The Daniel Suidani Campaign
In the name of political free speech, the China Democracy Fund calls on the government of the Solomon Islands to reinstate Premier Daniel Suidani in his home province of Malaita. We also call on you are supporters to help support his legal cases to be reinstated and to clear his name from very malicious allegations by the alleged head of the United Front Works Department operations in the Islands.
Here is a little background.
After years of trying, in February 2023, the major, well-funded political warfare operation against those in Solomons resisting China’s expansion, including in Malaita province, resulted in the successful influencing of just enough members of the provincial assembly to strip the premiership from the symbol of that resistance, Daniel Suidani, and for Sogavare’s allies to gain control of the assembly.
Why does it Matter?
The Solomon Island archipelago is strategically located northwest of Australia and a few hundred miles from Papua New Guinea. The Chinese Communist Party has systematically co-opted many officials in the Solomon Islands in order to have access to key minerals and natural resources. It also provides China with access to key ports that could be used in a war against the West. The famous WW2 naval and land battle of Guadalcanal turned the tide for the American campaign against the Japanese forces.
Daniel Suidani who had supported the island’s recognition of Taiwan was slowly isolated and then taken out by pro-Beijing forces in his home province. There are three legal actions pending.
1 reinstate as an MP
2 Reinstare as Premier
3. Defamation suit against
Premier Daniel Suidani
Campaign Start April 20, 223
In the name of academic freedom, the China Democracy Foundation calls on the University of Canterbury in New Zealand to immediately suspend its hostile review of Professor Anne-Marie Brady’s scholarship, and grant her the right to publicly defend herself against any and all accusations. She has proven her research in the company of her peers and any additional undisclosed review by administrators constitutes administrative harassment. Professor Brady deserves a full apology from the university. We will consider the full range of legal actions available to us in order to obtain redress of the egregious wrong against the rights of scholars at the University of Canterbury.
Anne-Marie Brady
Campaign Completed: May 22, 2022
In the name of academic freedom, the China Democracy Foundation calls on the University of Canterbury in New Zealand to immediately suspend its hostile review of Professor Anne-Marie Brady’s scholarship, and grant her the right to publicly defend herself against any and all accusations. She has proven her research in the company of her peers and any additional undisclosed review by administrators constitutes administrative harassment. Professor Brady deserves a full apology from the university. We will consider the full range of legal actions available to us in order to obtain redress of the egregious wrong against the rights of scholars at the University of Canterbury.
Who is Anne-Marie Brady
Professor Anne-Marie Brady, BA, MA Auckland, PhD ANU, is a specialist in Chinese and polar politics based at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. She is a fluent Mandarin speaker. Anne-Marie is the executive editor of The Polar Journal, and has written nine books and over forty scholarly articles on topics such as China’s modern propaganda system, its political influence campaigns, foreigner-management in China and competing foreign policy interests in Antarctica. Her latest monograph, China as a Polar Great Power, examines China’s polar policies.
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."
Open Letter in Support of Anne-Marie Brady
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:
Aaron L. Friedberg, Professor of Politics and International Affairs, Princeton University, USA
Adrian Zenz, Senior Fellow in China Studies, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, USA
Aki Tonami, Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Alexander Maxwell, Senior Lecturer in History, Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand
Amanda Black, Associate Professor, Lincoln University, NZ
Anders Corr, Principal, Corr Analytics, USA
Andre Laliberté, Professor, University of Ottawa, Canada
Andréa Worden, Non-resident research fellow, Sinopsis, U.S.
Andreas Fulda, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham, UK
Andrew Nathan, Professor, Columbia University, USA
Anita Chan, Visiting retired professor, Australian National University, Australia
Anna Zádrapová, Analyst at Red Watch Program, European Values Centre for Security Policy, CZ
Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
Barbara Hartley, Independent Researcher, Australia
Barrett L. McCormick, Marquette University, USA
Benedict Rogers, Chief executive And Founder of Hong Kong Watch and Deputy Chair UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, UK
Bradley Thayer, Professor, University of Texas San Antonio, USA
Carla P. Freeman, China Studies, JHU SAIS, Washington DC
Carolyn Cartier, Professor, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Casper Wits, University Lecturer East Asia Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands
Catherine Churchman, Lecturer, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
Clive Hamilton, Professor of Public Ethics, Charles Sturt University, Canberra, Australia
Consiglio Di Nino, former Senate of Canada senator, CA
Daisy Lee, Correspondent, Epoch Times, NZ and HK
David Robinson, Co-Founder and CEO, Internet 2.0, Australia
David Shambaugh, Gaston Sigur Professor of Asian Studies, Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University, USA
David Shullman, Senior Advisor, International Republican Institute, USA
David Schak, Nathan campus, Griffith University, AU
Dean Baxendale, President and Publisher of Optimum Publishing International, CA
Demetrius Cox, Lieutenant Commander, US Navy (Retired), USA
Didi Kirsten Tatlow, Senior Fellow at Asia Program at DGAP, Senior Fellow at Sinopsis, DE
Ding Qiang, NZ Values Alliance, NZ
Donald Clarke, Professor, George Washington University, USA
Dong Luobin, NZ Values Alliance, NZ
Dorothy J. Solinger, Professor, Emerita, UC Irvine, USA
Edward Friedman, Emeritus Professor, University of Wisconsin, USA
Edward Lucas, Senior Vice President, Center for European Policy Analaysis, UK
Elizabeth Economy, Senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and Senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, USA
Eske Møllgaard, Department of Philosophy, University of Rhode Island, USA
Feng Chongyi, Associate Professor. University of Technology Sydney, Australia
Françoise Robin, Inalco, Paris, France
Freeman Yu, Secretary General, NZ Values Alliance, NZ
Frédéric Lasserre, Laval University, Quebec, CA
Gardner Bovingdon, Associate Professor of Central Eurasian Studies and International Studies, Indiana University, USA
Gary Chisholm, NZ
Gérard Hervouet, Emeritus professor, Laval University ,Québec , CA
Geremie R. Barmé, Professor Emeritus, Australian National University, Australia
Gerrit van der Wees, Adjunct Faculty, George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, United States
Gerry Groot, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies, Department of Asian Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide, Australia
Gill H. Boehringer, Hon. Senior Research Fellow, Macquarie University Law School, Sydney, Australia
Greg Newbold, Professor Emeritus, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
Gregor Benton, Emeritus Professor, Cardiff University, Wales, UK
Harlan W. Jencks, University of California/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Retired), USA
Harold Bockman, Emeritus Professor, University of Oslo, Norway
Charles Burton, Senior Fellow at Macdonald-Laurier Institute & European Values Center for Security Policy, CA
Charles Horner, Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute, Washington DC, USA
Charles Parton, Senior Associate Fellow, Royal United Services Institute, UK
Chen Weijian, Editor and Correspondent, Beijing Spring, NZ
Clare Curran, MP for Dunedin South, NZ
Christopher Balding, Independent Scholar, USA
Christopher R Hughes, Professor, London School of Economics, UK
Christopher Walker, Vice President for Studies and Analysis, National Endowment for Democracy, USA
Isabelle Henrion-Dourcy, Université Laval, Canada.
J. Michael Cole, Senior Fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute & Senior Fellow, Global Taiwan Institute, CA
James D. Seymour, Chinese University of Hong Kong
James Leibold, Associate Professor and Head of Department, La Trobe University, Australia
Jamil Anderlini, Asia Editor, Financial Times, Hong Kong
Jane Verbitsky, Associate Professor, AUT, New Zealand
Jenny Chan, Assistant Professor of Sociology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
Jeremy Goldkorn, Editor, USA
Jerome A. Cohen, Faculty Director Emeritus, US-Asia Law Institute, NYU Law School, USA
Jiang Chaoyang, NZ Values Alliance, NZ
Joanne Smith Finley, Reader in Chinese Studies, Newcastle University, UK
Joey Siu, External Vice President, City University of Hong Kong Students Union, Hong Kong
John Dotson, Editor, China Brief, Jamestown Foundation, USA
John Fitzgerald, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
John Hemmings, Associate Fellow, Henry Jackson Society
John Minford, Emeritus Professor, Australian National University, Australia
Jonathan Hassid, Iowa State University, USA
Jonathan Mirsky, former editor, Times of London, UK
Jonathan Unger, Professor, Australian National University, and Editor, The China Journal
Joseph Bosco, Former China Country Director, Office of the Secretary of Defense, USA
Josephine Chiu-Duke, Professor, University of British Columbia, CA
Joshua Eisenman, Associate Professor at Notre Dame, Senior Fellow for China Studies at the American Foreign Policy Council
Julian Snelder, Director, Amiya Capital, NZ
June Teufel Dreyer, Professor, University of Miami, USA
Karin Kinzelbach, Professor, FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
Kate MacNamara, journalist, New Zealand Herald
Katerina Procházková, Sinopsis, CZ
Katia Buffetrille, researcher, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris
Kerry Gershaneck, Professor, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
Kevin Carrico, Senior Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
Kevin McCready, Translator, former Australian Government Economist, New Zealand
Kimberley Kitching, Senator for Victoria, Australian Senate, Australia
Kingsley Edney, Lecturer in Politics and International Relations of China, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, USA
Lee Jones, Reader in International Politics, Queen Mary University of London, UK
Lesley Seebeck, CEO Cyber Institute, ANU, Australia
Louisa Greve, Director of Global Advocacy, Uyghur Human Rights Project, United States
Louisa Wall, MP, NZ Parliament, NZ
Lukáš Zádrapa, Head of Department of Sinology, Charles University, Czech Republic
Luke de Pulford, Coordinator of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, UK
Magnus Fiskesjö, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University, USA
Mareike Ohlberg, Senior Fellow, German Marshall Fund, DE
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, Senior Fellow, China Institute, University of Alberta, CA
Mark Selden, Senior Research Associate, East Asia Program, Cornell University, Managing Editor, The Asia-Pacific Journal, USA
Martien Lubberink, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
Martin Flaherty, Visiting Professor, School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University
Martin Hála, Director, Sinopsis, CZ
Mary Farquhar, Professor Emeritus, Griffith University, Australia
Michael Barr, FAHA; Associate Professor in International Relations (Academic Status), Flinders University, Australia
Michael Dillon, China specialist, Formerly Director, Centre for Contemporary Chinese Studies, University of Durham
Michael Yahuda, Professor Emeritus of the London School of Economics and Political Science, currently Visiting Scholar the George Washington University, Washington DC, USA
Michelle Mood, Assistant Professor, Kenyon College, USA
Nicky Hager, Independent Journalist and Author, NZ
Olga Lomova, Director of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation International Sinological Center at Charles University, Prague
Ondřej Klimeš, Czech Academy of Sciences, CZ
Pamela Williamson, independent researcher with a Masters in Conflict and Terrorism Studies from the University of Auckland, New Zealand
Peter Dahlin, Director, Safeguard Defenders, Spain/China
Peter Hartcher, Political and International Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia
Peter Humphrey, External Research Affiliate, Harvard University Fairbank Center, United States. External Research Affiliate, King’s College London, Lau Institute, United Kingdom
Peter Varnish, Professor University of Coventry, UK
Pitman B. Potter, Emeritus Professor of Law, Peter A. Allard School of Law, University of British Columbia, Canada
Richard Kraemer, Board President, US-Europe Alliance, USA
Richard Louis Edmonds, Former editor, The China Quarterly, FR
Robert Horvath, Senior Lecturer, La Trobe University, Australia
Robert Porter, Cyber-Security Fellow, CRS, Tama University, Japan
Roger Garside, Former British diplomat, United Kingdom
Ruan Ji, Lecturer, AUT, NZ
Sam Armstrong, Director of Communications, Henry Jackson Society, UK
Sandrine Emmanuelle Catris, Assistant Professor of History, Augusta University, United States
Scott Simon, University of Ottawa, CA
Shaun O’Dwyer, Associate Professor, Faculty of Languages and Cultures, Kyushu University, Japan
Shelley Rigger, Brown Professor of Political Science, Davidson College
Simon Chapple, Director, Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
Stephanie Hemelryk Donald, Professor, Lincoln University, UK
Stephen Blank, Senior Fellow. Foreign Policy Research Institute
Steven I. Levine, Faculty Research Associate, University of Montana, USA
Steven W. Mosher, President, Population Research Institute, USA
Stuart Russell, Professor, Macquarie University School of Law, Australia (retired)
Susette Cooke, Honorary Associate, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Sydney, Australia
Teng Biao, Grove Human Rights Scholar, Hunter College, USA
Terence Russell, Senior Scholar, University of Manitoba, Canada
Thierry Kellner, Professor, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Thomas G. Mahnken, Senior Research Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, USA
Thomas Gold, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Thomas Chase, Lecturer, Monash University, Australia
Toby Dalley, Independent Scholar, NZ
Tom Grunfeld, Emeritus Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY, USA
Tom Sear, Fellow, UNSW Canberra Cyber, UNSW at Australian Defence Force Academy
Valerie Niquet, Senior Research Fellow, Fondation pour le RéchercheStratégique, France
Vanessa Frangville, Professor, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Victor H. Mair, Professor, Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania School of Arts & Sciences
Victoria Tin-bor Hui, Associate Professor, University of Notre Dame, USA
William A. Callahan, London School of Economics, UK
Yaxue Cao, Founder and Editor, China Change, United States
Yuan-kang Wang, Western Michigan University, USA
From a donor to China Democracy Foundation:
“It's a modest contribution to keeping free speech a reality and not just a slogan. I hope more people realize the importance of this right and support this effort.”
Protect Anne-Marie and her important scholarship.
Photo: Joseph Johnson, Stuff