Britain’s domestic intelligence agency has told academics to stop working with a Chinese organisation funding research in United Kingdom universities, accusing it of having “very strong ties” with China’s spy agency.
In a rare public espionage alert on Wednesday, MI5 alleged the ”primary purpose” of the China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI) is to finance academic work that improves the espionage capability of the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the Chinese intelligence agency.
There was no immediate response from Beijing, which has previously strongly denied such accusations.
MI5 said the CGTRI targeted more than 100 UK‑based academics working in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, covert communications systems and steganography.
It said many academics and institutions would have engaged in good faith with the organisation, unaware of its close ties to the MSS. But it added those who continued to take grants from or work with the CGTRI now risked prosecution under the UK’s National Security Act, a law passed in 2023 that gave the government greater powers to target foreign espionage and hostile state activities.
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