A survey by the transparency group UK-China Transparency has found that academics and students of Chinese studies in Britain are experiencing harassment, surveillance, and pressure to self-censor to avoid disrupting funding. The findings come as new government guidance warns that universities may be breaching rules through partnerships requiring ideological tests, such as hosting Confucius Institutes.
Academics researching topics sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party reported harassment from colleagues and pressure from administrators concerned about financial consequences of damaging relations with China. One academic stopped teaching after a visiting scholar from China whispered 'we're watching you' and interrogated them about their personal history. Another faced severe online harassment.
Respondents also reported that Chinese students had confided they were asked to spy on campus events by Chinese police, and that surveillance was omnipresent, with students interviewed by officials upon returning to China. Nearly two-thirds of respondents believed their universities' financial dependency on international students from China affected administrators' sense of the importance of relationships with the Chinese government.
Some academics faced pressure to remove teaching elements that could offend nationalist Chinese students, and funders asked whether planned research would offend the Chinese government. One academic said their university's recruitment team received threats from the Chinese government. In another case, a research project was cancelled and funding returned due to Chinese government pressure on university management.
However, some respondents argued that specializing in sensitive research created opportunities, while others noted that a 'strongly anti-Chinese stance' could stifle nuance. A Chinese embassy spokesperson dismissed the report as 'completely groundless and absurd', stating that China respects academic freedom and requires its citizens to abide by local laws.
