The Free University of Amsterdam (VU) has stopped the Chinese subsidy for a controversial research into human rights in that country. The university reports this on Wednesday evening a statement. the NOS reported Wednesday that the Cross Cultural Human Rights Center (CCHRC) received between 250,000 and 300,000 euros annually for three years from the Chinese Southwest University of Political Science and Law. Universities in China generally have close ties to the state communist party.
The CCHRC conducts research into human rights in China. The center says beyond the Western “liberal values” to watch. Researchers from the CCHRC appear regularly in television programs of the state broadcaster. A spokesperson for the VU says that “any hint of dependence” must be “obviously” excluded from investigations into which the VU invests money.
In addition to turning off the CCHRC’s money tap, the VU says it will also investigate whether “the independence of the institute’s research has been safeguarded on all fronts”. The subsidy that the center received from the Chinese university for the coming year will be refunded. If the investigation shows that the CCHRC does not operate independently, the subsidy that the center received from the Chinese university in previous years will also be returned.
In addition to money from China, the CCHRC also receives money from the University of Amsterdam and the VU itself. The spokesperson could not yet say exactly what the investigation into the CCHRC will look like and whether the ties of employees of the institute with China will also be investigated.
China’s human rights policy has been criticized a lot. A panel of experts labeled the Chinese treatment of the ethnic minority Uyghurs as genocide. The religious-spiritual movement Falun Gong is also suppressed in the country. In addition, freedom of expression is limited in China and the internet is censored, among other things.
Also read: Art is also losing freedom in China
#shuts #money #tap #Chinas #controversial #human #rights #investigation