"University of Manchester ends research project with Chinese firm over alleged links to Uighur persecution" 3 February 2021

The University of Manchester has terminated a research project with a state-owned Chinese company with alleged links to human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims.

It comes after a parliamentary committee accused China Electronics Technology Group (CETC) of providing technology and infrastructure used in the persecution of the ethnic minority group.

Tom Tugendhat, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, had written to the university over its Department of Physics and Astronomy's research partnership with the company.

“According to credible reports from both Human Rights Watch and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, CETC is one of the main architects of the Chinese government’s surveillance state in Xinjiang, China, providing both technology and infrastructure that is being used for the identity-based persecution of more than one million people, predominantly Uyghur Muslims," the MP said in his letter. [...]