The release of more than 200 pages of partially redacted email records to the National Post through a freedom-of-information request comes at a time when post-secondary institutions around the world have come under increased scrutiny over their ties to China.
In Australia, headlines in recent months have warned that universities’ “over-reliance” on Chinese students were putting them at grave financial risk if those enrolment numbers declined.
Amid concern that Chinese scholars might seeking to exploit the openness of Western academic institutions, some American research universities announced they would stop accepting funding from Chinese companies, including telecommunications giant Huawei, and pledged to boost screening procedures before partnering with people or entities from China, Inside Higher Ed reported.
At UBC, where Chinese students comprise more than one-third of the international student population (there were 5,715 Chinese students on the main campus in 2018-19), officials have publicly said over the past year they have no intention of ending their relationship with Huawei.
Huawei sponsors $9.5 million in research agreements with UBC, campus spokesman Kurt Heinrich said Wednesday.
“Our relationship has not changed,” he said. “As noted in previous statements, UBC’s research is open and transparent regardless of the funding source. … UBC is not in a position to comment on the federal government’s policies vis a vis foreign companies in Canada. Decisions on the regulations of companies are made by the federal government. UBC is not aware of any federal conditions relating to Huawei at this time.”
Asked if the diplomatic row between Canada and China had had any impact on foreign enrolment or revenues, Heinrich would say only that the school has “many strategies in place to support robust international enrolment, fundraising and research partnerships, which include monitoring economic, geo-political and demographic trends worldwide.”
The school’s official statements belie the fretting that was happening behind the scenes.
Meng’s arrest on Dec. 1 at the Vancouver International Airport on an extradition request from the U.S. over allegations that Huawei had violated American sanctions on Iran, prompted a flurry of emails about the potential fallout.
Records show that a delegation from the Chinese Academy of Sciences cancelled a visit to UBC at the last minute “due to the recent incident related to the arrest of Huawei CFO.”
Paul Evans, an Asia specialist in the school of public policy and global affairs, wrote to colleagues Dec. 10 recommending an “urgent” meeting be convened by the UBC China Council, a group of faculty and staff that advises campus leaders on China-related matters, to discuss implications for research projects and student recruitment.
“A fundamental question is whether the university wishes to be proactive in some of these issues in our community and internationally or be reactive to events as they unfold,” he wrote.
Chinese students comprise more than one-third of the international student population at UBC. Mark van Manen/Postmedia/File
Meigan Aronson, dean of science, was eager to lend the voice of concerned scientists.
“Science has a lot at stake and much to contribute to trying to keep doors open to our colleagues in China,” she wrote.
Murali Chandrashekaran, vice-provost international, chimed in, saying the discussion needed to include the wider campus community.
“We will certainly involve our science community fast, but it also involves a conversation for all of UBC, given our significant reliance on China for students/$.”
A few weeks later, Chandrashekaran, responding to a request from Andrew Szeri, UBC’s vice-president academic, outlined potential impacts on the school’s annual Vancouver Summer Program, a four-week program that invites international students to take courses while learning about Canadian culture and society.
He noted that fees in 2018 were $5,100 per student. Based on enrolment data that year, “the full exposure envelope is $10M, with some faculties bearing more of that than others,” he wrote.
There is no indication that the Chinese government is turning off the taps
Chandrashekaran told the Post Wednesday the emails reflect early discussions on how to manage risk. Yves Tiberghien, a political science professor and executive director of the UBC China Council, said as far as he knew, there was “broadly no impact” on enrolment from China. He added that enrolment from India is growing the fastest.
Evans agreed, saying: “There is no indication that the Chinese government is turning off the taps, though if relations take a turn for the worse that is a future possibility.”
At the start of the new year, Evans wrote to colleagues that he anticipated a “rough ride in Canada-China relations for at least the next year” and that university exchanges with China were going to be “more difficult because of darker public feelings about China,” as well as “national security and techno-nationalism pressures, and creeping worries about Chinese sharp power and influence in key institutions including universities.”
In a separate email, Evans wrote that UBC needed to be “alert to a range of new concerns and risks.”
“The most immediate relate to safety issues for our students in China, the potential impact on student recruitment, and financial implications in the event of termination of Huawei-sponsored research.”
The Globe and Mail reported that Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, had warned research vice-presidents from the country’s top universities to be cautious about partnering with Huawei.
Then news reports indicated that Oxford University was suspending all new grants and donations from Huawei because of potential security threats. (The company denied it posed any such threats.)
Emails show that when Tiberghien took a whirlwind trip to Ottawa in mid-December, where he briefed senior government officials on the “Canada-China crisis,” he met with the China division of Global Affairs Canada. The subject of the “Huawei risk issue for UBC” came up.
“They gave serious advice,” he later wrote to colleagues, but a summary of that advice was completely redacted by UBC’s FOI office.
Tiberghien told the Post Wednesday UBC has since “increased monitoring and risk management, of course following all laws, while being truthful to the university missions of teaching and research excellence, both of which require a high degree of openness.”
“Ultimately finding the right balance for the good of the country will require good national level coordination.”
It was nerve-wracking having the students in China as this unfolded
Keeping doors open to China demands “careful planning, increased awareness of risks, and full transparency in what we do and with whom,” Evans said.
Aronson, the dean of science, told the Post collaboration between the science faculty and China are mostly informal with scientists working together on projects of mutual interest.
“Collaborations enable UBC Science to be part of important international efforts, which in turn allow us to attract top scientific talent, including faculty and students,” she said.
As the campus grappled with questions about its relations with China, administrators fielded many queries about whether it was safe to travel to China, especially after the detentions of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
Ono, the UBC president, was scheduled to travel to China mid-December. The itinerary included meetings at a Children’s Hospital, an industrial technology research institute, and a forestry university.
In an email to colleagues before the trip, Chandrashekaran wrote: “I am very concerned about Santa’s visit to China.” The reason for his concerns were completely redacted.
Ono proceeded with the trip without incident.
A group of journalism students, who had spent several days reporting in China in December, also returned safely.
“Yes it was nerve-wracking having the students in China as this unfolded,” journalism professor Peter Klein wrote to colleagues upon their return.
“The Chinese, in my observations at least, are usually not ones to be so blunt and transparent in their diplomacy, so this is all a bit odd.”
