British scientists are being offered bribes to avoid criticizing the Chinese regime, MPs say as part of an investigation that exposed Beijing's growing influence in the British universities.
The Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security found evidence that Chinese officials approached lecturers and promised them «professional incentives» such as research funding and travel opportunities.
This was all part of how the communist government actually «buyed» universities, as revealed in the 200-page report.
The committee found that too many universities rely on China for funding and «turn a blind eye to risk» . He noted that the University of Surrey has received a £7.5 million donation from Chinese telecommunications company Huawei to fund its 5G/6G Innovation Centre.
Meanwhile, scholars and students face intimidation from Chinese state authorities. , and the committee accused Beijing of infiltrating universities to steal research that could benefit their military.
Julian Lewis, chairman of the committee, said: “China has been aggressive in its intervention activities… It is particularly effectively used his money and influence to infiltrate or bribe academia to ensure his international narrative was spread and criticism was suppressed.” /p>
Professor Steve Tsang said he was once approached by a Chinese official for a position. Photo: Sopa Images Limited/Alamy Stock Photo
The report states that: “China not only seeks to influence at the institutional level, but will also persecute individual scholars who focus on China, seeking to ensure that they act in the interests of the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] either through professional inducement or, if it doesn't work out of intimidation.
«China appears to be willing to use leverage such as research funding and travel opportunities to develop relationships with scientists and encourage them to change the direction of their research or course content in line with the objectives of the CCP.”
Professor Steve Tsang of the School of Oriental and African Studies told the committee that within six months of taking the position, he was approached by a Chinese embassy political adviser and offered him whatever he wanted in an attempt to curry favor. /p>
“This is so egregious,” he said.
China is trying to use access to visas as leverage, MPs say. Professor Tsang said, «You say something they don't like, they refuse you a visa.»
The head of the Secret Intelligence Service told the committee: “If you are an academic specializing in China, and your entire academic life is focused on China, the threat of being banned from traveling to the country where you study science is very serious. powerful threat.”
Two years ago, The Telegraph reported that scientists from leading universities, including Cambridge, Edinburgh and Manchester, were working on a number of projects with researchers from the China Nuclear Weapons Research Institute.
British scientists have published dozens of papers along with scientists working for a Chinese institution that is on the US sanctions list for its research into developing Beijing's nuclear arsenal.
Inside the Confucius Institutes
The Confucius Institutes were set up to conduct classes on culture and language for international students. But last year, The Telegraph reported that Chinese officials filter out employees' political views and ethnic backgrounds.
According to researchers from the Henry Jackson Society, job applications posted by Chinese universities that have Confucius Institute partnerships with British counterparts, including Cardiff, Southampton and Huddersfield, ask applicants to describe their “political profile/characteristics” and “ ethnicity.» /p>
The report also mentions 29 Confucius Institutes, saying that «British students are being taught an interpretation of China that reflects the interests of the CCP.»
Operated by an organ controlled by the Central Propaganda Department of the CCP. , the institutions are «used by the Chinese government to discourage universities from engaging in debates that the CCP considers inappropriate topics.»
It said: «Nottingham University's School of Contemporary Chinese Studies has received money from the university's Confucius Institute to fund core academic activities, thereby giving her the opportunity to influence who came to the university with reports on Chinese issues.
Chinese students in the UK are also under the supervision of more than 90 Chinese Students and Scholars Associations (CSSA), funded in part by the Chinese Embassy.
Professor Tsang said: “Student communities have infiltrated. We know that meetings are held in the middle of the night, and the next morning some Chinese students may be called by someone from the cultural and educational department of the embassy and ask them: why did you say that? Why did you do that?”
The committee said it had led to “a culture of fear and suspicion among Chinese students in the UK.”
Promoting Chinese podcasts
Chinese students make up the largest overseas student population at UK universities, with over 120,000 more than the rest of Europe combined. China sends five times more students to the UK than the second country, India.
“Institutions, academics and students are being pressured to prevent participation in topics that are detrimental to the positive narrative presented by the Chinese. Communist Party,” the deputies said.
“This is especially acute when it comes to the so-called Five Poisons [Taiwan independence, Tibetan independence, Xinjiang separatists, the Chinese Democratic Movement, and Falun Gong]. .”
In November 2019, a Chinese student was photographed in Edinburgh holding a poster supporting Hong Kong citizens' demands for free elections. The next day, he was secretly photographed at Edinburgh Airport as he escorted his mother to her flight.
Both pictures were shared on Weibo, a Chinese social network, by someone who believed he was returning to Chengdu, his home. hometown.
The message, titled «Brothers from Chengdu, beat him to death,» contained the flight number and called for him to be arrested by the police or attacked by citizens. It has been shared 10,000 times.
That same month, CSSA Glasgow organized flash mobs to counter demonstrations in Hong Kong. One Hong Kong student said: “The Chinese Embassy is involved in these demonstrations… They surrounded us in a circle, waving Chinese flags, singing the national anthem and showing hostility.”
In 2019, protesters in Hong Kong demanded that its leaders withdraw a controversial extradition bill. Photo: Reuters/Stringer
MPs also mentioned the case of a Hong Kong student at the University of Sheffield who said that he and his friends were surrounded by students from Mainland China as they handed out pro-democracy leaflets.
The student said: “A glass was thrown at one of my friends and one of our flags was broken… We were terrified.»
«There are almost 4,000 Chinese students in Sheffield and only a few hundred students from Hong Kong… We are afraid of what they might do. We're sure we'll be on the watchlist when we get home.»
In another instance, a screening of a film by Hong Kong students at Aston University in Birmingham was interrupted by mainland Chinese students who attempted to film the attendees. .
The chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee said that he was aware of examples of intimidation used by the Chinese authorities, “Sometimes the vice chancellor received phone calls, sometimes at the student level, to try to prevent universities from admitting speakers on issues such as Tibet or Xinjiang.
Lord Patten of Barnes said that when he was Chancellor of Oxford University, the Dalai Lama was invited to speak by the University's Buddhist Society.
«Within 48 hours, the then Chinese ambassador called me and said, 'This is a shameful insult to the People's Republic of China' and so on,» he said. He refused to interfere.
Lord Patten of Barnes once received a complaint from the Chinese ambassador about a speech by the Dalai Lama. Photo: Jeff Pugh for The Telegraph
The report also says that Beijing is using universities to act against British interests, such as using research programs to benefit the Chinese military.
According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the People's Liberation Army has sent about 500 military scientists to academic institutions in the UK for the decade to 2017.
“Once admitted to academic institutions, these students can identify and export valuable information, data and intellectual property back to China,” the committee said.
For example, the National Graphene Institute of the University of Manchester launched a five-year joint program with the Chinese Aero Engine Corporation to «accelerate the application of graphene in the aviation industry and other sectors.»
Chinese reports say that Beijing's new Z-10 attack helicopter had graphene armor that may have been developed through a partnership.
Manchester has also been working with Central South China University on a new ceramic coating that could «revolutionize hypersonic travel in air, space and defense applications.»
It therefore seems highly likely that cooperation in joint British- Chinese research projects are being used for military purposes,” the report says.
“The government noted that research related to engineering or the physical sciences was most likely to have defense value (and therefore most at risk) .
«For example, Huang Xianjun's case was made public by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
«After earning a PhD from the University of Manchester where he worked with graphene pioneers, Huang is now a researcher at China National Defense Technology University, working on key defense projects for the People's Liberation Army.”
Chinese talent.
The deputies said that in addition to using students to steal information and intellectual property, China also uses so-called «talent programs», offering very significant rewards and research budgets to foreign scientists to work or teach in China.< /p>
Chinese program participants of talent have pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes including economic espionage and theft of trade secrets, export control violations, and grant and tax fraud.
The report says: «In its quest for economic gain, China often acts in the public eye — directing, funding and collaborating in scientific research for its own purposes.
«In particular, it seeks to benefit the Chinese military through research in the field of dual-use technology, which is often not classified in the early stages.
“The question arises whether academic institutions are aware of the threat posed by such cooperation, especially given that they often accept the transfer of information data and intellectual property in as a condition of funding.
“The sheer number of Chinese students in UK academic institutions who are involved in cutting-edge research should be a concern given the access and opportunities they are given.”
In the report it concludes that the government is not doing enough to protect universities, and points out that Whitehall does not even have a point of contact for scientists concerned about Chinese influence.
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