Pompeo unloads on US universities for China ties

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused U.S. universities of caving to Chinese pressure to blunt or bar criticism of the Chinese Communist Party. “They know that left-leaning college campuses are rife with anti-Americanism, and present easy target audiences for their anti-American messaging.” Pompeo has been a champion of the administration’s hardline stance on Chinese policies in Taiwan, Tibet, Hong Kong, the western region of Xinjiang and the South China Sea, and he has made similar pronouncements before. “President Rafael Reif implied that my arguments might insult their ethnic Chinese students and professors.” MIT spokeswoman Kimberly Allen rejected Pompeo’s assertion, saying the university declined to host the speech because of coronavirus restrictions. “President Reif verbally conveyed MIT’s decision — based on a commitment to the health of our students and our surrounding community — with his deep regrets.” Pompeo also criticized Sarah Castro, the University of Washington’s director of federal relations, for allegedly refusing to help Vera Zhou, a student of Chinese origin who had been detained in China in 2017, so as not to jeopardize a “multimillion-dollar deal” between the university and Beijing. “That he would single out a staff member by name is unbecoming of the office and his statement is flatly wrong.” The university has no record of contact from the State Department regarding any negotiation with China, Balta said, and officials don’t know what “multimillion-dollar deal” Pompeo was referencing.