A new report by the UK-China Transparency (UKCT) think tank has raised concerns that Chinese students enrolled at UK universities are being urged to monitor and report on their peers. The alleged surveillance is said to be part of efforts to stifle conversations around topics sensitive to the Chinese government.
The report, based on surveys of academics specialising in China studies, also claims that Chinese officials have warned university lecturers not to address controversial subjects in their classes. These revelations surface just days after new legislation took effect in the UK, aiming to reinforce academic freedom and free speech across higher education institutions.
The report says: "Our China studies system is subject to widespread Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence, interference and harassment. These activities are a source of distortion in the field, its expert body and their output. This in turn likely has downstream effects for the knowledge supplied to government, the media, think tanks, businesses, etc., although we have not investigated this in depth."
It further notes that financial ties between UK institutions and Chinese entities may be a contributing factor: "Some expressions of these problems appear to be caused or exacerbated by financial dependence on China. In this respect the issues in China studies are a sub-crisis of the broader financial crisis in the HE (higher education) sector."
The Chinese Embassy in London rejected the report's claims, labelling them "groundless and absurd," and stated that China respects freedom of speech in the UK and globally.
The report's release closely follows the implementation of new UK legislation aimed at strengthening academic freedom and free speech in higher education.
Under this law, universities are now obligated to actively safeguard academic freedom, especially in the context of international collaborations.
Institutions that fail to comply could face multi-million-pound penalties. The timing of the report has intensified concerns over foreign influence on academic environments and the protection of open dialogue in UK universities.
