LONDON

A new report has claimed that Chinese students at UK universities are being pressured to monitor and report on their classmates, in efforts to suppress discussions around topics considered sensitive by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The findings, published by the UK-China Transparency (UKCT) think tank, also suggest that Chinese government officials have warned university lecturers in the UK to steer clear of certain subjects in their teaching.

The report says: "Our China studies system is subject to widespread 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, business, 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.”

In response, the Chinese Embassy in London dismissed the findings, calling the report “groundless and absurd,” adding that “China respects freedom of speech in the UK and elsewhere.”

The report came just days after new legislation came into force in the UK aimed at reinforcing academic freedom and freedom of speech across the higher education sector.

Under the legislation introduced last week, UK universities are now required to actively promote and protect academic freedom, particularly in cases involving international partnerships. Institutions could face multi-million-pound fines if they are found to be in breach of these new responsibilities.