Ethics: Rules of the new Silk Road

How universities are struggling to unpick the unwritten rules of EU-China collaboration

The new ‘silk road’ for research is littered with cautionary tales. While collaborating on R&D with Chinese researchers holds the prospect of working with world leaders in their fields, for some this can come with the burden of security and intellectual property concerns, political scrutiny and relationships with institutions that are closely tied to a state linked to major human rights violations.

Several European universities have closed Confucius Institutes—Chinese government-sponsored cultural and language study centres—over concerns about academic freedom. MEPs have questioned the involvement of Chinese companies in EU-funded R&D projects and described Chinese-funded courses at European universities as “propaganda”. And universities have taken flack globally for links to Chinese tech giant Huawei while politicians crack down on its influence.