Strategic Dependence on UK Universities on China
This project is concerned with examining two overarching, interlinked phenomena. The first is the ability for UK higher education institutions, universities and academics, to financially de-risk from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in order to end the reliance on Chinese funding both in terms of international student fees, and research grants and donations made from Chinese entities which will often have a capacity to significantly harm and compromise national security.
The second phenomenon this research is concerned with is highlighting how this reliance on the PRC negatively affects many aspects on British campuses, including academic freedoms, safeguards for students, very high-risk research collaborations with Chinese entities linked to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and intellectual property theft.
Whilst the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) attempts to extend its overseas intelligence gathering and foreign policy agenda on to British campuses, harming academic freedoms and endangering student safeguards, it’s the CCP’s ‘Military-Civil Fusion’ (MCF) strategy which further endangers national security, as the CCP attempts to rapidly expand its military modernisation programs, and attempt regional military hegemony across the Indo-Pacific – a critical region for UK foreign policy and national security.
About the Author
Robert Clark is the Head of UK Public Affairs and Advocacy at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. He is the former Director of the Defence and Security Unit (DSU) at the British think tank, Civitas.
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