A recent investigation conducted by The Times newspaper has revealed that dozens of British universities have collaborated with institutions linked to Uighur genocide, weapons development, espionage, and defence research.  Increased tensions with Taiwan, a tightening grip over Hong Kong and China’s aim to build a military on par with that of the United States’ by 2027 all frame concerns around this revelation. 

The universities of Cambridge, Leeds, Lincoln, Kent, and Queen Mary University are among those identified, by The Times, as having ‘very high risk’ partnerships with Chinese institutions. This means having relations to research institutions that have close ties to the Chinese state and its military. At present, however, there are no British universities being accused of knowingly assisting malign activities being carried out by the Chinese state. 

The news comes as wider debates about the future of the UK’s relations to China have recently received greater political attention. Last November, in one of the current Prime Minister’s first speeches on foreign policy, the ‘golden era’ of UK-Chinese relations was declared to have come to end. This emphatic statement raises questions about what future UK-Chinese relations will look like and how, if at all, it will affect the integral research partnerships that British universities have with the global superpower going forward. 

What remains clear, however, is the historical dependency that British universities have on China. As of 2023, more than 140,000 Chinese students are now studying in Britain – greater than any other international cohort-and some universities receive twenty-five percent of their income from Chinese students’ tuition fees.

The March 2021 King’s College London report, detailing the UK and China’s research collaboration, suggested that more UK government funding into British university research would put an end to universities’ over dependence on China. Nevertheless, the report also put forward the idea that the cooperative and collaborative spirit between the UK and China could equally be a force for intellectual and technological progress.

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