Chinese professor investigated by Singapore university over sexual harassment claims

Current and ex-staff at the East Asian Institute reported political scientist Zheng Yongnian, who has taken up a post at CUHK-Shenzhen, to the police

A statement from Zheng’s lawyers said he ‘categorically denies’ all allegations

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The National University of Singapore. Photo: Facebook

Published: 9:00am, 5 Sep 2020Updated: 1:34pm, 5 Sep 2020

One of China’s top political scientists, Zheng Yongnian, is being investigated by the National University of Singapore (NUS) over allegations of sexual harassment by a female employee at its East Asian Institute (EAI) think tank.

In a statement late on Wednesday, the Singapore university said it was aware of the allegations, which were also posted online. It said Zheng had resigned from the institute and NUS to join an institution overseas, and had been granted leave until the expiry of his contract later this month.

“We understand that a police investigation related to some of the allegations has been completed and the university is following up with its internal investigations into some of the matters mentioned in the post,” an NUS spokesman added.

In an email responding to questions from This Week in Asia on Friday, the NUS spokesman said it was aware of a second case where allegations were raised against Zheng.

Zheng Yongnian, in a file photo from 2017. Photo: Edward Wong

A staff member who had since left the EAI filed a police report against Zheng “regarding an incident of outrage of modesty that allegedly took place in 2012”.

“Police investigations into that case were closed with the police not taking any further action,” the spokesman said.