cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/37199831
Some universities accepted money from companies and institutions with ties to the People’s Liberation Army in China, including those which are sanctioned by other countries.
Other universities took funding from institutions and tech firms accused of helping the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy on and target users, spread misinformation and abuse human rights.
The director-general of MI5 last year warned vice-chancellors that China and other states the UK Government views as adversaries are attempting to steal technology from universities that can “deliver their authoritarian, military and commercial priorities”.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said The Ferret’s research suggests that funding from CCP-linked organisations in Scottish higher education is particularly prevalent. This, it claimed “should be a matter of deep concern for ministers and the wider Scottish public”.
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Ten universities collectively received at least £39.7m of funding. Of that, £5.5m came from organisations allegedly linked to the military, human rights abuses or spying, or was used to fund controversial Confucius Institutes. These are CCP-funded educational and cultural programs on UK campuses which have been accused of monitoring and censoring UK students, and pushing propaganda.
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Some universities accepted money from Chinese organisations with military ties.
Strathclyde university received £130,000 in research funding from Wuxi Paike New Materials Technology, which makes metal forgings for the Chinese military.
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Strathclyde also accepted £22,100 for “research studentship/knowledge exchange” from the Chinese Academy of Sciences on an undisclosed date. The academy is designated “medium risk” by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), due to its alleged weapons research. ASPI is a defence think tank founded by the Australian Government.
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In 2020, a drone submarine developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences was found by an Indonesian fisherman in the South China Sea and thought to be on a possible covert mission by military observers.
The following year, in October 2021, Robert Gordon University (RGU) was given £46,820 by the academy to research spectral imaging – a method of capturing highly detailed images.
An RGU spokesperson said the research collaboration was transferred to the university in 2021 after it appointed a professor from Strathclyde who was working on the project. The collaboration ended in 2023.
In April this year, The Times reported that RGU, Aberdeen and Strathclyde universities were among 23 UK institutions to have signed an agreement with Chinese institutions with alleged military links, despite warnings from MI5.
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Some universities accepted money from tech firms, including those accused of helping the CCP to spy on users, and spread misinformation.
Heriot-Watt University received between £150,000 and £200,000 from tech firm Huawei to research wireless communications hardware between November 2020 and November 2021.
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In 2022/23, Edinburgh university accepted £127,973 from tech firm, Tencent, to fund a research project called “serving big machine learning models”. Allegations of mass surveillance and human rights abuses by Tencent were reported years earlier.
CCP committees within Tencent ensure that the state’s “political goals are pursued”, according to a 2020 study from ASPI.
A 2022 report from Human Rights Watch claimed that via its messaging app, WeChat, Tencent “censors and surveils” users on the CCP’s behalf and “hands over user data to authorities when ‘sensitive’ information is discovered”.
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A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Universities are autonomous institutions and are expected to understand and manage the reputational, ethical and security risks associated with international partnerships.
“This includes conducting appropriate due diligence before entering into new partnerships, and monitoring existing partnerships to ensure they comply with relevant legal requirements”.
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