London accuses China of using academics for espionage

The British government has asked universities to end their collaboration with a Chinese institute that MI5 claims is a front for espionage activities.

The UK government today asked British universities to end their collaboration with the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI), which the MI5 intelligence service claims is a front for espionage activities.

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said that British academics should sever all ties with the Chinese institute.

The British intelligence service MI5 said that more than 100 academics linked to Britain worked on projects secretly funded by Chinese counterintelligence, through CGTRI.

The projects were related to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, among other things.

MI5 said the institute has "very strong links with the Chinese Ministry of State Security" and seeks to fund research that improves the Chinese state's technical espionage capabilities.

British intelligence officials have been warning more and more loudly in recent years espionage threats from China, Britain's third-largest trading partner. Last year, MI5 chief Ken McCallum said that Chinese state actors pose a security threat every day.

Jarvis said the MI5 warning "exposes attempts by Chinese intelligence to covertly benefit from the expertise and research of our academics, undermining our national security and that of our allies."

He also said he had written to university leaders 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 UK's National Security Act.