What Happened to Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie has volunteered extensively for the New Zealand parliament to produce analysis on Chinese influence operations. One of her most recent pieces on the topic, “Holding a Pen in One Hand, Gripping a Gun in the Other: China’s Exploitation of Civilian Channels for Military Purposes in New Zealand”, coauthored with Jichang Lulu and Sam Pheluong, is arguably bothering academic administrators in New Zealand because it provides evidence of China’s military influence in New Zealand universities. The administrators have a conflict of interest, but they don’t want to admit as much. In what very well may be retaliation, Anne-Marie’s university has launched an investigation against her. To help defray her related legal costs, which will likely come to approximately $20,000 NZD (about $17,400 CAD), the CDF has launched a crowd-funding campaign.

The investigation against Anne-Marie by university administrators arguably helps present an image of the university as friendly to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which will help maximize university revenues from Chinese students. This is not going unnoticed.

Senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Canada Charles Burton, who helped organize an open letter signed by over 150 China experts, said that it is “unfortunate that this matter is being addressed in a secret university tribunal” without due process or public scrutiny. Remarkably, Professor Brady is not allowed by the university to publicly defend herself.

Juliet Samuel in the London Telegraph stated, “The situation is so bizarre that you have to ask in whose interests Canterbury’s officials think they are acting. Far from discrediting Prof Brady, the whole debacle suggests we ought to take her work more seriously than ever.”

According to Jimmy Quinn in the National Review, “Brady’s travails raise further questions about the true level of CCP influence in New Zealand and around the world, and about how people who stand to be embarrassed by their ties to the Chinese regime work quietly to deter dissent.”

Angus Grigg, national affairs correspondent for the Australian Financial Review, wrote, “In her latest research paper, Professor Brady highlighted how mainland Chinese companies and universities could use their relationships with New Zealand institutions to transfer sensitive technology that could be used by the Chinese military.”

The AFR quoted Anne-Marie’s lawyer, a former parliamentarian who specializes in freedom of speech and academic issues, Stephen Franks, as saying that "We are concerned she may lose her job." He said, “This matter says it is now apparently OK to seek disciplinary action against a fellow academic whose research you don’t agree with.”

Senior fellow at the Lowy Institute Richard McGregor told AFR that Professor Brady was "a fearless and independent China scholar, which inevitably meant she was going to uncover uncomfortable truths about the country". He said, "That should make her a valued commodity in New Zealand at a time when China is more important than ever, not someone to be demonised and shunted aside."

The open letter in support of Anne-Marie Brady is reproduced below. More than 150 international experts on China-related matters have signed this public letter. This supportive action has been organized by Charles Burton, Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute & European Values Center for Security Policy.

The university administrative action concerns the report by Professor Anne-Marie Brady submitted to the New Zealand Parliament’s Justice Select Committee in July 2020: “Holding a Pen in One Hand, Gripping a Gun in the Other”. This letter was first published by the European Values Center for Security Policy.

LETTER TO:

Professor Cheryl de la Rey
Vice-Chancellor
University of Canterbury
New Zealand

COPY TO:
Professor Ian Wright
Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research
University of Canterbury
New Zealand

Dear Professor de la Rey,

We are international colleagues of Professor Anne-Marie Brady who we know as a distinguished scholar at the University of Canterbury and a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Her ground-breaking research on the United Front work of the Chinese Communist Party has had a profound impact internationally based as it is on meticulous research and her analytical insights over 20 years of scholarship in this area.

Professor Anne-Marie Brady’s work has had a far reaching impact on public and policy discussions globally, which is why we were dismayed to read Martin Van Beynen’s report in Stuff entitled “Canterbury Uni orders review into publication by China expert Anne-Marie Brady”. All of us are familiar with Professor Brady’s superb report “Holding a Pen in One Hand, Gripping a Gun in the Other” that was submitted to the New Zealand Parliament’s Justice Select Committee this past July. We are shocked to read that your Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ian Wright, gave a statement to the press confirming that the University was entertaining the complaints, and giving them currency by explaining that they  allege that the paper contains “manifest errors of fact and misleading inferences.”

We, who know this area, can see no manifest errors or misleading inferences based on the evidenced material provided in the report. The paper does not make “inferences.” People who study it may draw some, but that does not mean the paper made them, misleading or otherwise. Since Professor Wright publicly voiced the allegations a group of us peers again went through Professor Brady’s Parliamentary submission. We find in it no basis for the allegations. Some of the links in its comprehensive sourcing have gone stale since she submitted it but those URLs all still work if put into Wayback or archive.today.

We are disappointed to see no prompt follow-up, explanation or clarification of the University’s position concerning the allegations. The impression left by that published report should have been corrected to show that the University did not intend any endorsement of the complaints, nor an approval or acceptance of complaints to the University as the appropriate way to criticise academic work. The silence has been interpreted as collaboration in slander against a very distinguished scholar whose work has been consistently based on sound social scientific methodology.

We would have expected you to stand up for your university, the right of any of its members to publish their research freely, however contentious, and for Professor Brady as a brave colleague. She has been the target of a harassment campaign and threatening menace because of the serious implications of her important research.

We ask that you issue a prompt and full apology to Professor Brady on behalf of the University of Canterbury for not rejecting the complaints against Professor Brady and instead referring the complainants to the normal way of disagreeing with a paper – publishing their criticism. Professor Wright should publicly apologise for allowing his statement to give credence to the complaints, whether or not he intended that.

We know of no valid basis for any “review” of Professor Brady’s work other than by her peers and other researchers and commentators, as is normal for academic research and publication. That will and should include informed criticism as and if grounds emerge. Her publications are subject to peer review. They have brought great international credit to your University. You risk destroying that credit, to leave it with her alone.

If you want to sign this letter, email us your name, affiliation and country at: bradyacademicfreedom@yahoo.com

SIGNED:

1. Aaron L. Friedberg, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA

2. Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow in China Studies, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, USA

3. Aki Tonami, Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan

4. Alexander Maxwell, Senior Lecturer in History, Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand

5. Amanda Black, Associate Professor, Lincoln University, NZ

6. Anders Corr, Principal, Corr Analytics, USA

7. Andre Laliberté, Professor, University of Ottawa, Canada

8. Andréa Worden, Non-resident research fellow, Sinopsis, U.S.

9. Andreas Fulda, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham, UK

10. Andrew Nathan, Professor, Columbia University, USA

11. Anita Chan, Visiting retired professor, Australian National University, Australia

12. Anna Zádrapová, Analyst at Red Watch Program, European Values Centre for Security Policy, CZ

13. Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania

14. Barbara Hartley, Independent Researcher, Australia

15. Barrett L. McCormick, Marquette University, USA

16. Benedict Rogers, Chief executive And Founder of Hong Kong Watch and Deputy Chair UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, UK

17. Bradley Thayer, Professor, University of Texas San Antonio, USA

18. Carla P. Freeman, China Studies, JHU SAIS, Washington DC

19. Carolyn Cartier, Professor, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

20. Casper Wits, University Lecturer East Asia Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands

21. Catherine Churchman, Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ

22. Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia

23. Consiglio Di Nino, former Senate of Canada senator, CA

24. Daisy Lee, Correspondent, Epoch Times, NZ and HK

25. David Robinson, Co-Founder and CEO, Internet 2.0, Australia

26. David Shambaugh, Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University, USA

27. David Shullman, Senior Advisor, International Republican Institute, USA

28. David Schak, Nathan campus, Griffith University, AU

29. Dean Baxendale, President and Publisher of Optimum Publishing International, CA

30. Demetrius Cox, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy (Retired), USA

31. Didi Kirsten Tatlow, Senior Fellow at Asia Program at DGAP, Senior Fellow at Sinopsis, DE

32. Ding Qiang, NZ Values Alliance, NZ

33. Donald Clarke, Professor, George Washington University, USA

34. Dong Luobin, NZ Values Alliance, NZ

35. Dorothy J. Solinger, Professor, Emerita, UC Irvine, USA

36. Edward Friedman, Emeritus Professor, University of Wisconsin, USA

37. Edward Lucas, Senior Vice President, Center for European Policy Analaysis, UK

38. Elizabeth Economy, Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and Senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, USA

39. Eske Møllgaard, Department of Philosophy, University of Rhode Island, USA

40. Feng Chongyi, Associate Professor. University of Technology Sydney, Australia

41. Françoise Robin, Inalco, Paris, France

42. Freeman Yu, Secretary General, NZ Values Alliance, NZ

43. Frédéric Lasserre, Laval University, Quebec, CA

44. Gardner Bovingdon, Associate Professor of Central Eurasian Studies and International Studies, Indiana University, USA

45. Gary Chisholm, NZ

46. Gérard Hervouet, Emeritus  professor, Laval University ,Québec , CA

47. Geremie R. Barmé, Professor Emeritus, Australian National University, Australia

48. Gerrit van der Wees, Adjunct Faculty, George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, United States

49. Gerry Groot, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies, Department of Asian Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia

50. Gill H. Boehringer, Hon. Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University Law School, Sydney, Australia

51. Greg Newbold, Professor Emeritus, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

52. Gregor Benton, Emeritus Professor, Cardiff University, Wales, UK

53. Harlan W. Jencks, University of California/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Retired), USA

54. Harold Bockman, Emeritus Professor, University of Oslo, Norway

55. Charles Burton, Senior Fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute & European Values Center for Security Policy, CA

56. Charles Horner, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Washington DC, USA

57. Charles Parton, Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute, UK

58. Chen Weijian, Editor and Correspondent, Beijing Spring, NZ

59. Clare Curran, MP for Dunedin South, NZ

60. Christopher Balding, Independent Scholar, USA

61. Christopher R Hughes, Professor, London School of Economics, UK

62. Christopher Walker, Vice President for Studies and Analysis, National Endowment for Democracy, USA

63. Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy,  Université Laval, Canada.

64. J. Michael Cole, Senior Fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute & Senior Fellow, Global Taiwan Institute, CA

65. James D. Seymour, Chinese University of Hong Kong

66. James Leibold, Associate Professor and Head of Department, La Trobe University, Australia

67. Jamil Anderlini, Asia Editor, Financial Times, Hong Kong

68. Jane Verbitsky, Associate Professor, AUT, New Zealand

69. Jenny Chan, Assistant Professor of Sociology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

70. Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor, USA

71. Jerome A. Cohen, Faculty Director Emeritus, US-Asia Law Institute, NYU Law School, USA

72. Jiang Chaoyang, NZ Values Alliance, NZ

73. Joanne Smith Finley, Reader in Chinese Studies, Newcastle University, UK

74. Joey Siu, External Vice President, City University of Hong Kong Students Union, Hong Kong

75. John Dotson, Editor, China Brief, Jamestown Foundation, USA

76. John Fitzgerald, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

77. John Hemmings, Associate Fellow, Henry Jackson Society

78. John Minford, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University, Australia

79. Jonathan Hassid, Iowa State University, USA

80. Jonathan Mirsky, former editor, Times of London, UK

81. Jonathan Unger, Professor, Australian National University, and Editor, The China Journal

82. Joseph Bosco, Former China Country Director, Office of the Secretary of Defense, USA

83. Josephine Chiu-Duke, Professor, University of British Columbia, CA

84. Joshua Eisenman, Associate Professor at Notre Dame, Senior Fellow for China Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council

85. Julian Snelder, Director, Amiya Capital, NZ

86. June Teufel Dreyer, Professor, University of Miami, USA

87. Karin Kinzelbach, Professor, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany

88. Kate MacNamara, journalist, New Zealand Herald

89. Katerina Procházková, Sinopsis, CZ

90. Katia Buffetrille, researcher, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris

91. Kerry Gershaneck, Professor, National Chengchi University, Taiwan

92. Kevin Carrico, Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Australia

93. Kevin McCready, Translator, former Australian Government Economist, New Zealand

94. Kimberley Kitching, Senator for Victoria, Australian Senate, Australia

95. Kingsley Edney, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations of China, University of Leeds, United Kingdom

96. Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, USA

97. Lee Jones, Reader in International Politics, Queen Mary University of London, UK

98. Lesley Seebeck, CEO Cyber Institute, ANU, Australia

99. Louisa Greve, Director of Global Advocacy, Uyghur Human Rights Project, United States

100. Louisa Wall, MP, NZ Parliament, NZ

101. Lukáš Zádrapa, Head of Department of Sinology, Charles University, Czech Republic

102. Luke de Pulford, Coordinator of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, UK

103. Magnus Fiskesjö, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University, USA

104. Mareike Ohlberg, Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund, DE

105. Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, Senior Fellow, China Institute, University of Alberta, CA

106. Mark Selden, Senior Research Associate, East Asia Program, Cornell University, Managing Editor, The Asia-Pacific Journal, USA

107. Martien Lubberink, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ

108. Martin Flaherty, Visiting Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

109. Martin Hála, Director, Sinopsis, CZ

110. Mary Farquhar, Professor Emeritus, Griffith University, Australia

111. Michael Barr, FAHA; Associate Professor in International Relations (Academic Status), Flinders University, Australia

112. Michael Dillon, China specialist, Formerly Director, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Durham

113. Michael Yahuda, Professor Emeritus of the London School of Economics and Political Science, currently Visiting Scholar the George Washington University, Washington DC, USA

114. Michelle Mood, Assistant Professor, Kenyon College, USA

115. Nicky Hager, Independent Journalist and Author, NZ

116. Olga Lomova, Director of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation International Sinological Center at Charles University, Prague

117. Ondřej Klimeš, Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ

118. Pamela Williamson, independent researcher with a Masters in Conflict and Terrorism Studies from the University of Auckland, New Zealand

119. Peter Dahlin, Director, Safeguard Defenders, Spain/China

120. Peter Hartcher, Political and International Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia

121. Peter Humphrey, External Research Affiliate, Harvard University Fairbank Center, United States. External Research Affiliate, King’s College London, Lau Institute, United Kingdom

122. Peter Varnish, Professor University of Coventry, UK

123. Pitman B. Potter, Emeritus Professor of Law, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, Canada

124. Richard Kraemer, Board President, US-Europe Alliance, USA

125. Richard Louis Edmonds, Former editor, The China Quarterly, FR

126. Robert Horvath, Senior Lecturer, La Trobe University, Australia

127. Robert Porter, Cyber-Security Fellow, CRS, Tama University, Japan

128. Roger Garside, Former British diplomat, United Kingdom

129. Ruan Ji, Lecturer, AUT, NZ

130. Sam Armstrong, Director of Communications, Henry Jackson Society, UK

131. Sandrine Emmanuelle Catris, Assistant Professor of History, Augusta University, United States

132. Scott Simon, University of Ottawa, CA

133. Shaun O’Dwyer, Associate Professor, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University, Japan

134. Shelley Rigger, Brown Professor of Political Science, Davidson College

135. Simon Chapple, Director, Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ

136. Stephanie Hemelryk Donald, Professor, Lincoln University, UK

137. Stephen Blank, Senior Fellow. Foreign Policy Research Institute

138. Steven I. Levine, Faculty Research Associate, University of Montana, USA

139. Steven W. Mosher, President, Population Research Institute, USA

140. Stuart Russell, Professor, Macquarie University School of Law, Australia (retired)

141. Susette Cooke, Honorary Associate, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney, Australia

142. Teng Biao, Grove Human Rights Scholar, Hunter College, USA

143. Terence Russell, Senior Scholar, University of Manitoba, Canada

144. Thierry Kellner, Professor, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

145. Thomas G. Mahnken, Senior Research Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, USA

146. Thomas Gold, University of California, Berkeley, USA

147. Thomas Chase, Lecturer, Monash University, Australia

148. Toby Dalley, Independent Scholar, NZ

149. Tom Grunfeld, Emeritus Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY, USA

150. Tom Sear, Fellow, UNSW Canberra Cyber, UNSW at Australian Defence Force Academy

151. Valerie Niquet, Senior Research Fellow, Fondation pour le RéchercheStratégique, France

152. Vanessa Frangville, Professor, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium

153. Victor H. Mair, Professor, Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences

154. Victoria Tin-bor Hui, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame, USA

155. William A. Callahan, London School of Economics, UK

156. Yaxue Cao, Founder and Editor, China Change, United States

157. Yuan-kang Wang, Western Michigan University, USA