China Tried to Curb Criticism in British Universities, Times Reports

(Bloomberg) -- China has tried to curb criticism of its government in U.K campuses by pressurizing universities to limit academic freedom, the Times newspaper reported, citing a report from the Commons foreign affairs committee.

• Evidence of Chinese interference appears to be coming from the embassy in London, according to the report titled Defending Democracy in an Age of Autocracies.
• The battle for fees from Chinese students, which number more than 100,000, and other investment “should not outweigh” international standards of academic freedom, the reported said.
• The report cited various examples of Chinese pressure, including:
  • A pro-vice-chancellor from a Russell Group university canceling a speaker after contact from the Chinese embassy in London.
  • Chinese embassy put pressure on an unnamed vice-chancellor and asked one of his senior academics not to make political comments on China for a specified time.
  • Evidence of China government-backed Chinese Students and Scholars Association was being used to watch students in Britain. One witness, an Uighur, said that she was monitored and her family in China harassed after she became politically active.
  • Officials from the China-funded Confucius Institute confiscated papers mentioning Taiwan at an academic conference.
• The committee wants the Foreign Office and universities to develop a strategy and explore the market incentives and the fee income may actually undermine academic freedom in the U.K.

To contact the reporter on this story: Niluksi Koswanage in Singapore at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Niluksi Koswanage at nkoswanage@bloomberg.net

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