(TibetanReview.net, Aug04’25) – Beijing has long been known and reported in the United Sates and elsewhere to use student bodies affiliated with its embassies and consulates to control overseas Chinese students so that they don’t criticise or question the legitimacy of the Communist Party of China-state. Now a survey of Chinese academics and students in UK universities by a transparency group shows that the coercive menace is even more intrusive than previously reported as a new law combating it takes effect, reported the ndtv.com Aug 4.
The findings by UK-China Transparency (UKCT) show that students are subjected to harassment and surveillance to pressure them even into spying on their classmates, while in some cases, university administrators and management, being pressured by China, are actively involved in the repression of academic freedom, reinforcing the distortion, the report said.
Evidences are reported to have been presented to show that China strategically denies visas to scholars involved in sensitive research, disincentivising such research. It has also been found that academics’ family members in China are threatened, warned or harassed by Communist Party of Chinese (CPC) authorities because of their work in the UK.
Some academics have reported that several Chinese studies students of Chinese nationality had confided in them that CPC officials ask them to spy on their fellow students. Evidences have also been reported to show that Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (groups present at most UK universities and formally linked to the CPC) are vectors for surveillance and repression.
Besides, China studies students of all nationalities in the UK have told academics that they were not comfortable speaking freely about issues the CPC is sensitive about in class or pursuing their interest in those issues moving forward.
CPC officials have also reportedly threatened several university administrators with reference to an academic’s work and the university’s financial dependence on China. This in turn has meant that academics have been denied funding because their research might upset the CPC.
It is therefore not surprising that in some cases, university administrators and management are found to have been actively involved in the repression of academic freedom, reinforcing the distortion. The motivation is the universities’ financial dependencies on Chinese student fees.
The findings are stated to be based on 50 responses to a questionnaire circulated last year among China studies scholars working at UK universities. Nearly two-thirds – 64% – of respondents have said their universities’ financial dependency on international students from China affected administrators’ “sense of the importance of relationships with the Chinese government”. Only 16 % have felt that this was not the case.
The UKCT report came days after a new law came into force in the UK, placing more responsibility on universities to uphold academic freedom and free speech. The new guidance states that universities may be breaching rules by having partnerships with foreign governments that require academic staff to pass ideological tests – for example, by hosting Confucius Institutes, the ndtv.com report noted.
The legislation, which came into force last week, states that universities should do more to actively promote academic freedom and freedom of speech, including in cases where institutions have agreements in place with other countries.
The Chinese embassy in London has called the report “groundless and absurd”, claiming Beijing respects freedom of speech in the UK and elsewhere.