MPs call for transparency in academic dealings with China

A parliamentary committee has asked the British government to clarify whether the Chinese government has improperly interfered, or attempt to interfere, in UK academia.

Allegations of Chinese interference in UK universities that MPs heard in the course of an inquiry into China’s approach to the rules-based international system have been compiled into a report, published by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on 4 April.

In the report, the committee recommends that the government nominates a single point of contact to provide advice to academic institutions “on the political, diplomatic and legal implications of accepting funding and pursuing collaboration with institutions based in non-democratic states”.