Wednesday13 November 2019 ★ FINANCIAL TIMES 7

according to a review, which also identi-

fied the opaqueness of CETC’s owner-

ship as a “further challenge”.

Curtin University says the researcher

had advised it that he was solely focused

on the provision of technical advice and

that “he has not received any academic

funding from the Chinese government”.

But critics remain unconvinced and

are lobbying Canberra to impose tighter

controls on collaborative research.

“It is clear that universities have been

extremely lax in some of their research

collaboration projects and this is

causing serious concern at Australia’s

defence and security agencies,” says

Clive Hamilton,author ofSilent Invasion:

Chinese Influence in Australia.

A report by the Australian Strategic

Policy Institute, a Canberra think-tank,

detailed how China’s People’s Liberation

Armyhas sponsored 2,500 military

scientists and engineers in western uni-

versities since 2007. Nearly all were CCP

members, who returned to China after

completing their research.

“Helping a rival military develop its

expertise and technology isn’t in the

national interest,” says Alex Joske,

author of the October 2018 report. “Yet

it’s not clear that western universities

and governments are fully aware of this

phenomenon.”

But, Mr Laurenceson warns,blocking

Australian scientists from collaborating

with their Chinese counterparts could

do irreparable damage to the country’s

research base. Adding that Australia

and other western nationsrisklosing

hundreds of millions of dollars in Chi-

nese funding and research expertise in

key sectors such as engineering if they

ban or placestrict rules on R&D collabo-

ration.

“China is now a knowledge generation

hub and ahead of Australia in many

areas,” he says. “International collabo-

ration is fundamental to the success of

Australian universities — plenty of these

Chinese researchers would be happy to

collaborate in Europe or elsewhere.”

The campus fight over Hong Kong

D

rew Pavlou is an unlikely

threat to the Chinese

Communist party. The 20-

year-old rts student ata

Australia’s University of

Queenslandhas never even been to the

country. But his decision to organise a

campus demonstration in support of

Hong Kong pro-democracy rotestersp

has sparked a diplomatic incident

between Canberra and Beijing and put

him on a collision course with the

Chinese authorities.

The July 24protest urnedt violent,

with clashes between pro- and anti-

Beijing students.The organisers were

subsequentlyaccused by China’s con-

sul-general in Brisbane, Xu Jie, of being

“separatists” and “anti-China activists”.

Mr Pavlou has lodged a police com-

plaint against Mr Xu alleging thatthe

consul-general’s statementexposed the

young student o death threatst. Itclaims

that the statementis evidence of efforts

by Beijing and its network of foreign

representativesto silence critics and

limitfreedom of speech on campuses.

The arts student is also urgingthe uni-

versity to close its Confucius Institute, a

Chinese language and cultural centre on

campus funded by Beijing, andreverse

its decision to appoint Mr Xu as an

adjunct professor.

A separate legal actionlodged by Mr

Pavlou against Mr Xu will be heard on

November 22 at Brisbane Magistrates

Court. The student has asked the court

to issue a form of restraining order

against Mr Xu hat would require him tot

stop any activity that threatens to cause

harm to Mr Pavlou. But the senior Chi-

nese officialhas not yet said whetherhe

will attend court or defend the action.

The spillover of tensions generated by

the Hong Kong protests at colleges in

Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US

and elsewhere has intensified aglobal

debate about Beijing’s influence t west-a

ern universities where annualenrol-

ment of Chinese students doubled ot

869,000 in the decade to 2017, according

to the Centre for Independent Studies, a

Sydney-based think-tank. It is a concern

that extends beyond Beijing’s monitor-

ing of its own citizens on overseas cam-

puses: bleeding into areas such as

research and development and cyber

security.

“Australian academic independence

is being bought by the Chinese govern-

ment,” says Mr Pavlou. “Beijing exer-

cises so much financial leverage over

our universities that it can stifle all

criticism of the Chinese government

on campus.”

The university strongly rejectsthese

criticisms, saying it is committed to free

speech and insists its ties with Mr Xu

and the Confucius Institute are entirely

appropriate. But the violent scenes have

alarmed Australia’s conservative gov-

ernment, whichrebuked Mr Xu for his

commentsand has created a foreign

interference task force staffed by secu-

rity service personnel and academics to

monitor the university sector.

It is expected to issueguidelinesby

the end of November on how to

strengthencyber security n campuses,o

reduce the risk of sensitive military and

dual-use intellectual property being

obtained by the Chinese government or

military, and safeguard academic free-

dom at colleges.

Canberra’s focus on rooting out for-

eign influence, first in politics and now

universities, has angered Beijing and

alarmed some Australian academics,

who warn it risks labelling all Chinese

students as spies, promoting xenopho-

bia and causing irreparable damage to

bilateral relations, with two-way trade

worth A$213bn last year. But critics

counter that universities are turning a

blind eye to Beijing’s alleged interfer-

ence on campus because the sector has

becomedependent on Chinese money.

“This is a wake-up call for all of

us, whether it be government, the uni-

versity sector or business,” says Dan

Tehan, Australia’s education minister.

“We need to understand the best way we

can deal with the threat [of foreign

interference].”

Revenue earner

The influx of Chinese students uoyedb

college coffers at a time when many

western governments were cutting

education budgets in the wake of the

2008 financial crisis. Universities say

Chinese students make a valuable con-

tribution beyond fee income by foster-

ing diversity, new ways of thinking in

classes and personal links to the world’s

second-biggest economy. But they do

also make a substantial financial differ-

ence, paying at least three to four times

more in feesthan domestic students.

Kong against the territory’s authorities,

the boards are a eminder of ther contin-

uing tensions on Australian campuses.

Jack Yiu, a student from Hong Kong at

the University of Queensland, shows

grainy video footage captured on his

mobile phoneof a Chinese student rip-

ping down messages from the Lennon

wall. When the student is challenged by

a university security guard he appears

to tell him that he will make a complaint

to the Chinese ambassador in Australia

about his treatment.

“Students from Hong Kong fear they

are being targeted on campus”, says

Mr Yiu, a former head of the university’s

Hong Kong Student Association. “But

also [fear]that Chinese authorities

are monitoring their involvement at

protests in Australia and can cause us

trouble when we go home.”

A week after the University of Queens-

land protest, a pro-Hong Kong demon-

stration at New Zealand’s University of

Auckland led to a female Hong Kong stu-

dentbeing pushed to the ground by rival

protesters. The pro-Beijing group was

later praised by China’s consulate in

Auckland or its “spontaneous patriot-f

ism” in language almost identical to that

used by Mr Xuin Brisbane.

Neither Mr Xu, the Chinese embassy

in Canberra or the Chinese Students and

Scholars Association — whichrepre-

sents the country’sstudents and aca-

demics in Australia — responded toFT

requests for comment about theallega-

tions made by Mr Pavlou. None of them

would agree to be interviewed by the FT.

The University of Queensland also

refused a request for interview but said

it fully supported free speech on cam-

pus. “Bullying and intimidating behav-

iour, including hate speech, will not be

tolerated at UQ,” it said.

Many Chinese students who spoke to

the FT said the Australianconcerns

about Beijing’s nfluence are misplacedi

and risk ostracising their community.

“The Chinese government and consu-

late have absolutely no role in the

university. It just isn’t happening,” says

Jacky He, president of the students’

union at the University of Sydney, who

moved to Australia from China with his

parents aged10.

“It is important to realise that Chinese

students are not all CCP members

and their views are not monolithic.”

It is a viewshared by Yuan Jiang, a

PhD student at Queensland University

of Technology in Brisbane. “People are

always trying to view Chinese students

as a single group to analyse, but that is

not right. Most Chinese students just

want to study and stay out of trouble.

“There is a chance that Chinese

parents will read about this influence

debate and may encourage their chil-

dren to go to other countries rather than

Australia,” adds r Jiang.M

Australian universities worry that

Chinese students could go elsewhere ot

study, including the UK, which has

revamped its visa regime o make itt

more attractive to overseas students.

There are already signs of a slow down

with a dip in Chinese student visas

issued in the June quarter and Mac-

quarie University in Sydney implement-

ing budget cuts, at least in part because

of a fall in international students.

“The debate over Chinese interfer-

ence at universities has become exag-

gerated to such an extent by some com-

mentators that it risks stoking racism,

even if that is not the intent,” says James

Laurenceson, acting director of the Aus-

tralian-China Relations Institute at the

University of Technology Sydney.

He blames Australia’s fear of aban-

donment by itsmainally, the US, as

one reason for thecampaign against

“Chinese interference” by some politi-

cians and conservative media outlets.

“It is simply not right to make a gen-

eral claim that Chinese students study-

ing here in Australia are rampantly

nationalist pro-CCP or allege they are

shutting down free expression.”

Project partners

Yetthe deepening research relationship

between western universities and Chi-

nese academics is ringingalarm bells.

Human Rights Watch recently flagged

up concerns about a A$10m research

partnership between University Tech-

nology Sydney andCETC, a Chinese

state-owned military firm hat hast

developed an appused to trackMuslim

Uighur citizensin Xinjiang — the west-

ern Chinese province where there have

been mass detentions.

An investigation by Australian state

broadcaster ABC also raised concerns

about work on Chinese government-

funded research conducted byan asso-

ciate professor at Curtin University in

Perth. The research used artificial intel-

ligence to better identify ethnic minori-

ties in China.

Both universities are reviewing fund-

ing and research approval procedures

linked to the projects. UTS said it would

cease work on one of its projects with

CETC, which potentially raised con-

cerns identified in the HRW report,

In 2017, the University of Sydney

generated about A$500m in fees from

Chinese students — almost a quarter of

its total A$2.3bn revenuefor the year.

Foreign studentscontributed A$32bn to

Australia’s economy n the year to thei

end of June 2018.

Critics counter that the surge in Chi-

nese student numbers, who make up

one in 10 of those enrolled at Australia’s

top eight universities— raises questions

about thereliance on Chinese funding,

cyber security and the extent to which

the rulingCommunist partyseeks to

influence student organisations nda

quash criticism of Beijing oncampus.

Such concernsare not restricted to

Australia. In Canada, which is

embroiled in a diplomatic spat with

Beijing following the arrest ofHuawei

chief financial officerMeng Wanzhou, a

declassified report by the national spy

service warned last year that China is

targeting its “diaspora as a means of

increasing international influence”.

Western intelligence services are also

said to be stepping up their scrutiny of

research collaboration with China,par-

ticularly in “dual use” technologies, and

the extent to which Beijing uses over-

seas students to scoop up valuable intel-

lectual property and influence debates

on China in overseas institutions.

And in a nod to their concerns over

Beijing, the UK House of Commons for-

eign affairs committee last weekrecom-

mendedthat the government “engages

in dialogue with Australia, Canada, New

Zealand and the US to explore ways to

protect universities from attempts by

autocracies to use their financial muscle

to leverage influence through the with-

drawal of funding”.

University tensions

Colourful Post-it notes pinned torival

“Lennon walls” — named afterthe late

musician — at the University of Queens-

land mark outthe opposingterritories

of pro-Hong Kong and pro-Beijing stu-

dents.With protests escalating in Hong

‘It is not right to make a

general claim that Chinese

students studying here in

Australia are rampantly

nationalist pro-CCP’

Post-it protest: a

student covered

in sticky notes

stands by a

‘Lennon wall’in

support of Hong

Kong’s pro-

democracy

protests at the

University of

Queensland.

Below, a July

protest on the

campus against

funding

agreements

between

Australian

universities and

Chinese

organisations

Patrick Hamilton/AFP via

Getty Images

Clashes between pro- and anti-Hong Kong democracy supporters at Australian universities have sparked

worldwide scrutiny of the influence — from demonstrations to research — that Beijing wields.

By Jamie Smyth

869,

Chinese students

enrolled in western

universities in 2017,

double the number

of a decade earlier

A$213bn

Value of trade

between China and

Australia last year

A$500m

University of

Sydney fees from

Chinese students in

2017, almost 25% of

its total revenue for

the year

A$32bn

Contribution of

foreign students to

Australia’s economy

in 2017-

A$10m

Value of a research

tie-up between a

Chinese state

owned military firm

and University

Technology Sydney

highlighted by

Human Rights

Watch

FT BIG READ. CHINA BACKLASH

Anxious AustraliaThe problems on

campus have alarmed Canberra, which

is concerned about foreign interference

‘Not all CCP’Many Chinese students

say thefears over Beijing’s nfluencei

are misplaced and potentially harmful

R&D dependencePlacing strict rules on

collaboration riskslosing hundreds of

millions of dollars in Chinese funding