Monday, May 4, 2020

Harvard Canceled Human Rights Event as Its President Met With Xi Jinping

Harvard University canceled a panel discussion on Hong Kong protests because the event coincided with the university president's meet-and-greet with Chinese president Xi Jinping, according to a former university scholar.

Teng Biao, a former fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's human rights center, attempted to host a panel discussion on Chinese human rights issues in 2015.

A vice dean at Harvard Law School ordered him in February of that year to cancel the event because it would have been "Embarrassing" for the university, according to Teng.

"He called me into his office and he told me that the Harvard president was meeting Chinese president Xi Jinping," Teng told the Washington Free Beacon.

"It seems that for Harvard leaders, it was very embarrassing if we had a talk at Harvard about human rights issues in China when the Harvard president just came back from China after meeting with the Chinese president."

"I did ask that an event Mr. Teng planned to hold to coincide with a meeting between this university's President and the Chinese President be postponed until after her short Beijing visit because I thought that timing might have an impact on university activity there," Alford said.

The university told the Free Beacon that the event was canceled not for political reasons but because the student organizers failed to complete the proper paperwork.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/harvard-canceled-human-rights-event-as-its-president-met-with-xi-jinping/

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