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The world-renowned University of Oxford in the UK puts the IT company Tencent in the name of the Physics Masters Program.
This is because Oxford University received a donation of 700,000 pounds (about 1.07 billion won) and renamed the 120-year-old program amid rising political conflict between the UK and China.
The British Daily The Times reported on the 8th (local time) that Oxford University changed the name of the famous physics chair program’Wykeham’ with Tencent on the condition that it receives 700,000 pounds donated from Tencent.
Accordingly, British academia and the local media immediately opposed Oxford’s decision.
The Daily Mail criticized that “while being criticized for policies to oppress minorities such as the genocide of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang in China, Chinese IT companies are trying to expand their influence in the UK by using their financial power.”
“China is a threat to liberal democratic countries around the world,” said Sir Chris Patton, former president of Oxford University. “There are serious security issues in this deal.”
“Tencent went through a rigorous university screening process,” an Oxford University spokesman explained.
A spokesperson for Tencent also said, “We want to become a good company through donations.”
Meanwhile, President Ringer, who played an important role in leading the decision at Oxford University, is also talking.
He is the chief representative of Tencent in Europe, where he studied quantum computing in Oxford and received his doctorate. In addition, it is known that Ringer has a strong relationship with Oxford professors.
But he avoided commenting on why Tencent donated to Oxford and whether it was involved in negotiations, the Daily Mail said.
Tencent owns WeChat, an instant messaging application used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, and has a strong influence on social media and online. The enterprise value reaches 500 billion dollars.
The recent intensification of political conflict between the UK and China began when the British BBC recently reported on the actual conditions of the camps in the Hugru Autonomous Region.
The BBC reported on the 3rd that organized rape, group rape, and torture were being committed against Uighur women imprisoned in a Uighur “reeducation” facility in the Uighur Autonomous Region in Xinjiang in northwestern China.
A Uighur woman who had been imprisoned for nine months in the US was exiled to the United States. “A lot of women were taken every night and were raped by men in suits and masks.” “I also raped three times by two or three people. I was exposed,” he revealed.
Another Kazakh woman who escaped there said, “What I did in the prison for 18 months is to strip Uyghur women’s clothes, tie their hands, and hand them over to a Chinese man who came in from outside the Chinese public security or prison facilities. If I got caught, I used to give me money after work.” This woman also testified that systematic rape was committed.
Another woman also told the BBC that she had witnessed camp guards publicly rape women.
In response, the Chinese government strongly protested on the 5th that the BBC linked the issue with politics in a broadcast related to the novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19) and reported it as an ideological prejudice.
In response to this, the British government also revoked its broadcasting license, claiming that the China International Television (CGTN), which opened its European headquarters in London in 2019, is operating under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.
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