UK’s China policy harming R&D collaboration, say academics

Call for clearer guidance among signs that growth in UK-China research partnerships is tailing off

UK academics have said that collaborations with researchers in China have been negatively affected by the government’s “ambiguous” policy towards the Asian superpower.

A report commissioned by the foreign office and carried out by the not-for-profit research institute Rand Europe surveyed over 80 UK-based academics, many of whom reported feeling “confused and frustrated with the UK policy of strategic ambiguity on China”.