Chinese Communist Party targets university known for global outlook
Shantou University, which has had Pullitzer Prize winners teach at its journalism school, is under fire for not toeing ideological line
A university in Guangdong that is known for its international outlook has been accused by Communist Party inspectors of doing a poor job of toeing the ideological line and resisting illegal religious “infiltration”.
The criticism of Shantou University, which was founded in 1981 with donations from the Li Ka Shing Foundation, comes as colleges and universities across the country are under ideological pressure from the party.
Every academic institution in China is controlled by a party committee answering to senior cadres.
Party secretaries in key schools such as Peking and Tsinghua University are appointed by the Central Organisation Department, while local institutions like Shantou University are subject to provincial party committees.
Guangdong provincial party discipline inspectors conducted a 50-day inspection last October and November of Shantou University. It was found to have “weak links” in its ideological work, and to have made inadequate efforts to guard against “illegal religious infiltration”, according to a statement on the university’s website.
The party committee at Shantou University was “weak in playing the role of political leadership and political correctness” and “untimely in implementing decisions from the central and provincial party leadership”, chief inspector Yang Hanjun was quoted as saying.