The government of the United Kingdom today asked British universities to end cooperation with the Chinese institute China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI), which the intelligence service MI5 claims is a front for espionage activities.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis stated that British academics should sever all ties with this Chinese institute.
The British intelligence service MI5 announced that more than 100 academics connected to Britain had worked on projects secretly funded by the Chinese counterintelligence service, through CGTRI.
The projects, among other things, were related to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.
MI5 stated that this institute has “very strong ties with the Chinese Ministry of State Security” and seeks to fund research that enhances the technical capabilities (of the Chinese state) for espionage.
British intelligence officials in recent years have increasingly and more loudly warned of espionage threats from China, the UK’s third largest foreign trade partner. Last year, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said that Chinese state actors pose a security threat—every day.
Jarvis said that the MI5 alert “lays bare the attempts by Chinese intelligence officers to secretly benefit from the expertise and research of our academics, undermining the national security of us and our allies.”
He also said that he had written to university heads to “ensure that their staff sever all ties with this company.”
He assessed that further cooperation with the Chinese institute could constitute a violation of the United Kingdom’s National Security Act.
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