Western scholars are worried China just got harder to study. Here’s why

The restrictions appear to be linked to an investigation launched last year by China’s Cybersecurity Administration, the country’s online regulator, which had then accused CNKI of exposing “sensitive information such as China’s major projects, important scientific and technological achievements, and key technological trends.”

The new limitations are not exclusive to the United States, with one Tokyo bookstore dedicated to Chinese texts updating customers that it would no longer be selling CNKI access credentials in light of the announcement.

CrossAsia, a German database provider that partners with CNKI, also informed customers last week that four of CNKI’s databases would no longer be useable starting April.

Researchers have voiced concern over how the CNKI limitations will scale back research on contemporary China. One China-focused historian told Semafor the database made it possible for academics and students to pull up thousands of documents without having to physically travel to mainland libraries or universities to conduct research. Such travel has become increasingly difficult in recent years as tensions with the West have grown and China’s onerous zero-COVID restrictions have made it all but impossible to travel to the country.

Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens, a political scientist and director of the University of Texas at Austin’s Asia Policy Program, said the new regulations will do little to help diplomatic understanding between the U.S. and China.

“It’s in the United States’ interest that scholars and analysts here understand how Chinese counterparts see the world, and how governance works in China; the same is true in reverse,” she said in an interview. “So in an environment where information is already limited, and misperception could have severely negative consequences, even a partial and supposedly temporary restriction on basic information is concerning.”