Sheffield Hallam University staff in China were threatened by individuals described by them as being from China's National Security Service who demanded the research being done in Sheffield be halted. And access to the university's websites from China was blocked, impeding its ability to recruit Chinese students, in a campaign of threats and intimidation lasting more than two years. In an internal email from July 2024, university officials said "attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the research are now untenable bedfellows".
"I've been involved with China for a long time. "I've called out China's human rights abuses, I was one of those who put forward amendments to make sure Chinese government companies weren't involved in our infrastructure projects, as a result of which I'm a subject of interest to them."
The expert lawyers expressed surprise that the CPS thought it needed further assurance from the government that China was an enemy insofar as it posed a current threat to national security before the trial of Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry could go ahead. The former director of public prosecutions Ken Macdonald said in a BBC interview that he believed Stephen Parkinson, the current DPP, may have been over-fussy in demanding the government make a statement in open court that would be embarrassing
