Read on Twitter
Inadvertently Arming China? 
@RadoTylecote and I for @Civitas_UK investigated the links between UK universities, research institutions, & industry partners, & Chinese military universities & arms manufacturers.
A thread. https://civitas.org.uk/publications/inadvertently-arming-china/
@RadoTylecote and I for @Civitas_UK investigated the links between UK universities, research institutions, & industry partners, & Chinese military universities & arms manufacturers.
A thread. https://civitas.org.uk/publications/inadvertently-arming-china/
This report analyses relationships between at least 15 UK universities, 9 Chinese weapons suppliers, & PLA-linked universities. 12 of these Chinese universities deemed 'Very High Risk' by @ASPI_org - further 10 'High Risk'.
Beijing recently declared China aims for PLA to be on par with US military by 2027. This would have deep & far-reaching consequences for UK security, other democracies, & UK allies.
Rapid technological development of PLA should be set againt this wider background of hawisk strategy of and strategic thinkers around President Xi - as well as authoritarian entrechment of the state in China.
Scholars describe Xi's adherence to concept of the '100 year marathon' - a strategic attempt to become global hegemon by 2049 - the centenary of the people's revolution.
Since late 1990s defectors have referred to new military technologies under development by PLA for use 'beyond Taiwan'. The aim, discussed by senior Chinese military figures, is to use advanced military technologies to leapfrog the US military.
This includes capacity to launch devastating pre-emptive strikes or counter-attacks aimed at destabilising enemy forces' radar systems, orbital satellites, and C2 systems, including through possible use of unconventional weapons and electronic warfare.
This is all underway amidst ongoing confusion in British strategic thinking. Only two months after Thersea May's trade delegation to Beijing in 2018, a UK defence company was granted an open individual export licence to provide radar technology to PLA Airforce.
While UK taxpayers are funding development of China's military, the UK's R&D spending on its own defence is anemic: Volkswagen alone spends much more on R&D than the entire UK defence sector.
China has a long history of weapons proliferation to authoritarian regimes that systematically abuse human rights. China has long been a leading weapons supplier to Syrian regime throughout civil war; supplied Burma with FN-6 SAMs; 107mm rockets; JF-17 aircraft; UAVs & APCs.
In Afghanistan, Chinese weapons consistently make their way to the Taliban, including SAMs & AA guns. Chinese companies have been involved in nuclear proliferation to Pakistan, Iran, & North Korea.
China's own force-projection capacity is growing, & its military dedicating growing resources to research high-destabilising material such as direct-energy weapons & hypersonic missiles. The result of all this is for the UK is strategic incoherence.
The UK government should immediately list all Chinese military-linked companies & institutions that it wants to bar from sponsoring science research in UK universities. These are discussed in this report.
While it is important to preserve academic freedom, the government must assess whether some of what is currently deemed 'basic scientific research' or research whose findings enter public domain may still have military end-users in sanctioned countries including China.
This report acknowledges that UK institutions and individuals are not knowingly conspiring against UK laws.
