Against a backdrop of tour participants dancing with Uyghurs in folk costume, Princeton University Press director Christie Henry was filmed saying: “So many cultures exist and meet here, and it’s a way for the world to see how cultures can peacefully co-exist and exist in harmony.” She added that she hoped to “tell this story to the rest of the world.” Her social liberalism had been co-opted to promote CCP messaging on ethnic harmony, to “tell the Xinjiang story to the world.”
Two concerns arise over this public relations debacle. First, despite their awareness of “the region’s ongoing human rights atrocities,” PUP staffers were persuaded to join a government-sponsored tour of Xinjiang, and Henry was somehow inveigled into repeating its ethnic harmony propaganda. If they cannot resist such inducements, can they resist government censorial pressure that compromises the independence of their book acquisitions processes? The tour footage thus feeds suspicions that PUP’s investment in the Chinese publishing market is weakening its commitment to free cultural and intellectual exchange.
In its June press release, PUP referenced its publication of “China-critical” books such as Sean Roberts’ “The War on the Uyghurs,” as if to exonerate itself of those suspicions. Roberts responded angrily on X, accusing PUP of using his book to “whitewash” Christie’s actions, and suspecting it was likely “all about $.”
The second concern is that PUP’s director joined a tour in a region where the Chinese government has been credibly accused of committing crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide. The intellectual engagement side of the tour was compromised by the fact that leading Uyghur scholars whose works are candidates for PUP’s translation projects, like Ilham Tohti and Rahile Dawut, are currently serving lengthy prison sentences. Moreover, Henry’s statements about ethnic harmony, even if “mis-contextualized,” invite accusations not only of moral but also of intellectual irresponsibility. She allowed herself, as the head of a prestigious academic press, to become a mouthpiece for disinformation whitewashing grave human rights violations.
Incidents like PUP’s Xinjiang tour demonstrate that international academic presses operating in China must be vigilant against United Front entanglements, to safeguard their reputation and integrity. They must also work out exit strategies with clear red line triggers. At minimum, those red lines should include censorial pressure on their acquisitions processes, demands to join compromising engagements like Potemkin tours in return for market access, and state-directed intimidation, or persecutions, of authors and employees.
thediplomat.com/2025/07/prince
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Byron Wan
@Byron_Wan
June 23: Princeton University Press Director Christie Henry, Marketing and Sales Director Katie Hope (lower right pic), and Managing Director of PUP China Lingxi Li joined a delegation of Special Book Award of China recipients on a tour of Xinjiang — note how they danced0:37
