The Foreign Affairs Committee heard that although there has been improved awareness and government support in British universities around the risks of research collaboration with Chinese institutions, the government guidelines and academic risk awareness are still quite narrow. During Tuesday’s ad-hoc hearing on UK universities’ engagement with autocracies, Fiona Quimbre, a defence and security analyst at RAND Europe, told MPs that the security risk associated with Chinese collaboration is much larger than just information theft. The guidance on the matter is narrow and does not address China’s talent recruitment program. Quimbre argued that the Chinese communist regime’s approach to technology transfers goes beyond IP theft and cyber-hacks. Instead, it involves creating links and contacts and directing research towards areas of interest. Imperial College London recently closed two of its joint research programs with Chinese aerospace research centres linked to the Chinese military. Quimbre declined to comment on this specific case but referred to it as the tip of the iceberg. Regarding future research collaborations, Quimbre stressed that the current enablers in universities for such research collaborations with countries like China also mirror those enablers in potential technology transfer, making it challenging and complex to deal with the risks. The experts present emphasized the dynamic nature of risks and suggested that public bodies such as the Research Collaboration Advice Team established in recent years have been helpful in providing and updating guidelines. However, classified information may be needed to help institutions make risk assessments more effectively. John Heathershaw, professor of International Relations at the University of Exeter, stated that if China specialists are brought into the early stages of a discussion on a partnership, universities can better protect against collaborations that may support an authoritarian regime.
UK MPs recommend universities to be wary of Chinese partnerships.
