The foreign affairs select committee is drawing up plans to examine Chinese government interference in academia as part of its inquiry into the UK’s strategy towards Beijing. MPs are broadening the scope of their investigation into the China audit, an internal government review of UK-China relations that concluded in June, to look into Chinese state influence at British universities. Ministers are under pressure to take a more robust approach after the Guardian disclosed that Sheffield Hallam University had blocked the work of a professor whose work was critical of China’s human rights record. Sheffield Hallam banned one of its most prominent professors, Laura Murphy, from continuing with her work on China-linked supply chains, after years of pressure from the Chinese government. Murphy’s work focuses on Uyghurs, a persecuted Muslim minority in China, being co-opted into forced labour programmes. The Chinese government rejects accusations of forced labour, claiming Uyghur work programmes are for poverty alleviation. In October, Sheffield Hallam lifted the ban, and apologised to Murphy. But the case has caused widespread alarm about the influence of the Chinese government on UK universities, both in the form of specific threats and fears of losing access to the lucrative market of Chinese international students.
Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said: “From what we have heard so far, Chinese government interference in our universities is a threat. We need to examine the extent of it and universities should have a co-ordinated response to it”.
Last week, the Sheffield Hallam branch of the University and College Union (UCU) and the national executive committee of the UCU passed motions calling for a “full public inquiry” into the events at Sheffield Hallam. The motions also called for a government-led review into the ways in which commercial considerations are eroding academic free speech.
Similar motions are expected to be tabled at regional UCU branches in the coming weeks.
Bob Jeffrey, a branch officer for the Sheffield Hallam UCU, said: “Laura’s case really resonates with UCU members”. Academics in the UK have spoken out about “extremely heaving” pressure from Beijing in the wake of the revelations about Sheffield Hallam.
Internal emails from Sheffield Hallam revealed that Murphy’s work and the university’s business interests in China were considered to be “untenable bedfellows”. The university said the emails did not represent university policy and that the decision to block Murphy’s research was not based on commercial interests.
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