The links between the University of Cambridge and the Chinese government have once again come under scrutiny as new evidence emerged of close ties between the Communist Party hierarchy and a professorship at the Centre for Development Studies. 

In 2012, the Chong Hua Foundation donated £3.7 million as an endowment, allowing a professorship in its name to be established by the university. At the time, the university claimed there were no links between the foundation and the Chinese government, and an internal investigation found the same. 

However, Vivien Wang, founder of EtonKids, an international nursery school provider, confirmed in a previously unpublished interview (reported on 10th June by the Telegraph) that the foundation is in fact controlled by Wen Ruchun, a powerful member of the Chinese agency responsible for its foreign reserves. She is also the daughter of Wen Jiabao, who was the Chinese Premier from 2003 to 2013.

The Chong Hua Foundation is registered in Bermuda, where it is not required to divulge the identities of its trustees. It has no internet presence, even within China, reflecting a desire for privacy. The university echoed this desire upon its receipt of the donation in 2012. At the time, the only reference the university made to the people behind Chong Hua was as “two wealthy individuals who wish to remain private”. However, the Telegraph reported that Chinese censors had removed any reference to the donation throughout the Chinese media.

Asked for comment on the new evidence about the links between Ms Wen and Chong Hua, a university spokesman said: “The donation from the Chong Hua Foundation was fully verified and approved by the University of Cambridge Advisory Committee on Benefactions. No more details will be released as the donors, as is common practice, have requested complete anonymity.”

The first and current occupant of the Chong Hua Professorship is Peter Nolan, a global authority on Chinese development. His recent work has included Is China Buying the World?, in which he accuses international commentators of denigrating the government’s capacity for economic management and “scaremongering” over the rise of China in recent decades.

Nolan’s links to the Wen family are not new: in 2007, he published a book, The Global Business Revolution and the Cascade Effect, co-written with Liu Chiuhang, Wen Ruchun’s husband and a director of statistics at the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC). Professor Nolan could not be reached for comment.

Links to foreign regimes have been the subject of media attention at other British universities as well. In 2009, LSE controversially received £300,000 from Saif Gaddafi, son of the then leader of Libya Muammar Gaddafi, after he received a PhD there.