China Bars Entry of U.S. Professor Who Supported Uighur Scholar

An American scholar has been barred from entering China in what he says is retaliation for his support of an economics professor who has criticized the Chinese government’s treatment of the country’s Uighur minority, The New York Times reported.

The economics professor, Ilham Tohti, is a member of the Uighur ethnic group. In February he was formally charged with separatism by Chinese authorities.
Elliot Sperling, an associate professor at Indiana University at Bloomington who teaches Tibetan history, has supported Mr. Tohti and once arranged for him to spend a year as a visiting scholar at his institution. Mr. Sperling said he had been denied entry into China and asserted that his tourist visa had been canceled. Several other American scholars say they have also been banned from the country.

An employee at the press center of China’s Foreign Ministry told the newspaper she had no information about Mr. Sperling’s case.