Jesus College’s China problem

Although Stephen Toope, vice-chancellor of Cambridge University, is committed to openness, it is a struggle to get information out of him about his university’s dealings with the Chinese Communist party. He has declined an interview, and when I raised questions about Jesus College’s China Centre and other China links, which he has publicly backed, he replied that ‘You cited one very specific initiative, organised by one of our 31 colleges, with a very narrow thematic focus’. I wrote back with further questions, but he says he is ‘not able to add anything to my earlier remark about Jesus College’. I also wrote to Sonita Alleyne, the Master of Jesus, who also declined an interview: she must ‘focus on the immediate needs of our community’ instead. On its website, Jesus speaks of its alumni as ‘a lifelong community’, but I discover that they, too, are not getting substantive replies. The Jesuan Sir John Jenkins, distinguished former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, wrote to Ms Alleyne to ask whether the college would be prepared to invite a senior figure critical of Xi Jinping to address it.