Cambridge University has confirmed that the Chong Hua Educational Foundation, from which they received a £3.7 million donation, has no affinities with the Chinese government. 

This clarification follows the heightened speculation concerning the identity of the Chinese benefactors after internet censors in China erased news of the donation. 

Online discussions, articles and blogs relating to the mysterious donation from the Foundation, which has no official listing or website and is not listed as a registered charity, were 'cleaned' in one night, after academics raised concerns about the secretive foundation.

On searching Chong Hua Cambridge the only relevant sites were two articles of Telegraph blogger Peter Foster, and one from our very own TCS dated 9 February, which seems to have escaped the discernment of the censors.

However, the University launched an investigation into the Foundation and despite rumours fuelled by the Chinese online censorship that the endowment may be politicall motivated, it transpires that there is no identified link between the private foundation and the Chinese government.

A University spokesman has clarified that the foundation 'was established in 2008 by two wealthy individuals who are private investors in private and public companies in Hong Kong and mainland China.'

'The individuals concerned wish to remain anonymous and created the Foundation as a private legal and financial entity in order to protect their privacy as individuals...On the advice of a leading international law firm the Foundation was established by trust deed in a legal jurisdiction outside China.'

It transpires that the Foundation's lack of online presence can in part be explained by the fact it does not encourage unsolicited proposals and employs no staff.

Quashing all conjecture that the Chinese government were attempting to purchase influence at the University through the donation, the spokesman stressed that 'the funds that the Foundation has at its disposal were provided by the two founders from the investment gains that they had made in the capital markets.

The Foundation has not received any donations from other individuals or from the Chinese Government or institutions associated with the Government.'

The Foundation's donated money will endow a chair of Chinese Development Studies, the first recipient being Professor Peter Nolan.