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许章润教授是中国顶尖学府清华大学的一位法学家。在中国人民盛怒于中共当局极权回归的2018年，许教授在多数人不敢发声时书写了数篇直言不讳的反驳文章。其中最富影响力的《我们当下的恐惧与期待》一文有力地批评了习近平主席，并在2018年7月发表时火遍全国。出于报复，2019年3月，中共勒令清华大学对许教授进行全面停职调查。中国学术界全然处于中共的威权管控下，清华大学也不例外。鉴于习近平统领下的中共对异见的紧缩钳制及其罪行累累的人权纪录，如果对许教授的“调查”进一步升级，他将有遭迫害、酷刑甚至死亡的风险。 曾著名支持中国民主化的2010年诺贝尔和平奖得主刘晓波于2017年在狱中死于肝癌，无人能确认许教授是否会遭受相似的命运。目前对他的镇压值得国际社会关注，因为中共很可能会酷刑或谋杀他。
中共对知识分子异见的打压也威胁着全球学术自由。 因为清华大学已和海外学术界建立了重要伙伴关系，所以中共可能通过操纵相关合办机构向全球输出对言论自由的打压。目前，布鲁金斯学会和卡内基国际和平基金会（美国著名智库）都在清华大学内设有驻外办公室。清华大学的国际硕士生项目苏世民书院同样每年招收美国学生。当前对许教授的打压可能会在这些合办机构中引发自我言论审查和寒蝉效应，而这些机构驻有多位美籍学者。自我审查的文字狱也可能延伸通过驻华合办机构延伸至美国境内的大学，这将严重侵犯美国利益和全球言论自由。不排除中共有朝一日会对这些合办机构进行政治异见话语清洗，让徐教授这样的知识分子遭受的打压也殃及活生生的在华访问学者。
因此我们迫切要求，
清华大学：
- 终止对许教授的所有非法调查并立即完全恢复其职位；
- 就此次打压的负面影响向公众和清华学生、教职员工道歉并作出处理；
- 保障支持言论自由的体制机制和校园文化；
中国共产党：
- 立即终止对许教授和其他异议知识分子的非法打压；
- 终止对天则经济研究所（许教授在此智库工作）的非法打压，并立即完全恢复其办公室、执照和社交媒体账户；
- 保障本土和涉外合办机构的学术自由；
白宫和其他国家政府：
- 依法制裁指导或同谋打击中国知识分子的个人和机关，例如依照美国的马格尼茨基法案；
- 阻绝中共对本土和在华合办学术机构的影响，并依法进行规范。
Professor Xu Zhangrun works as a jurist at Tsinghua, China’s premier university. In 2018, when the Chinese people were enraged by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime’s authoritarian regression, Prof. Xu wrote outspoken articles of rebuttal at a time many feared to speak out. His most influential article, Imminent Fears, Immediate Hopes 我们当下的恐惧与期待, powerfully criticized Pres. Xi Jinping and went viral in China when published in July. In retaliation, the CCP commanded Tsinghua University in March 2019 to completely suspend and investigate Prof. Xu. In China, academia falls entirely under the CCP’s authoritarian control, and Tsinghua is no exception. Given the CCP’s tightening grip on dissent under Xi and its criminal human rights record, Prof. Xu now risks persecution, torture or even death if the “investigation” on him escalates. Liu Xiaobo 刘晓波, the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who prominently advocated China’s democratization, died in prison in 2017 from liver cancer; no one can be sure if a similar fate awaits Prof. Xu. The current crackdown on him deserves significant international attention since the CCP may very well torture or murder him.
The CCP’s crackdown on dissent also threatens global academic freedom. Because Tsinghua established important partnerships with academia abroad, the CCP can export its clasp on free speech globally by manipulating these partner institutions. Currently, both Brookings and Carnegie Endowment has foreign offices inside Tsinghua. Tsinghua’s international MA program Schwarzman Scholars also recruits American students every year. The current crackdown on Prof. Xu may send a chilling effect of self-censorship in these institutions, which hosts many American scholars. Self-censorship may also spread into American universities through their partner institutions in China, which would severely violate American interests and global free speech. We also cannot exclude that the CCP would one day actively cleanse these institutions of political discourse it deems undesirable, extending the crackdown on Prof. Xu to living, breathing visiting scholars on exchanges in China.
We therefore urgently demand,
Tsinghua University to:
- End all unlawful investigations on Prof. Xu and resume his position fully and immediately;
- Apologize for and address the harm of this crackdown to the public and Tsinghua’s students, faculty and staff;
- Ensure institutional mechanisms and a campus culture supporting free speech;
Chinese Communist Party to:
- End the unlawful crackdown on Prof. Xu and other dissident intellectuals immediately;
- End the unlawful crackdown on Unirule Institute of Economics (Prof. Xu works at this think tank) and restore its offices, licenses and social media accounts fully and immediately;
- Ensure academic freedom in domestic and foreign partner institutions;
White House and other national governments to:
- Sanction individuals or agencies directing or complicit in crackdowns against Chinese intellectuals under applicable laws, e.g., the Magnitsky Act in the US;
- Reject CCP influence in domestic or foreign partner academic institutions and regulate by law.