Debating Academic Autonomy in the German- Speaking Field of China Studies: An AssessmentSabrina Habich-Sobiegalla und and H. Christoph Steinhardt

ASIEN – Nr. 162/163 (2022) pp. 108–18

Geopolitical tensions between China and the West, and hardening authoritarianism
in China, have sparked a debate in the German-speaking field of China Studies on
how individual scholars and higher education organizations ought to position
themselves and how to ensure academic autonomy. Most participants agree that the
Chinese government’s increasing domestic repression and growing inclination to
project state punishments abroad and onto foreign researchers are major problems
for China scholarship. However, one side of the debate places China scholars and
universities that collaborate with China under suspicion of self-censorship, while the
other side fails to address how China scholars can maintain autonomy in an
environment of increased Chinese assertiveness…