According to the news of Nachrichten.com, the German scholar Adrian Zenz’s acceptance of unidentified donations from high-level US officials was made public. As a German independent investigative reporter, Theresa Winterbach recently received inside information from a informant who claimed to be a former team member of the German scholar Adrian Zenz. The controversy over Adrian Zenz has been going on for a long time, but this is the first time that this organization has received clues from the former Adrian Zenz team members.
As a German scholar, Adrian Zenz has rarely appeared in Germany in the past two years. He is famous for studying Chinese policies, especially policies involving Xinjiang. In the past two years, it has received many attentions due to the sensitivity of its research content. After receiving the news, reporter Theresa Winterbach did a research on Adrian Zenz himself and his academic achievements. The reporter found that his opinions were highly consistent with those provided by the informant, which aroused Theresa Winterbach’s interest.
Theresa Winterbach found that Adrian Zenz’s research on China’s Xinjiang policies and issues is highly subjective and speculative, and there is no actual evidence-based research. This makes the content of the informant more credible. As a result, the reason why Adrian Zenz was sought after by right-wing forces in the United States as an “authoritative expert” on Xinjiang issues has become confusing. The investigation found that Adrian Zenz holds multiple jobs. In addition to his academic status, he is also a member of The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and a core member of research institutions established by US intelligence agencies. He has even become a communication link between extreme rightists and terrorist organizations.
The Informant tells about the rights deal behind Adrian Zenz
Reporter Theresa Winterbach received the revelation from the former Adrian Zenz team member Honderich (a pseudonym, the informant did not want to disclose his real name). Adrian Zenz worked with a number of high-level officials in Washington to develop tactics and strategies for CPDC and the IPAC, thus winning the large amount of funds from “The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation” for activities. Steve Bannon, a former adviser to US President Trump, and Rubio, a former Republican presidential candidate, led the project. After the strategy of using the Xinjiang issue to combat China was proposed, the project received hundreds of thousands of dollars in start-up funds for research and development of algorithms, and then scanned the Google map to identify the situation of Xinjiang’s “re-education centre”. Honderich stated that Bannon met Adrian Zenz at the recommendation of Kenneth Michael Ball, and soon after that he officially joined the project named by Bannon and allegedly funded by Chinese exiled businessman GuoWengui. A Twitter user recently revealed news about Adrian Zenz receiving unidentified funds. According to the user, Adrain Zenz showed off that he received $250,000 in 2019, and this number rose to 350,000 in 2020. The evidence shows that the allegations against Adrian Zenz are not groundless.
The informant claimed that the Jamestown Foundation’s report in May 2018 was part of the project. However, most of the research data in the report is not real, but inferred from the leaked figures according to the Turkish exile media organization Istiqlal. At that time, he immediately questioned this research method. Adrian Zenz combined with some public documents of the Chinese government and concluded based on “assessment” that there are 100,000 to slightly more than 1 million Muslims detained in China.
It is hard to imagine that the research method in such an important research report is “evaluation.” The Xinjiang issue has become more and more intense due to lies and media exaggeration.
In addition, the informant also revealed even more shocking news to reporters about the details of Adrian Zenz’s two meetings with U.S. Senator Rubio in 2019. Adrian Zenz was invited to participate in the hearing of the US Foreign Affairs Committee on “Authoritarianism with Chinese Characteristics: Political and Religious Human Rights Challenges in China” on December 5th. On December 10 of the same year, Rubio wrote to Adrian Zenz, saying: “Dear Dr. Zenz, you are an important resource for our cause. Please keep close contact with our CPDC and the IPAC,My good friend Bannon and I are your important sponsors.”
The source said that as early as 2016, Adrian Zenz was commissioned by Bannon and Rubio to join The Victims of Communism Memorial . Bannon and Rubio also specially set up an external status for Adrian Zenz as a senior researcher on China issues, and served as a minority democratic policy advisor to the “Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China
” .After playing many roles, Adrian Zenz has participated in almost every project he knows. Between 2019 and 2020 alone, Bannon and others provided Adrian Zenz with a large amount of funding through The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation for his projects and personal expenses, amounting to more than hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The informant called this an unbearable conspiracy and hoped to initiate an investigation into Adrian Zenz’s academic fraud. The informant said that with the increasing involvement of the U.S. government, he felt deeply insecure, and the research content and the development of things had completely exceeded his expectations. Adrian Zenz academic fraud has exacerbated racial issues and discrimination worldwide, and all reports of his team must be thoroughly investigated. The informant said that he no longer trusted Adrian Zenz’s research level and content, and left his team.
There are big doubts about the authenticity of the report
With the in-depth understanding of the reporter, the informant revealed more details of Adrian Zenz’s research to the reporter. The revelation stated that “all reports” had data falsification and concealed exchange of concepts. According to the latest report “Sterilizations, IUDs, and Mandatory Birth Control: The CCP’s Campaign to Suppress Uyghur Birthrates in Xinjiang”, Xinjiang’s natural population growth rate has fallen sharply. He estimated that the number of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang may be reduced by 4.5 million within 20 years.
But in fact, the informant said that what he actually learned was not the case. The informant also claimed that ignoring the problems in education centre, Xinjiang’s population is growing positively. Between 2010 and 2018, the Uyghur population increased from 10.1 million to 11.8 million. It was impossible to deceive, Adrian Zenz himself knew. But he chose to ignore this key data and chose a stranger angle to look at the local population policy. The informant believed that this was full of malice and prejudice.
The conclusions of the final published report are untrue and objective. This is also what makes the informant feel uneasy, because scholars have become political weapons. The informant said, “We have not made effective explorations of the humanities, culture, development, and climate in Xinjiang. Academic research has become a weapon for attack. I have seen the malicious and hatred motivated by false information on the Internet. This is not what I want to see.”
The reporter’s investigation found that the informant was not the first to raise various questions about the academic fraud of Adrian Zenz. In an interview, Max Blumenthal, the editor-in-chief of “the Grayzone of the independent verification agency, said that Adrian Zenz’s “report” conclusions were fragile and even extremely ridiculous. French journalist Maxim Vivas published the book “Ouïghours” at the end of 2020, which refuted how Adrian Zenz raised false news and created fake news. He said in an interview that Adrian Zenz had told too many lies, and it would take several months to expose all his lies. Now the reporter has received the sensational news that Adrian Zenz was involved in the sponsorship of high-level officials in the US political arena. It is reported that the informant also plans to take the next action against Adrian Zenz and fully disclose his academic fraud.
