Thread by @thetimes

🔎 Investigation: British universities have accepted £240m from Chinese institutions – many with links to the military – amid fears the research could help Beijing build super weapons
thetimes.co.uk/article/britis…

The £240m includes:
📱£40m from Huawei, the telecommunications giant
✈️ £20m from other companies sanctioned by the US government for supplying the Chinese military with fighter jets, communications technology and missiles

The number of research collaborations between scientists in the UK and Chinese institutes with deep connections to the country’s defence forces has tripled to more than 1,000 in six years, a figure that lays bare the scale of cooperation with the hostile state

Academics have worked with professors from military-linked Chinese universities on sensitive “dual-use” research, involving technology that can be used for military aims as well as benign civilian purposes

Whitehall sources have sounded the alarm on academic collaborations with clear military links. They warned that Britain was in an “arms race” with China and must protect cutting-edge technology that would give a military advantage

A security source said:

🗣️“We need to get the balance right between mutually beneficial engagement and good scientific work, versus giving the Chinese state a helping hand"

One academic at the University of Southampton has co-authored 18 papers on materials science with a Chinese warhead designer.

Imperial College London has accepted £5 million in funding to research high-tech aerospace materials from three companies linked to the Chinese military

A string of high-ranking security officials have recently warned of the threat posed by China.

Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, has said that it represents a greater long-term threat to British interests than Russia

Martin Thorley, a Chinese international policy specialist at the University of Exeter, said:

🗣️ "The findings appear to demonstrate some sector-wide failings in terms of checks on donations and research partners"

The world of espionage and hostile state activity is undoubtedly a murky one, but the security guidance issued to help academics avoid its dangers could not be clearer:

Read the full investigation 👇
thetimes.co.uk/article/britis…