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I think part of the problem is that the "quarrel" is with the CCP itself. Students get into a political argument. Maybe it went over a line, into harassment.

The point at which it becomes beyond the pale, as Kong himself stated" was when the pro-ccp students "weaponized" the CCP/state. IE, called chinese secret police and arranged for an intimidation visit to his parents.

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China has quite a few programs in place to use their students and expats for power projection. China United Front Work Department [1] tries to place PRC citizens into foreign companies in order to gather intelligence and influence them. Confucius Institutes [2] are widespread throughout American universities and use PRC international students to promote state interests.

The reality that Americans are unwilling to accept is that PRC nationals are agents of the state by default. Even if a PRC national doesn't fall into one of the above programs, they are still incentivized by China's social credit system to act in the state's interests, even while abroad.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Front_Work_Department

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute

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