Some analysts believe that this is a counterattack by some intellectuals against exaggerated propaganda and academic research in the context of the Sino-US trade war.
Some alumni of Tsinghua University initiated a joint petition requesting the university to remove Hu Angang from his position as the dean and professor of the Institute of National Conditions at the university, and criticizing his conclusion that China's national strength exceeds that of the United States is wrong.Some analysts believe that this is a counterattack by some intellectuals against exaggerated propaganda and academic research in the context of the Sino-US trade war.
The 65-year-old Hu Angang pointed out in his public speech last year that China has surpassed the United States in three main aspects, namely, economic strength, technological strength and comprehensive national strength;Accelerating to catch up.
Hu Angang explained in a video interview with him on the campus program Humanities Tsinghua University that the statement that China’s comprehensive national strength surpassed that of the United States was not first proposed by him, but was predicted by Mao Zedong in 1956. He was just verifying this statement.What has been verified has a scientific basis.The interviewer said it felt a bit circular, but he responded that it wasn't.This five-minute video has been widely circulated on social media such as WeChat recently.
In the name of previous Tsinghua alumni, an appeal to Tsinghua University to fire Hu Angang was circulated on the Internet in the early morning of the 2nd of this month.The author criticizes Hu Angang for using taxpayers' research funds to make research conclusions that go against common sense, and that China's comprehensive national strength has surpassed that of American academic reports.
As of the deadline of this newspaper last night, Tsinghua University and Hu Angang have not publicly responded to this matter.
The request for the school to expel Hu Angang has aroused heated public opinion in recent days, with both support and opposition voices.
Wang Tianding, a professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Ocean University of China, wrote in the Beijing News that the letter of appeal reflects the problem of academic style. If scholars in the humanities play tricks on research model design and sample selection, they can draw the conclusions they need, That is a serious academic misconduct, and the exaggerated academic research methods are worthy of vigilance.He believes that scholars in public universities should not deliberately grandstanding in academic research and cater to social sentiments for a period of time.
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences scholar Yu Jianrong opposed the expulsion of Hu Angang from the perspective of freedom of speech.He wrote on Weibo: I have always believed that we have the right to hate flattery, and they have the freedom to flatter.
Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Global Times, said on Weibo that he disagrees with Hu Angang's academic conclusions, but he also does not agree with netizens' personal attacks and smears against him, which is too Cultural Revolutionary.
Hu Xijin wrote: If he is dismissed because he promotes this understanding of national conditions, it is a social and political mistake that is much more terrible than his academic mistakes.
Mei Xinyu, a financial columnist and a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, wrote an article in support of Hu Angang, pointing out that Hu Angang had made historical academic contributions. In the 1990s, the report on China’s national capabilities, which he cooperated with Wang Shaoguang, pointed out that the central governmentThe financial absorption capacity has declined sharply, and the report has played a role in removing ideological obstacles for the subsequent fiscal and taxation reforms.
Hu Angang put forward the theory that China surpassed the United States last year, and now it has been criticized by netizens again. Some analysts believe that this is related to the escalation of the Sino-US trade war.
The commentator Hulan Fatty wrote an article that Hu Angang’s academic conclusions catered to the mainstream consciousness.The public knows that the problem lies with a certain scholar.
