‘Universities must reveal Beijing funding’

UNIVERSITIES must be forced to declare their Chinese funding, crossparty MPS have demanded amid concerns about spying and censorship.

The group, including former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, have warned the 30-strong network of Beijing-backed Confucius Institutes on UK campuses are having a “chilling effect” on academic freedom. The institutes are funded and monitored through China’s Ministry of Education and deliver cultural and language classes to international students at British universities.

Hong Kong students living in Britain say they have to self-censor to avoid Chinese undergraduates reporting their families to Communist authorities.

Vice-chancellors at 17 universities have accepted at least £24million of Beijing funds to run the institutes, freedom of information requests show.

But they are mired in secrecy, with all but five refusing to routinely reveal their funding. The China Research Group of MPS estimates the true funding over the past decade is £28million.

Now 20 MPS have tabled an amendment to the free speech Bill, to require universities to report the funding and activities of the institutes.