Purdue University is one of our nation’s top educational institutions. It’s located in Lafayette, Indiana, which is about an hour’s drive northwest of Indianapolis.
Young men and women go to Purdue to get a great education in the greatest country on earth. They don’t go there for politics, but it still comes up from time to time.
Most recently, a scandal has shaken the university and it comes directly from Communist China. Here’s what happened…
China Wants to Run Our Universities
Mitch Daniels used to run the state of Indiana. Now, he runs Purdue as its dean. Unlike the majority of our colleges, Daniels isn’t a progressive leftist. He’s a Republican conservative.
He’s aware of China’s ongoing genocide against the Uyghur minority and of its abuse of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. He’s also aware of the threat China poses to America.
That’s why Daniels is reacting the way he is to what recently happened when Purdue student Kong Zhihao was threatened by the Chinese communist government.
Here’s what happened…
A Chinese student @LifeAtPurdue spoke out against human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party. CCP secret police “threatened” his family in China, and Chinese students at Purdue harassed him. @purduemitch stands unequivocally with the student
(1/2) pic.twitter.com/gWAbJPmxuN
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) December 17, 2021
Communists Try to Bully Student
Chinese Purdue student Kong expressed support for democracy. He said protesters who stood up to China’s regime in 1989 in Tiananmen Square were heroes. Kong put his feelings supporting freedom on a website for those who don’t agree with China’s government.
After he said that, something strange began to happen. Pro-Chinese regime students started bullying him and following him around the grounds at Purdue. They said he was a spy working for the US government and threatened to get him in trouble with Beijing’s security forces.
Kong got worried about how serious the threats might be, after his family was also threatened numerous times back in China. They were told he must shut up or else.
For that reason, he started to back down on what he’d said; Kong abandoned plans to speak at an online event that was in remembrance of Tiananmen.
When Daniels heard about this, he was outraged. As he noted, Purdue didn’t know about this even happening until it made headlines nationally. Daniels also explained the bullies and communists who came after Kong would face consequences if they could be identified.
Zhihao Kong was a student at Purdue, 7000 miles from his home in China.
He felt he could finally speak freely about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.
Then he got a call from his parents:
“They told us to make you stop or we are all in trouble” https://t.co/35ZAtQaUfp
— ProPublica (@propublica) December 5, 2021
The Bottom Line
Kong has the right to speak his mind. Communist China’s threats against his family and the bullying of other students at the university are outrageous.
If the students are identified, they should not just be “disciplined.” They should face a full investigation of what their ties are to the Chinese regime and potentially be prosecuted, deported, and interrogated.
America can’t afford to be soft anymore. We face a faceless enemy with no morals, humanity, or basic respect. It’s time to start acting like it right this very minute.
