Chinese Companies Buy up UK Private Schools, Sparking Fears of CCP Influence

Chinese companies have bought up 17 U.K. private schools in the United Kingdom in recent years, sparking fears of expanding Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence in the country as the schools struggle financially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, British media reported. "Hundreds of independent schools left in dire financial straits by the coronavirus pandemic are being targeted by Chinese investors," the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported at the weekend.

Some of the companies are run by high-ranking members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, and "seek to expand their influence over Britain's education system," the report said.

According to an investigation by the paper, nine of the 17 schools under Chinese control are owned by companies controlled by Chinese entrepreneurs who are also members of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a body which maintains close ties between private sector wealth and the ruling party. Private schools have been hard-hit by the pandemic, with plummeting enrollments and falling fees as students are sent home for distance-learning, the report said.

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