>

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