Confucius Institutes: Alarming Chinese meddling at UK universities exposed in report

Chinese embassy is coordinating efforts to curb academic freedom
By Patrick Wintour 

‘China is seeking to shape the research agenda or curricula of UK universities,’ says parliamentary report. 

Universities are not adequately responding to the growing risk of China influencing academic freedom in the UK, the foreign affairs select committee has said.
The report, rushed out before parliament is suspended pending the election, finds “alarming evidence” of Chinese interference on UK campuses, adding the activity seeking to restrict academic freedom is coordinated by the Chinese embassy in London.

The report says: “There is clear evidence that autocracies are seeking to shape the research agenda or curricula of UK universities, as well as limit the activities of researchers on university campuses. Not enough is being done to protect academic freedom from financial, political and diplomatic pressure.”
The committee highlighted the role of China-funded Confucius Institutes officials in confiscating papers that mentioned Taiwan at an academic conference, the use of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association as an instrument of political interference and evidence that dissidents active while studying in the UK, such as Ayeshagul Nur Ibrahim, an Uighur Muslim, were being monitoring and her family in China being harassed.
The committee accuses some academic organisations, such as Million Plus, which represents 20 modern universities, of complacency.

Pro-Beijing Bill Rammell, the chair of Million Plus, told the committee he had “not heard one piece of evidence” that substantiated claims of foreign influence in universities.
The committee said the government’s focus was on protecting universities from intellectual property theft and risks arising from joint research projects. 

“This is not enough to protect academic freedom from other types of interference such as financial, political or diplomatic pressure,” the MPs said.
The Foreign Office’s evidence to the committee highlighted the lack of government advice to universities, the report says, adding ministers have not coordinated approaches to the issue, either within Whitehall or with foreign governments such as Australia and the US.
The report points out that a 2019 international education strategy white paper mentions China more than 20 times in the context of boosting education expertise to the Chinese market, but with no mention of security or interference.

The committee concluded: “The battle for university students or trade deals should not outweigh the international standards which have brought freedom and prosperity to the UK and the wider world. The government should provide any strategic advice to universities and not used its key sanction tools such as ‘Magnitsky powers’ to curb interference on human rights grounds.”
Ministers can curb interference through the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act passed 17 months ago, the report said.
However, ministers previously told the committee they could not use the so-called Magnitsky amendment, contained in the act, until the UK had left the EU. 

In June the FCO finally admitted this interpretation was legally incorrect, and the powers could be used independently of the EU while still an EU member.

Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, says academic freedoms are under threat in the UK. 

The FCO has still to lay the necessary statutory instrument to introduce the power, 17 months after the act became law. 

The foreign affairs select committee pointed out that the power, touted by the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, in pre-Conservative party conference interviews, will be delayed still further by the general election.
The committee, chaired by the Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, also asked the FCO to explain its failure to use sanctions in response to Chinese repression in Hong Kong and East Turkestan.
On the question of Hong Kong, where violent protests continue and local elections are due to be held later this month, the committee has urged the government to assess the reputational damage to the UK of British judges continuing to sit on the Hong Kong court of final appeal. 

The committee warns there is a danger of the UK appearing to be complicit in supporting and participating in a system that is undermining the rule of law.
In a bid to support the protesters, the UK should grant residency to Hong Kong citizens who are British national (overseas) passport holders, the report said.

Tugendhat said hard-won freedoms were under threat in the UK. 

The FCO had been “found wanting in three policy areas: autocracies’ influence on academic freedom; the use of sanctions against autocratic states and their supporters, and the UK’s cooperation with other democracies in responding to autocracies”.

The story China went to furious lengths to stop from airing

China's Canberra embassy issued a fierce diktat over a story they didn’t want Aussies to know. Here’s what happened.
By Gavin Fernando and Charis Chang

FIVE days before 60 Minutes aired a program about China’s quest for global dominance, the team received a furious phone call.
“Take this down and take it to your leaders!” the voice on the other end was yelling.
On the line was Saxian Cao, the Head of Media Affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra, and she was laying into the program’s Executive Producer Kirsty Thomson.
“You will listen! There must be no more misconduct in the future!” Cao shouted into the phone.
According to Nine News, Cao accused the network of filming the exteriors of the Chinese Embassy in Vanuatu illegally — a claim Ms Thomson refuted.
Cao also claimed a drone was used to fly over the embassy in a potential safety hazard, which was also disputed.
The report claimed the phone did not end amicably, with Cao shouting: “You will not use that footage!”
It highlighted the lengths to which the Chinese government will go to silence voices it doesn’t agree with — even within Australia, amid an ongoing national debate over foreign interference laws.
The offending 60 Minutes episode — which aired earlier this week — covered the ongoing issue of Chinese encroachment in the Pacific, including the country’s Belt and Road Initiative, a Chinese-built wharf in Vanuatu, and the wider issue of foreign interference in Australia.
So what was the Chinese Communist Party so keen to hide?

CHINA’S RISING INFLUENCE IN THE PACIFIC
Papua New Guinea will soon be the second country in the Pacific to sign on to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
“When in China, we’ll be signing the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative,” PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said earlier this week, according to local media.
“That is a great potential for Papua New Guinea, which means that this will help integrate our own economy to the global economy … The rest of the world is making business with China and we cannot simply sit back and allow these opportunities to go by.”
The PNG leader is currently in Beijing for a week-long visit.
The move will no doubt raise alarm bells in Canberra, with fears China is increasing its presence in the Pacific region.
In April, Fairfax Media reported Beijing was negotiating a military base less than 2000 kilometres from our border.
China and Vanuatu have both denied the report, which claimed Beijing was eyeing a military base in the island nation, with global ramifications.
“No one in the Vanuatu government has ever talked about a Chinese military base in Vanuatu of any sort,” Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu said. 

“We are a non-aligned country. We are not interested in militarisation.”
The move prompted fears in Australia over Beijing’s aims for greater military influence in the South Pacific region.

The Conflict Islands in Papua New Guinea.
But Beijing’s economic influence in Vanuatu remains undeniable, with China responsible for almost half of the island nation’s foreign debt.
In places like Sri Lanka and the African nation of Djibouti, China has been granted control over ports after the countries defaulted on massive loans taken out to build the ambitious projects.
There are now fears the same pattern will play out in Vanuatu where China has loaned the country $114 million to build a wharf at Luganville — the site of America’s second largest base in the Pacific during World War II.

CHINA’S DEBT-TRAP STRATEGY
China’s debt-trap game goes something like this: they offer the honey of cheap infrastructure loans, then attack with default when these poorer economies aren’t able to pay their interest down.
At the heart of this sits the Belt and Road Initiative, a trillion-dollar project that seeks to connect countries across continents on trade, with China at its centre.
The ambitious plan involves creating a 6000km sea route connecting China to South East Asia, Oceania and North Africa (the “Road”), as well as through building railway and road infrastructure to connect China with Central and West Asia, the Middle East and Europe (the “Belt”).

This map details China's Belt and Road Initiative.

In the interview with 60 Minutes, Dr Malcolm Davis, senior analyst in defence strategy and capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said China is mainly targeting poorer countries and employing a “debt-trap strategy”.
He said the trillion-dollar project basically forces other countries to align themselves with it.
“It gets countries — particularly poorer countries — hooked on debts they can’t pay back,” he said. “When they can’t pay it back, China basically grabs ports, facilities or territory. It’s a debt-trap strategy.
“It services their need in terms of accessing resources, sustaining contacts and national development, and maintaining that ‘China Dream’. It’s really vital for the Communist Party to maintain prosperity if they want to maintain power.”

WHY THE PACIFIC IS CRUCIAL
Why is the Pacific so important to China? 

From the rising superpower’s perspective, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Fiji are the most crucial, as they have the most minerals and natural resources.
But while the strategic aspects of China’s interest in the region have been highlighted recently, experts believe they have been over-hyped.
“I don’t think (the region) is enormously important to China,” Australian National University’s Development Policy Centre deputy director Matthew Dornan told news.com.au.
“The amounts of aid they provide are still not huge. Australia provides a lot more.”
According to the Lowy Institute, China spent $2.2 million on 218 projects in the Pacific between 2006 and 2016. 

This is a lot less than the $10 million Australia contributed.
“I don’t think the Pacific tops its list in terms of strategic importance, even if it does for Australia,” Dr Dornan said.

Australia will no doubt be keeping an eye on China’s strategic moves in the Pacific region.

While the Pacific may not be high on China’s agenda, Australia appears to have woken up to the importance of the region to its own interests.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop recently returned from a bipartisan trip to some Pacific nations with Labor shadow minister Penny Wong. 

They visited Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
Ms Bishop has denied that the trip was aimed at countering Chinese influence but in an interview with Fairfax Media, acknowledged that China’s construction of roads, ports, airports and other infrastructure in the region had triggered concern that small Pacific nations may be saddled with unsustainable debts.
“We want to be the natural partner of choice,” Ms Bishop told Fairfax earlier this week.
“We want to ensure that they retain their sovereignty, that they have sustainable economies and that they are not trapped into unsustainable debt outcomes.
“The trap can then be a debt-for-equity swap and they have lost their sovereignty.”

How China tried to shut down Australian media coverage of its debt-trap diplomacy in the Pacific

• A Chinese Embassy official yelled and made demands of an Australian producer to try and censor an episode of "60 Minutes" that would be critical of China.
• The Chinese Communist Party regularly interferes with foreign Chinese-language media, but targeting English-language media is rare.
• The "60 Minutes" report covered China's debt-trap diplomacy in the Pacific, including a loan to Vanuatu for a wharf which could be used by the Chinese military.
• Vanuatu's foreign minister said China expects support at the UN in return for financing.

By Tara Francis Chan

Five days before Australia's "60 Minutes" program aired a report on China's dept-trap diplomacy in the Pacific region, the show received an unusually aggressive phone call.
"Take this down and take it to your leaders!" the voice on the other end of the line shouted.
It was the voice of Saixian Cao, the head of media affairs at China's embassy in Canberra.
According to a report from "60 Minutes" journalist Charles Wooley, she was yelling at the show's executive producer, Kirsty Thomson, after failing to gain any traction with higher-ups at the network.
"You will listen," Cao reportedly shouted into the phone.
"There must be no more misconduct in the future."
Thomson and colleagues had been working on a story about China's growing influence over Pacific nations, by using exorbitant loans for infrastructure projects that leave countries indebted to Beijing, both politically and financially.
The story largely focused on China's projects in the island nation of Vanuatu — where the show's team had also recorded footage of the Chinese embassy — and the official was trying everything to kill the story.
"You will not use that footage," Cao demanded.
The incident highlights how China is used to dealing with — and controlling — the Australian media.
Chen Yonglin, a former diplomat at the Chinese Consulate in Sydney who defected in 2005, told Business Insider that this happens frequently with local Chinese language media in Australia and that, ultimately, the incident in Australia would have originated in Beijing.
"The instruction to pressure Channel 9 is from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry obviously believed it is necessary. The representation is to warn Channel 9 and other people not to act like that again," Chen said.
Chen also described how monitoring, and attempting to censor media coverage, is a regular occurrence.
"If it's a local Chinese-language media, the Chinese Embassy/Consulate official should call the Editor-in-Chief directly with serious warning and certain sanctions against this media may follow. For less serious cases, China may request to publish a statement from its Embassy."
Business Insider previously reported how diplomats at a Chinese consulate in Australia invited an advertiser in for an hours-long "tea chat" to convince them to stop funding independent Chinese-language journalism.
Another advertiser had Chinese intelligence and security agents physically camp out in his Beijing office to strip funds from critical media.
And last year, two South Korean journalists who followed President Moon Jae-in's trip to Beijing were physically beaten and severely injured by more than a dozen security guards.
Despite the lengths China often goes to influence and outright interfere with foreign media, Chen believes Cao could face repurcussions for crossing a line.
"All Chinese language media are very obedient. Shouting at local Chinese media is not a surprise, but [shouting] at one of the mainstream English media is rare. Saixian Cao could be punished for her behaviour such as being given an internal warning," Chen said.

China gave Vanuatu a loan 360% more expensive than other options

Part of the "60 Minutes" episode highlighted a Chinese-built wharf in Vanuatu that has gained international attention.
Earlier this year reports emerged that China discussed setting up a military presence in Vanuatu, a claim both countries denied but which Australian defense officials confirmed.
And the country's newly built Luganville wharf, which was funded by China and seems more suited to navy vessels than cruise ships, would be crucial to this.
The fear is that Vanuatu, like many countries before it, accepted a loan with exorbitant interest rates and may need to hand over the wharf to China if it defaults, a practice called debt-trap diplomacy.
The country can't even afford the cleaning or electricity bill for a $19 million, Chinese-built convention center.
Yet Vanuatu took an $85 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China for the Luganville wharf, which is topped with a 2% interest rate, that needs to be repaid within 20 years. 
But a similar wharf project in Port Vila, which was funded with a Japanese loan only required a 0.55% interest rate and gave the country twice as long to repay it.
Business Insider contacted Foreign Minister Ralph Regenvanu with questions about these loans last week but has not yet received a response.
When Sri Lanka defaulted on its loan for a Chinese-built port, it gave state-owned China Merchants Group a 99-year lease which experts believe was a strategic acquisition in the region.
China expects supporting votes at the UN in return.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks at a Security Council meeting during the 72nd United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly at U.N. headquarters on September 20, 2017 in New York City.

Not only are there concerns that China is trying buy access to facilities and sea routes throughout the Pacific, Vanuatu's foreign minister confirmed Beijing's influx of cash has very, and immediate, global consequences.
Asked by "60 Minutes" whether he thinks China is trying to buy votes at the UN, Regenvanu answered in the affirmative.
"What so you think if they can pump money in here, they'll get support at the UN?" the reporter asked.
"Yes," Regenvanu answered.
"I'm sorry, that's bribery."
"Uh, maybe, that's diplomacy," Regenvanu said.
Australia has been trying to counter China's attempts at foreign interference both locally and in the Pacific, with new and expanded laws currently before parliament.
Last month, an Australian MP and chair of parliament's intelligence and security committee publicly identified Chau Chak Wing, a Chinese-born, Australian billionaire and political donor as having funded a $200,000 bribe to a former UN General Assembly president in order to advance Chinese interests.





Beijing henchman Chau Chak Wing

UK's Chinese Fifth Column

China cash link to Labour MP: £180,000 fund for pro-Beijing shadow minister
By Oliver Wright and Hannah McGrath

Barry Gardiner with Christine Lee in 2014. Her law firm has funded staff costs for the shadow international trade secretary since 2015 and her son works in his parliamentary office.

A shadow minister is being funded by a law firm with links to the Chinese state, an investigation by The Times has established.
Barry Gardiner, shadow international trade secretary, has received more than £180,000 in staff costs from the firm that acts as chief legal adviser to the Chinese embassy.
At the same time Gardiner, 59, has been employing the son of the firm’s founder in his Westminster office. 

Parliamentary records show that the donations partly fund the son’s salary.
Gardiner has generally taken a pro-Beijing stance in his shadow portfolios. 

In his previous role as shadow energy secretary, he supported Chinese involvement in Britain’s nuclear power industry. 

He has spoken out strongly in favour of the Hinkley Point power station, which is being built in financial partnership with a Chinese state energy giant.
Labour sources expressed disquiet last night at the arrangement. 

They warned that it could give rise to allegations of a conflict of interest. 

“When you are in that kind of [shadow cabinet] role it is problematic,” one MP said. 

“Basically this woman is paying for her son to have a parliamentary pass.”
Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, said: “It is very bizarre and there are clearly questions to be answered. You lay yourself open to the charge that you have got too familiar with one of the key players in an area where you are supposed to be representing the wider public interest.”
Gardiner told The Times that Christine Lee’s son, Daniel Wilkes, had volunteered in his office for several months before he was paid and there had been “an open appointments process” in which Wilkes was “appointed on merit”. 

The money is being used to fund Wilkes, who is in his 20s, and another researcher in his office.

The Times contacted Lee for comment but had not received a response at time of publication.

Gardiner opposed criticism of Chinese involvement in Hinkley Point

Gardiner has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Chinese interests in Britain. 

He strongly opposed internal party criticism of Chinese involvement in the Hinkley Point project. 

He has also called on Theresa May to tell Beijing that Britain wanted strong Chinese investment in infrastructure projects.
The donations for staff costs began shortly after Gardiner was made shadow minister for energy and climate change in September 2015. 

They carried on as he was promoted to shadow energy secretary and then became shadow international trade secretary. 

Since November 2015, he has declared non-cash donations of £182,284. 

Before this, his constituency party received cash donations from Christine Lee & Co of £22,500 between 2009 and 2015.
Lee’s Birmingham-based firm is one of the leading solicitors representing Chinese companies and individuals who want to invest in Britain. 

It has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong and Guangzhou.
Lee, 53, is an overseas member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a legal adviser to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. 

Her website shows her meeting Xi Jinping.

When Xi visited Britain in 2015 Lee’s firm paid for the security company G4S to provide 30 staff for “personal protection” for her staff during demonstrations in the Mall in favour of the visit.
In the same year The Times reported that military and intelligence figures had warned ministers that plans to give China a stake in Britain’s nuclear power industry posed a threat to national security. 

Gardiner’s predecessor as shadow energy secretary, Lisa Nandy, took a hawkish line. 

The following year Ms Nandy resigned and Gardiner was given her job as shadow climate change and energy secretary.
Theresa May then announced that she was putting the Hinkley deal on hold. 

Gardiner issued a press release backing the Chinese ambassador’s warning over the suspension and accusing her of “closing UK Plc down”.
Last night Gardiner said he was “certainly not a lone voice” in condemning the “politically foolish action” of delaying the Hinkley deal. 

He said he was aware that Christine Lee co-conducted “legal work for the Chinese embassy”.
Parliamentary rules do not specifically forbid Gardiner’s relationship with Christine Lee & Co, or the employment of Lee’s son, but he could still be in breach of the MPs’ code of conduct.