The Times (February 4) published a report stating that British universities have accepted £240 million from
Chinese institutions, many with links to the military. It added that their joint research could help Beijing to
build superweapons. The Times investigation found 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. The university funding includes £60 million from sources now sanctioned by the US
government for supplying the Chinese military with fighter jets, communications technology, and missiles.
It said the 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. They included drones, futuristic electromagnetic technology that can fire projectiles, cutting edge
aerospace materials, radar, jamming equipment and high performance batteries. It reveals that Imperial
College London has accepted £5 million in funding to research high-tech aerospace materials from three
companies linked to the Chinese military that are sanctioned in the US. An engineer at Swansea has
completed research on helicopter parts and advanced wing technology with engineers at two of China’s
foremost military research universities. He had previously been an honorary professor at Nanjing University
of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. The university said this work had been published in accessible
international journals. The Times stated that there are 1069 academics in 2021 who are collaborating with
Chinese entities. It also revealed that British Colleges/Universities had received large amounts of funds from
Chinese entities and listed examples of: Imperial College London receiving GBP 54,573,978; University of
Cambridge GBP 46,122, 029; University of Oxford GBP 24,078,126.06; University of Manchester GBP
19,760,242; and the University of Edinburgh GBP 13,904,353.
(Comment: It is believed that another more 'explosive' article is to appear shortly.)
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