#BREAKING news is finally out of the worst case of 🇨🇳 interference in UK academia I have ever seen - reported today in the Guardian (front page) and BBC. I’ve worked on this with Prof Murphy for two years, and here is the shocking summary:
1️⃣ PRC agents visited @SheffieldHallam Beijing recruitment office, demanding that all @LauraTMurphy research on forced labour cease. Prof Murphy has led the world in her Xinjiang research, exposing labour abuse in China, especially in the renewable sector.
2️⃣ PRC blocked Hallam’s Uni website and email access in China, cutting off communication with students as leverage.
3️⃣ Hallam engaged directly with, and complied with the demands of, PRC operatives. THE FORCED LABOUR LAB WAS SHUT DOWN. MURPHY WAS TOLD SHE COULD NOT WORK ON CHINA. Grant funding was returned.
4️⃣ The Uni told Prof Murphy that she couldn’t work on China for other reasons, like the difficulty of obtaining insurance, and the fact she was operating remotely.
5️⃣ In fact, FOI and Subject Access Request documents reveal that the true motivation: fear of losing
Chinese students and associated income.
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The case represents an unprecedented capitulation of UK academic freedom to foreign state coercion, with implications for all universities reliant on international student income.
UK universities make a loss on every domestic student. They are exposed to authoritarian influence through their dependence on foreign fees. The Hallam case shows that they cannot defend academic freedom alone.
The Government must create some kind of values-based backstop to assist universities under threat or coercion. Guidance on how to deal with foreign states is clearly needed. A reporting channel for universities is essential, and more help to defend academics against lawfare (which Professor Murphy was swamped with) is overdue. Let this be an opportunity and a threshold moment.
And can we finally put an end to the ludicrous notion that our academic freedoms are somehow immune to the influence of the authoritarian Party-State upon which they increasingly rely?
We need to wake up, realise what’s at stake, and protect our institutions.
Donnie Yen is a mouthpiece of the #CCP, having denounced Hong Kong's #democracy movement as a "riot" and pandering to Xi Jinping. Why would he be the right person to be given #Oscar presenter honours? https://t.co/ijWSyLKhAY
Gwyneth Ho, a Hong Kong activist, former reporter of StandNews.
She has been in jail for over 739 days for what?
Participating in an election in Hong Kong.
Source: This is seen in NYC past Friday! @thecfhk
John Wick: Chapter 4 star Donnie Yen is invited to present at this year's Oscars ceremony, sparking backlash from netizens in Hong Kong, owing to what they describe as Yen's support for "human rights violations."
https://t.co/DFcbRLv6BJ
In Hong Kong, pro-government political orgs often spam politically-charged events with witless bodies who, when asked, have no clue what they’re even attending. But at a criminal trial it means the defendants’ families won’t be able to sit in court. That’s unbelievably cruel.