'Wang said any Chinese company investing in the sector would definitely need the backing of the CCP.
"The CCP’s investment in British private education has been on the increase ... and there is definitely a CCP background to these companies: how would ordinary Chinese companies manage to buy up U.K. private schools?" she said.
"Compulsory education providers in the U.K. are now owned by enterprises controlled by the CCP, and the worry now is that its ideology will affect what is being taught there," Wang said.
She said a current review of Confucius Institutes in the U.K. wouldn't be enough to curb Beijing's influence.
..
U.K.-based author Ma Jian said the U.K. government was failing to perceive the risk in allowing such takeovers.
"These British politicians really are idiots," Ma told RFA. "China is using their economy to gain a political voice, but they have no idea how to resist them."
He said U.K. educational institutions also have a huge portfolio of investments in China.
"The U.K. has turned itself into a trading outpost of China, not just in terms of business, economy and trade, but also in terms of culture," Ma said. "[U.K.] universities, research institutes, secondary and primary schools have invested a lot of money in China."
He said the acquisition of U.K. private schools in entirely in keeping with China's bid to expand CCP influence around the world under general secretary Xi Jinping.
"This is all about targeting the next generation, educationally speaking," Ma said.
An employee of a Shanghai-based education-sector investment company, who gave only a nickname An, said there are also strong economic reasons for Chinese companies to be interested in the private education sector in the U.K.
The Hurun Research Institute reported in 2018 that more than 80 percent of China's wealthiest families plan to send their children to overseas schools, with nearly one third saying they would choose schools in the U.K.
"British brands are also particularly attractive to Chinese parents, who think about the aristocratic British accent and lifestyle," An told RFA.
According to a 2020 report from the Independent Schools Council (ISC), China has sent more students to private U.K. schools than any other country, a total of 10,864 at the time of the survey.
According to An, a weaker, post-Brexit pound and strong government support are also attractive to Chinese investors and parents alike.
ISC chair Barnaby Lenon told the Times Educational Supplement in 2019 that people should be “jolly pleased” that Chinese investors were buying up U.K. private schools.
"This obviously is the salvation of a small number of these schools. It’s a good thing for those schools because it means they can remain viable," Lenon said.'
-
Chinese Companies Buy up UK Private Schools, Sparking Fears of CCP Influence, February 26, 2021
Context'..China has committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghur Muslims and ethnic and religious minority groups who live in Xinjiang..'