by Gui Tao, Larry Neild
LONDON, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- A British think tank involved in Japan-funded propaganda against China was "notoriously partisan" and "extremely keen to attack," a leading British expert on Chinese affairs said late Tuesday.
The comment came after the Sunday Times newspaper released a detailed report on Jan. 29, accusing the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) of being paid by the Japanese Embassy in London to hype up the China threat in Britain and spread propaganda that might damage China-Britain relations.
The society was "notoriously partisan, very right wing, and extremely keen to attack," said Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London.
"It is not really very reassuring that any government would be giving funds in this way. But for Japan to be spending money on an organization like this which has such a clear, antagonistic posture, is very surprising. I suspect the only people who will be reached by this are those who are already decided in their minds," he said.
The Sunday Times reported that the Japanese Embassy in London had paid the think tank 10,000 pounds (12,570 U.S. dollars) per month to spread anti-Chinese propaganda, including through public figures like former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, a former Conservative MP in the British House of Commons who also served as chairman of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee.
Read the full story at Xinhua