MI5 warns UK academics their research may have helped Chinese spies MI5 has warned that more than 100 UK-linked academics contributed to research projects allegedly funded to improve China's spying capabilities. The Security Service issued an unusually public espionage alert this week naming the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI), also translated as the China Academy of General …
If the UK government made a decent effort to actually fund UK academic research then maybe researchers would not have to go round with a begging bowl & be open to exploitation by dubious third parties.
I worked in research decades ago, & have friends who still do (number decreasing as a lot of them been retiring recently), funding was a challenge back then & is far worse now according to stories I have heard from them.
No, they won't, because we're too poor after Brexit, and they've screwed Uni budgets with their reds-under-the-bed paranoia.
Nationalism isn't free. You want it, get your wallet out and pay for it rather than wasting public money on GAFA AI and US mil gear to appease the orange goblin.
So, let's run a comparison between the evil empire that we must shun at every turn, and our dearest closest ally, that we must trust implicitly.
Started a war they promised they never would, that has been slowly crippling the world economy. Check
Cooperated in the extermination of an entire country. Check
Threatened to invade numerous neighbouring country's. Check
Imposed punitive tariffs on everyone, including it's allies. Check.
Constantly undermined the governments of nearly every nation on Earth. Check
Supported radical hardcore right wing nut jobs to the point they are now a viable power in the UK and many other countries. Check
And the list could go on and on. China on the other hand, has done none of this, yet they are the bad guys!?
Given that we are facing a choice of who runs the world, I would much rather go with China. They're much saner than the Westpondians and more likely to honour agreements.
Is it not a well known fact that Oxbridge .... to name but two august university establishments..... are similarly used, and have been for no short length of time, by MI6/MI5/GCHQ/NCSC etc etc in their search for espionage talent?
Is the UK not flattered to be imitated?
Well this is strange. I both understood what you are saying (definitely a first), and have no idea what you are trying to say. I don't believe MI5's statement was complaining about Chinese universities helping Chinese espionage agencies, which would be more equivalent to your example.
Then again, based on past history I probably really didn't understand what you are saying. Is it beer o'clock time yet?
I guess that would be tested in a court of law.
Since the BBC has shown that MI5 is prepared to lie to a court of law, we're getting well into Kafka territory here.
"universities on notice"
Universities already have to deal with numerous legal and administrative hurdles. Visas, right to work, ethics of many hues, sustainability... if MI5 want to add another collection of "Guidance Documents" I'm sure Vice Chancellors will take it on, but this looks to me like MI5 were caught napping as they didn't spot it before the money came in.
...but ignore the fact that the Russell Group is pretty much kept at the top by it's Chinese students and business links, because, well let's face it. Money.
https://www.thecourieronline.co.uk/rising-chinese-investment-in-russell-group-universities/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/28/chinese-applications-to-british-universities-surge/
The stories read like the universities have been warned quietly more than a few times and now the security services have lost patience with them.
Academics are a special breed, but they are also starved of funding. It's not a good combination which foreign agents will have found easy to exploit
it seems overly broad. Even if your work was funded by CIIIR himself, and published in a RS journal, if that work might be used by foreign entities against the national interest of the UK, then you might also have booked yourself for an appearance before what passes for the Star Chamber these days.
The really clever talent might as well toddle off to some nation that isn't so precious about foreign funding of publishable research.
