About a year ago, a group of researchers at Sheffield Hallam University in England published a report documenting possible links to forced labor at a Chinese clothing company. British MPs cited the report ahead of a debate in November, criticizing China for “another era of slavery and forced labor.”
But Smart Shirts, a subsidiary of the manufacturer that makes clothes for major labels, filed a defamation lawsuit. In December, a British judge ruled that the case would proceed, and that it could result in the university being awarded damages.
The initial finding in the lawsuit against the university is the latest in a series of legal challenges that have rocked think tanks and universities that research human rights abuses and security breaches by Chinese companies. In an attempt to stop the unfavorable reporting that has led to political debate and, in some cases, export restrictions, the companies have responded by filing defamation lawsuits.
In recent years, Chinese companies have sued or sent threatening legal letters to researchers in the United States, Europe and Australia in an attempt to discredit negative information, half of which have come in the past two years. The unusual tactic is taken from a playbook used by corporations and celebrities to discourage harmful news coverage in the media.
Researchers warn that the legal maneuvering launched by Chinese companies could silence critics who shed light on problematic business practices in one of the world’s most powerful countries. They say the legal actions are having a chilling effect on their work and, in many cases, crippling their organizations’ finances.
The problem is so pronounced that the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing on the issue in September.
Researchers in these cases “face a choice: remain silent and withdraw from the C.C.P.’s pressure campaign, or continue to tell the truth and face the enormous reputational and financial costs of these cases alone,” the committee’s chairman, Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, said at the hearing.
He added, “The Chinese Communist Party is using the American legal system to silence those who might expose them in America.”
The battle between Chinese companies and critical researchers has intensified as tensions between the United States and China over trade, technology and territory have escalated.
