A new report out of the United Kingdom has confirmed what national security professionals in the United States have warned about for years: Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked pressure campaigns on foreign university campuses are not isolated incidents. They are coordinated, deliberate, and spreading.
Coordinated Pressure on Campuses
According to the U.K.-China Transparency, a respected think tank, CCP officials pressured Chinese students at U.K. universities to monitor their classmates and report on activities that may be considered “sensitive.” These include discussions of ethnic cleansing in Xinjiang, the COVID-19 outbreak, and anything critical of Chinese technology or political doctrine. In some cases, students have told professors directly that they were asked to spy. Many students have reported feeling increasingly uncomfortable participating in class discussions when China is the subject.
The timing of the report is significant. The U.K.’s new free speech law for universities imposes steep fines on institutions that fail to protect academic freedom. The Office for Students, the U.K.’s higher education regulator, has made clear that agreements with foreign governments must not come at the cost of free inquiry. Confucius Institutes are among the foreign entities likely to face increased oversight under the new law.
If this sounds familiar, it should. U.S. universities have dealt with similar CCP tactics for years. Often, financial dependence on international student tuition has created a chilling effect on institutions that might otherwise speak out. Stories of Chinese students surveilling their classmates or reporting politically inconvenient topics to consulates have circulated in U.S. academic circles for over a decade. And while some universities have taken action, many have remained silent, unwilling to jeopardize their international partnerships or revenue streams.
Academic Freedom is a National Security Issue
This silence has national security consequences. When foreign authoritarian regimes can control the discourse on U.S. or U.K. soil, it doesn’t just stifle academic freedom; it compromises our ability to assess and discuss global threats accurately. When professors self-censor out of fear, or when students stop asking questions in class, we lose more than just educational integrity. We lose our ability to think critically about how regimes like the CCP operate.
It’s worth noting that these pressure campaigns are not about academic competition or cultural exchange. Instead, they are means for political warfare. The CCP sees universities as soft targets. Academic institutions are unarmed, open institutions with minimal counterintelligence oversight and abundant access to emerging technologies and future government leaders. Their goal isn’t to win a debate. It’s to ensure the debate never happens in the first place.
Countering Foreign Influence in Higher Education
The UK’s legislative move is a step in the right direction. But laws on paper are only as strong as their enforcement. Universities must be willing to terminate partnerships, restrict hostile actors from funding or influencing curriculum, and support faculty and students who come forward with concerns. Most of all, they must be willing to view this problem not as an academic one, but as a counterintelligence issue.
And the United States should take note. If the U.K. is stepping up, we can’t afford to step back. The solution will require better coordination between higher education, law enforcement, and the intelligence community. However, it begins with acknowledging the threat accordingly: foreign interference that compromises both our academic institutions and national security.
