Shortened Semester Abroad
International education and Chinese religious oversight.
Studying abroad is hard enough with cultural shifting and social barriers, but when the host country starts detaining and deporting on behalf of the represented state, then real trouble begins. The Egyptian authorities have detained around 200 Chinese-Muslim students with intent to force them back to China. In July, 22 of these mostly Uyghur students, as well as those of Hui and Han ethnicity, have been sent back to China for investigative purposes. The detentions are a result of Chinese suspicion of transnational Islamic terror, and they believe that any religious teaching they cannot regulate is harmful to Chinese society.
The events occurring this Summer deserve attention from multiple standpoints. The implications in Chinese foreign policy are on display and international education is at risk for those living in the People’s Republic.
China’s diplomatic ties and foreign investments give them influence in the minds of other states. Egypt and China find themselves in a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” expanding bilateral relations in economics, defense, and diplomacy as a result. Capital investment in Egyptian infrastructure and energy creates a dependency, where China may ask favors with little resistance. Their request to sweep the Muslim students from classrooms went unchallenged with hundreds currently sitting in Tora Prison in Cairo.
The students themselves came mostly from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) in northwest China, and they attended al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt. The Muslims in XUAR face strict regulation on their religious practices and education, those of which bled directly into this situation.
International education is meant to open students to new perspectives around the world, meeting similar academic cohorts from different regions. These Chinese students chose to study abroad in Egypt at a Muslim institution, al-Azhar University, to further understanding of their faith and culture. The government of China could not regulate their studies in Egypt, worrying them to the point of demanding a speedy return and reeducation. Parents and relatives were even detained to coerce the students into returning. When many avoided the call, China employed the Egyptians on their behalf.
Students from a 12 year-old boy to a days-away mother faced scrutiny for studying Islam elsewhere. The global liberty of knowledge falls under risk to regimes such as China who wish to regulate the lifestyles of their minority groups abroad. Giving China and Egypt the benefit of legitimate purpose, the university in question has been perplexing on their view of the Islamic State, refusing to declare its members apostates in 2014. However, the preemptive assumption that certain views may be indoctrinated into Chinese ideology is not grounds for international detention. Proactive measures put the blame on the students who only wished to study abroad and learn new perspectives to which their government restricts them.
Chinese actions are justified by Chinese viewpoints. In support of overarching national identity, the government prevents groups, like the Uyghurs, from instilling their own cultural identity due to fears of separatism. Going to Egypt and studying religious tradition from outside the Chinese sphere of influence is intolerable, and recent actions show how intensely China will fight for a universal identity.
In conclusion, the events of the previous months show grave implications for international education. The Muslim students sit worriedly in detention due to their home country’s intolerance of outside influence on religion. Egypt, bound by economic investment and trade, implemented the round-up without question. As each Chinese student makes their way back home through deportation, another global pupil is lost to authoritarian rule.
