The British domestic intelligence agency MI5 issued a rare "Espionage Alert" on September 30, stating that Chinese intelligence agencies are using a front agency called the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI, also known as CAGT) to provide funds to British universities to steal key technology research. MI5 strongly warned that British researchers and scholars should immediately stop collaborating with the agency, describing it as a "major threat."
According to reports from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the Guardian and Reuters, intelligence shows that the Chinese organization has provided funds to more than a hundred scholars at universities across the UK in exchange for obtaining relevant research results. MI5 pointed out that these results eventually flowed into Chinese intelligence agencies. Targeted research areas include artificial intelligence (AI), network security, covert communications, and "steganography" that embeds data in online images.
MI5 believes it has clear evidence that sensitive information was passed back to Chinese intelligence services. The Guardian understands that MI5 has determined that Chinese intelligence agencies have even obtained cutting-edge British research on "social media data scraping" (searching and retaining useful information from social networking sites). In addition to research funding, some scholars based in the UK have also received honorary awards from China.
MI5 clearly stated in the alert that the main purpose of CGTRI is to "fund academic research that directly enhances the spy technology capabilities of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS)" and confirmed that the agency has "extremely close ties" with China's Ministry of State Security.
Prior to this, many academic institutions and individuals may have cooperated with the institution in good faith without knowing it. But after consulting the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which authorizes criminal prosecutions, MI5 added a stern warning about "potential criminal consequences" to the alert.
The intelligence agency pointed out that now that the relationship between CGTRI and the Ministry of State Security of China has been officially disclosed, any academic institutions or researchers who continue to cooperate in the future must pay attention to the regulations of the National Security Law of 2023, especially the crimes of Article 3 (Assisting foreign intelligence agencies) and Article 17 (Obtaining substantial benefits from foreign intelligence agencies). This time, MI5 chose to achieve a deterrent effect through public warnings instead of pursuing case-by-case cases. It is hoped that universities will heed the warning and immediately cut off ties with CGTRI.
In response, British Secretary of State for Security Affairs Dan Jarvis (Dan Jarvis) has written to the presidents of various universities, asking the schools to support faculty members in terminating all cooperation arrangements with the company. "This alert exposes Chinese intelligence services' efforts to covertly exploit the expertise and research of our scholars, undermining our national security and that of our allies," Jarvis said. "International partnerships are important to university development, but we will use the full force of the law and take strong action to defend against threats."
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of Universities UK, which represents 142 higher education institutions in the UK, responded by pointing out that universities attach great importance to research safety and national security and have invested a lot of resources in recent years to strengthen due diligence, risk assessment and security review processes.
Libby Hackett, CEO of the Russell Group, a group of top research universities in the UK, also emphasized that each school will work closely with government departments and security agencies to take swift action to protect British interests and respond to emerging threats. At present, the Chinese Embassy in the UK has not responded to this incident.
