >

Phd is usually paid from grants of supervisor >

This sounds like the CCP equivalent of HR training courses where you sign a pledge to not harass your colleagues before you start a job >

HR training course leaders don't threaten your family and restrict their movement during the course of your employment. >

Was a joke. As far as I know, many mainland chinese students overseas do not give a shit or fear for their life. and some openly talk shit about xi and the ccp especially lately. >

Why is it worse for graduate students instead of elementary students? >

Shame on you CCP >

That's just sad. >

From the article , "In addition, the agreement states that there is a possibility that if they go against what is written in the letters, or if their education is “interrupted” their families in China could end up being in financial debt to the state." China also has police stations all around the world >

What does that actually do? If a kid signs the pledge then decided “I’m Swedish now!” What could China do that they couldn’t do without a pledge? >

To those who would wave this issue away citing "cultural differences": oppression, in itself, is not a culture.  It is a feature of some cultures, but should not be confused for a core tenant, nor respected as such. >

Apparently overseas students and scholars during the Qing dynasty had to make a similar pledge >

How is this article going to reference these "loyalty pledges" but not post the loyalty pledges for us to read and instead summarize it. >

“This is exactly how dictatorships work”, well, yes, because while it is a committee, Xi Is pretty much a dictator? >

Communists are evil. >

Most skilled workers (doctors etc) would get asylum and prot ection against the ccp if they tried.
On the other hand, I know in my country we need the Chinese students for the local economy so taking them on after they complete their studies would jeopardize the program and china would just pull that location from their list of universities >

"We pledge to be unfavourably loyal to the uber-rich people who tell us we're communists and have to share while driving around expensive cars and avoiding any consequences of their actions"