MI5 warns universities to cut ties with Chinese institute

MI5 has warned British universities to cut ties with a Chinese research organisation, which it says has secretly channelled funding from Beijing’s intelligence apparatus to more than 100 UK-linked academics.

In an unusually specific espionage alert issued on Wednesday, the UK’s domestic intelligence service said that the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI) had “very strong ties” to China’s Ministry of State Security, the country’s civilian intelligence agency.

It said CGTRI’s primary purpose was funding research that directly improved the MSS’s technical espionage capabilities.

The research involved fields including AI, cyber security, covert communications and steganography — techniques used to conceal secret information within apparently innocuous files or messages.

The relationship between UK and Chinese researchers has become increasingly sensitive in recent years, particularly in areas involving fundamental infrastructure such as communications or materials with both civil and military applications.

Wednesday’s announcement suggests links between UK researchers and CGTRI are extensive if often unwitting.

“MI5 has identified that more than 100 UK-linked academics have contributed to projects funded by MSS via CGTRI . . . Many academic institutions and individuals will to date have engaged with CGTRI in good faith given CGTRI’s obfuscated links to MSS,” said the alert.

The alert did not name any universities or academics that it suspected of research ties to CGTRI.

Dan Jarvis, UK security minister, said that the alert exposed Chinese intelligence efforts to “covertly benefit from the expertise and research of our academics, undermining our national security and that of our allies”.

Jarvis said he had written to all UK university vice-chancellors asking them to end arrangements with CGTRI.

“International partnerships are vital to ensure our universities and research institutes continue to thrive, but we will take robust action to defend against the threats we face,” he said.

MI5 said institutions should immediately review existing and planned collaborations and determine the ultimate source of funding for Chinese research partnerships.

The agency also warned that researchers continuing to conduct CGTRI-funded work should seek legal advice over possible offences under the National Security Act, including assisting or receiving a material benefit from a foreign intelligence service.

Western intelligence agencies have been growing increasingly concerned about Chinese intelligence penetration.

China’s ambassador to the UK has said both countries benefit from research collaboration, which should be protected from “political interference”.

“Some in the UK continue to view China through an outdated lens. They hold on to their ideological biases, overstretch the concept of national security and try to disrupt China-UK sci-tech exchanges,” Zheng Zeguang said in a speech last year.

In June, an unusual statement released by members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partnership, including the UK and the US, warned China’s military intelligence services “are using an increasingly wide array of professional networking sites and online job platforms to target Five Eyes government and military personnel”.

In the UK, universities have been told by the government to bolster themselves against intimidation from China, with MI5 launching an advisory scheme to help institutions deal with such threats.

MI5’s director-general Sir Ken McCallum told university vice-chancellors this year that China and other countries were trying to influence universities’ research and teaching.

In 2024 the FT reported that academics at Imperial College London had worked with scientists at Chinese institutions linked to China’s defence sector on research with potential military applications.

Academics from the university were named as co-authors on at least five studies with figures from organisations at the heart of China’s military-industrial complex.