Recently, during a routine press conference at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a spokesperson responded to questions from journalists regarding the suicide of a Chinese doctoral student studying in the United States after being questioned by American law enforcement officials, criticizing the United States for harassing Chinese students studying abroad. Many netizens commented that they could not find any recent reports related to a “doctoral student suicide,” questioning whether the Chinese state media and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were staging a performance to incite anti-American sentiments among the mainland Chinese population.
According to the official website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the press conference held on March 27, a journalist from China Central Television (CCTV) asked, “It is understood that recently a Chinese doctoral student committed suicide the day after being questioned by American law enforcement officers. What is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ comment on this?”
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lin Jian responded by stating that they had lodged a “solemn representation” with the U.S. side, accusing the U.S. of politicizing the concept of national security, conducting political manipulation, unjustified inquiries, and harassment of Chinese students and scholars in the United States, creating a severe “chilling effect.” Lin further demanded that the U.S. side investigate the case thoroughly, cease discriminatory law enforcement against Chinese students and scholars in the U.S., and stop fabricating various unjust cases.
Subsequently, Chinese state media outlets such as CCTV, Xinhua News Agency, and People’s Daily extensively reported Lin Jian’s statements, with overseas media outlets like Phoenix News Online picking up on the related news.
Public information indicates that neither the routine press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the major Chinese state media outlets provided basic information about the suicide incident involving the doctoral student in the United States, including the student’s name, the time and location of the incident, and the reasons behind the suicide. Additionally, the reports from Chinese state media omitted that the questioning journalist was from the official media giant CCTV.
Chinese affairs expert Li Linyi commented, “The Chinese state media extensively hyped this incident, but it suffers from a severe lack of information. The fundamental question remains, why did the U.S. authorities want to question this individual? Public information shows that American law enforcement officers do not randomly interrogate Chinese students studying abroad. In most cases, it is due to their connection with China or the Chinese Communist Party that they face questioning.”
He added, “The Chinese authorities deliberately concealed the reasons while heavily publicizing the outcome, which is a characteristic of Chinese propaganda – withholding complete information.”
According to a report by CCTV, one journalist asked, “It is understood that recently a Chinese doctoral student committed suicide the day after being questioned by American law enforcement officers. What is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ comment on this?”
Responding to this CCTV report, some netizens on Zhihu raised questions about the details. Who was the journalist from? How did they obtain their information? On which day did it happen? What was the academic background of the Chinese doctoral student? Why did they go to the U.S.? What were they doing in the U.S.? Which department of the U.S. government’s law enforcement officers questioned them? How long were they questioned? Were they free after questioning? Where and in what manner did they commit suicide?
One netizen remarked, “Why did a news report omit so many details and keep readers in the dark?”
Another netizen stated, “I cannot find any reports about a ‘recent Chinese doctoral student suicide’ anywhere, even overseas. Chinese media outlets are blindly following the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in criticizing the U.S.”
Some netizens expressed their skepticism, “Yes, it was specially released one afternoon, and I was shocked. I wanted to understand the details of the incident but couldn’t find any other related reports. It all seems very mysterious.”
“Even more absurdly, foreign media outlets do not have such reports, and some are simply reprinting China’s reports, making it all too mysterious.”
“News should at least contain basic elements like time, place, people involved, reasons, process, and results. Right? It says a journalist asked, but we don’t know which journalist. Nothing in the entire news. It feels like it suddenly appeared out of nowhere, very strange, almost nonsensical. In short, it’s just nonsensical.”
One netizen commented, “The doctoral student has been out of school for over a decade. Based on my experience, if they relied on themselves and had no influential background to study abroad, reaching the stage of being a Chinese doctoral student after going through various experiences would have toughened them to face any challenges. The probability of choosing suicide under such circumstances is very low.”
Another netizen remarked, “You just need to know that the U.S. is fully responsible. The fact that essential information such as the cause, background of individuals, time, and place cannot be found gives the impression that this is purely to incite anti-American sentiment.”