British Universities Forge Ahead With Chinese Military-Linked Partnerships Despite MI5 Espionage Warnings

British universities have continued signing agreements with Chinese institutions linked to Beijing's military apparatus, even after MI5's director-general personally warned academic leaders about the espionage risks and threats to national security.

A new investigation has revealed that at least 23 UK universities have entered into partnerships with Chinese institutions deemed to have significant ties to China's defence sector. Perhaps more alarming, at least seven universities have signed or renewed deals with Chinese institutions flagged as posing a high risk for military-related research—partnerships that security experts believe could facilitate surveillance, human rights abuses, and weapons technology development.

MI5's Stark Warning Falls on Deaf Ears

In April 2024, MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum delivered an unprecedented briefing to university leaders, warning that hostile states—particularly China—were actively targeting sensitive UK research to advance their military capabilities and undermine British national security.

McCallum has repeatedly characterised Chinese espionage as the most significant threat to UK national security, revealing that more than 20,000 people in the United Kingdom have been targeted online by Chinese operatives for recruitment or influence campaigns in recent years.

Yet despite this extraordinary intervention, several prestigious British institutions have pressed ahead with partnerships that critics say play directly into Beijing's hands.

The 'Seven Sons' Connection

Among the most concerning collaborations are those with members of China's "Seven Sons of National Defence"—a group of universities deeply integrated with the Chinese military apparatus.

Queen Mary University of London renewed a collaboration with Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU), one of these seven institutions. Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen partnered with NWPU's National Subsea Centre, which specialises in naval technology, unmanned aerial vehicles, and space technology.

Aberdeen University extended its relationship with Harbin Engineering University, whose naval engineering department describes itself as an important research and talent training base for China's shipbuilding industry, naval equipment, and marine development. The university has been identified in US court documents as a recipient of sensitive information in a 2019 espionage trial.

Oxford and Cambridge: £50 Million in Chinese Funding

Freedom of Information requests have unveiled that the UK's most prestigious universities have received substantial sums from Chinese sources, some with documented connections to Beijing's military and intelligence networks.

From 2020 to 2024, Oxford University received approximately £24 million in gifts, grants, research funding, and donations from Chinese organisations. This included £1.8 million from Sichuan University for a biomedical collaboration. Sichuan University has been flagged by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute as "very high risk" due to alleged involvement in China's nuclear weapons program and suspected ties to cyber espionage.

Cambridge University received between £12 million and £19 million during the same period, including hundreds of thousands of pounds from entities tied to China's military and intelligence networks. In early 2024, Cambridge received £204,000 from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences for earthquake research—but given the academy's military-linked background, even ostensibly civilian research raises concerns about potential dual-use applications.

Huawei Remains Major Funder Despite Ban

Perhaps most striking is the continued role of Huawei Technologies. Despite being banned from building UK 5G networks in 2020 on national security grounds, Huawei remains the largest single source of Chinese funding for British universities, providing between £20 million and £38 million in grants since 2017—accounting for nearly a quarter of all Chinese university funding in the UK.

Imperial College London continued its research partnership with Huawei on video generation technology, even as the company remains under US sanctions. The University of Edinburgh accepted a £250,000 donation from Huawei in 2023.

The Scale of the Problem

According to research by Civitas, a British think tank, 46 of 88 UK universities surveyed had received between £122 million and £156 million from Chinese sources since 2017. Approximately 30 percent of this funding came from entities linked to the Chinese People's Liberation Army, including those sanctioned by the United States.

Three UK universities received 100 percent of their Chinese funding from military-linked entities: the University of Westminster, the University of Huddersfield, and Cranfield University.

Other Chinese military-linked entities providing funding include seven education institutions controlled by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, research institutes for nuclear warheads, and the PLA's largest supplier of precision-guided missiles.

'Not an Accident'

Former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a vocal critic of China's policies, expressed grave concerns about the dependency British universities have developed on Chinese financial backing.

"This is not an accident," Smith said. "China seeks sensitive information from the UK because of our intelligence links with the United States, and Beijing sees the university system as a vulnerable strand of British intelligence."

He suggested this dependency might be compromising academic independence, leading institutions to defer to China's interests, especially when it comes to stifling open discussions on human rights issues.

Sam Dunning, director of the UK-China Transparency think tank, warned that China's growing presence in academic collaborations could have far-reaching implications for the UK's security.

"The Chinese regime is laser-focused on using academic partnerships to further its military modernisation," he said. "Research that seems innocuous can have unforeseen military uses."

Academic Freedom Under Threat

The concerns extend beyond research partnerships. Recent reports have documented Chinese government efforts to intimidate academics and suppress research critical of Beijing.

Sheffield Hallam University terminated a project about Uyghur forced labour after Chinese state security officers reportedly interrogated a staff member in Beijing and a Chinese company named in published reports filed a defamation lawsuit. The university initially removed reports from its website and restricted the researcher from continuing her work, only reversing course after she began legal action for violating her academic freedom.

Charles Parton, of the think tanks Rusi and Merics, was blunt in his assessment: "The Chinese Communist Party is a hostile power: it does not play by any rules except its own. UK universities should not help its military or repression systems."

Universities Defend Their Position

British universities defending these agreements argue they are conducted with appropriate caution. The Russell Group, representing the UK's 24 leading research institutions, emphasised the importance of international collaborations for addressing global challenges such as healthcare, climate change, and technological innovation.

A spokesperson from Robert Gordon University insisted the institution uses "stringent processes" to assess partnerships, including risk evaluations and collaboration reviews. Oxford University asserted it had robust policies ensuring academic independence, stating that "funders have no influence over how Oxford academics carry out their research."

Calls for Stronger Measures

Lord Beamish, chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee, has advocated for a public register of universities receiving donations from China—a measure that has yet to be fully implemented.

Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons' foreign affairs committee, said the extent of ties between British and Chinese universities was "extremely troubling."

"Pleading ignorance will no longer cut it," Kearns told The Times. "Universities must be clear-eyed about relationships they are entering into with institutions designed to bolster China's military capabilities, or those guilty of facilitating grave human rights abuses."

A government spokesperson reassured the public that the UK has implemented a "robust approach to risk" in the research sector, with universities being supported in making informed decisions when collaborating internationally.

However, as MI5's warnings continue to echo and the geopolitical rivalry between China and the West intensifies, the question remains: are these academic ties inadvertently helping to expand China's military power at the expense of British national security?