{"id":21984,"date":"2025-02-11T14:53:41","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T15:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21984"},"modified":"2025-02-11T16:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T16:23:19","slug":"chinese-companies-use-legal-threats-to-halt-foreign-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21984","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Companies Use Legal Threats to Halt Foreign Research"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Think tanks and universities have helped expose problematic Chinese business practices. Now, those businesses are accusing them of defamation.<\/p>\n

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A little over a year ago, a group of researchers at Sheffield Hallam University in England published a report documenting a Chinese clothing company\u2019s potential ties to forced labor<\/a>. Members of the British Parliament cited the report ahead of a November debate that criticized China for \u201cslavery and forced labor from another era<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Smart Shirts, which is a subsidiary of the manufacturer and makes clothing for major labels, filed a defamation lawsuit. And in December, a British judge delivered a ruling: The case would move forward, which could result in the university\u2019s paying damages.<\/p>\n

The preliminary finding in the case against the university is the latest in a series of legal challenges roiling the think tanks and universities that research human rights abuses and security violations by Chinese companies. To stop the unfavorable reports, which have led to political debate and in some cases export restrictions, the companies are firing back with defamation accusations.<\/p>\n

Chinese companies have sued or sent threatening legal letters to researchers in the United States, Europe and Australia close to a dozen times in recent years in an attempt to quash negative information, with half of those coming in the past two years. The unusual tactic borrows from a playbook used by corporations and celebrities to discourage damaging news coverage in the media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The budding legal tactic by Chinese firms could silence critics who shed light on problematic business practices inside one of the most powerful countries in the world, researchers warn. The legal action is having a chilling affect on their work, they say, and in many cases straining the finances of their organizations.<\/p>\n

The problem has become so pronounced, the U.S. House of Representatives\u2019 Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing on the issue<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n

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Think tanks and universities have helped expose problematic Chinese business practices. Now, those businesses are accusing them of defamation.A little over a year ago, a group of researchers at Sheffield Hallam University in England published a report documenting a Chinese clothing company\u2019s potential ties to forced labor. Members of the British Parliament cited the report ahead of a November debate that criticized China for \u201cslavery and forced labor from another era.\u201dBut Smart Shirts, which is a subsidiary of the manufacturer and makes clothing for major labels, filed a defamation lawsuit. And in December, a British judge delivered a ruling: The case would move forward, which could result in the university\u2019s paying damages.The preliminary finding in the case against the university is the latest in a series of legal challenges roiling the think tanks and universities that research human rights abuses and security violations by Chinese companies. To stop the unfavorable reports, which have led to political debate and in some cases export restrictions, the companies are firing back with defamation accusations.Chinese companies have sued or sent threatening legal letters to researchers in the United States, Europe and Australia close to a dozen times in recent years in an attempt to quash negative information, with half of those coming in the past two years. The unusual tactic borrows from a playbook used by corporations and celebrities to discourage damaging news coverage in the media.The budding legal tactic by Chinese firms could silence critics who shed light on problematic business practices inside one of the most powerful countries in the world, researchers warn. The legal action is having a chilling affect on their work, they say, and in many cases straining the finances of their organizations.The problem has become so pronounced, the U.S. House of Representatives\u2019 Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing on the issue in September.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21986,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21984"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21987,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21984\/revisions\/21987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}