CRG Weekly: Satellite schools, COP pledges, Sixth Plenum
News from the China Research Group
Event on CCP elites. Tom Tugendhat MP was joined by Desmond Shum for a conversation on Shum’s recent book Red Roulette: An Insider's Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption, and Vengeance in Today's China, a rare look at the inner workings of the Chinese Communist Party. Read the transcript or listen back to the podcast here.
China and coal. Researcher Chris Cash wrote for City AM on Friday on the domestic factors driving China’s coal addiction.
Towards a new framework for climate coordination. Read the second part of our COP26 analysis series, exploring how the UK can play a pivotal role in facilitating global climate action.
Choppy waters for British schools in China
This week saw one of the UK’s leading independent schools terminate a project to build six new schools in China by 2028.
In one of the more high-profile reversals to the rapid expansion of international education in China, Mark Batten, chair of Westminster School’s governing body, penned a letter on Tuesday lamenting that a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and “recent changes in Chinese education policy” had left school administrators with no choice but to cancel the initial establishment of a 2,000-pupil school in Chengdu in Sichuan province.
The proposed Westminster franchise was indicative of a trend of British private schools setting up satellite campuses in China. Data from ISC Research, an education consultancy, estimated that the number of students attending British schools in China grew 14 per cent annually to 202,500 pupils in 2021. According to ISC, there are now 91 British independent school brand campuses operating in China - with at least another 43 in the pipeline.
However, the political and regulatory landscapes for developing new campuses in China - even when through joint ventures with a local partner - have significantly changed in the past five years.
Tom Tugendhat, chair of the China Research Group, commented: “This [the Westminster withdrawal] is a telling decision. The sad reality is that the space for cultural exchange is narrowing in Xi’s China.” But what, specifically, has changed in outlook for British schools looking to benefit from seemingly insatiable Chinese middle-class demand for high-quality international education?
A new law, which was unveiled by China’s State Council and came into effect on September 1st, implemented new restrictions on school curricula and the ownership of private schools. The law prohibits the teaching of foreign curricula in schools from nursery to grade nine (15/16 years old). In the classroom, schools are expected to avoid politically sensitive topics such as the Tiananmen Square massacre. In 2018, when planning the curriculum for an international school, one former headteacher said he suspected such topics wouldn’t be taught even to A-level age students.
The Private Education Promotion Law also prohibits the ownership or control of any private K-9 schools by foreign entities. Members of the board of directors at private schools must be Chinese nationals and must include representatives from regulatory bodies. An investigation by The Times revealed that a number of leading British private schools with Chinese franchises have directors who double up as members of the Chinese Communist Party and have exploited loopholes to avoid regulations that ban foreign schools from educating native pupils.
Separately, Beijing stopped granting licenses this year to new international schools for the first nine years of education and several provinces have since announced plans to cut the number of primary-school-age children from attending foreign-owned schools. For schools seeking to start a franchise in China, it’s increasingly difficult to even get a foot in the door.
The profusion of recently-introduced laws in the education sector is a microcosm of a regulatory tightening that has touched almost every facet of society.
On Monday, Xi Jinping and the CCP Central Committee will kick off the Sixth Plenum of the 19th Party Congress. The Party will use the occasion to take stock of its role in China’s past and, more crucially, officially push the Party and Chinese society into Xi Jinping’s New Era.
Xi has painted a clear picture of how his era will be defined. He has reasserted Party control over all aspects of governance, overseeing an increasingly hands-on approach to economic governance and stricter oversight over freedom of information and expression. At the Sixth Plenum, we are likely to see a doubling down on the expansion of China’s regulatory state.
In part, the new rules imposed on the foreign education industry are designed to reduce educational inequality and pressure on parents and students in China’s hyper-competitive education field - a key component of Xi’s signature ‘common prosperity’ drive.
However, education is also viewed by the Party as a critical vehicle through which to build the foundations for the ‘ideological correctness’ that has underpinned Xi’s new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The “government is saying, from the age of six through to 15...‘we want to be able to control what they are learning, their views on, particularly, politics, history and geography,’” said Julian Fisher, co-founder of Venture Education, a Beijing-based consultancy.
For British school franchises, the tightrope they are treading in China is only likely to thin. On one hand, further regulation will squeeze profits and make their operating environment (even more) problematic to navigate. Adhering to regulations that are perceived to undermine the values of an open British education system - which remains one of our most important exports and sources of soft power - risks considerable brand damage.
Incorporating the CCP’s political ideology into curricula may be deemed as a bridge too far for British independent schools eager to maintain their reputation for providing a high-calibre education and seeking to expand into other parts of the world. It seems inevitable that something will have to give. It is unlikely to be Xi.
The week in brief
The UK secured a coalition of 190 countries and organisations (with the US and China notably absent) to phase out coal power at COP26. It also launched a ‘Clean Green Initiative’ set to double UK aid-funded green investments to more than £3bn over five years. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss unveiled a £110 million financial support package for clean infrastructure in ASEAN nations.
China is now responsible for a third of the world’s carbon emissions, according to a new report. Xi made no major new climate pledges at the summit. Beijing hit back at Biden’s criticism of Xi’s absence from COP26, urging the US to look at its own record on climate action and urging OECD nations channel at least $1.3 trillion in climate finance to developed nations annually from 2030.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said Britain must develop its own 'homegrown, sovereign renewable energy system’. A feasibility study into the building of a new rare earth magnets facility was published on Friday.
US Secretary of State Blinken held an hour-long meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in advance of a prospective Xi-Biden meeting.
US tech giant Yahoo ended its Chinese services, citing an increasingly challenging business and legal environment as the reason behind the withdrawal.
Australia will introduce two permanent residence visas for Hong Kong citizens as Apple Daily newspaper founder Jimmy Lai and other pro-democracy activists were tried under the National Security Law. Hong Kong's top court ruled against a government bid to expand rioting or illegal assembly prosecutions to supporters not present at the scene.
The EU sent its first-ever delegation to Taiwan, expressing solidarity with the Taiwanese people. China’s Taiwan Affairs office warned that its blacklist of those who support “Taiwan independence”, including Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu, will be banned from entering the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau.
Beijing told families to stock up on daily necessities ahead of winter as it continues to chase zero Covid cases.
Baillie Gifford’s manager told the FT that won’t “give up on China”, adding that he believes that China’s ability to create world-leading tech companies will outlast the current regulatory clampdown.
Fresh concerns were raised about China's property sector as Kaisa Group became the latest developer to miss a payment to investors. Shares in the company were suspended in Hong Kong on Friday.
Weekend reads
Tech regulation in China brings in sweeping changes. This short analysis unpicks Beijing's reining in of China's tech giants over the last year. The paper includes a fascinating breakdown of the laws and regulatory bodies responsible for targeting specific companies and industries. Kai von Carnap and Valarie Tan. MERICS
The US is still beating China in human capital - for now. The focus on technology in the US-China conflict has often obscured a crucial nuance: technological strength is the product of national capacity for innovation, powered by high-skilled individuals. Ryan Hass and Jude Blanchette. Foreign Policy
Who decides China’s foreign policy? As the world figures out how to work with China on major global issues, a deeper understanding of the foreign policy decision-making process may hold the key to successful cooperation going forward. Yu Jie and Lucy Ridout. Chatham House
Podcasts
Why perceptions of China vary so much depending on where you live. China Africa Podcast
US-China Academic Exchanges: A conversation with William Kirby. China Power - CSIS
Healing the ‘cancer’ of the Cultural Revolution. Chinese Whispers.