In this photo taken Wednesday, March 8, 2017, Chinese military officers file into near the Great Hall of the People where a plenary session of the National People's Congress is held in Beijing, China.

In this photo taken Wednesday, March 8, 2017, Chinese military officers file into near the Great Hall of the People where a plenary session of the National People's Congress is held in Beijing, China. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

China Is Secretly Enrolling Military Scientists in Western Universities

Dozens of scientists and engineers linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army obscured their military connections when applying to study overseas.

Universities in the US, UK, Australia, and other countries may have been unknowingly collaborating with China’s military.

That’s according to a new study by Canberra-based think tank Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), which found that dozens of scientists and engineers linked to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had obscured their military connections when applying to study overseas.

Most strikingly, said ASPI, the collaboration is the highest among the “Five Eyes” countries—an intelligence alliance consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the US—which counts China as one of their “main intelligence adversaries.” The fear is that such scientists could be engaging in espionage or committing intellectual-property theft during their stints overseas.

About 2,500 PLA-sponsored military scientists have gone abroad since 2007, according to ASPI. Such collaborations are encouraged by cash-strapped foreign universities, some of which have increasingly turned to China for scientific funding.

Related: China Is Still Stealing America’s Business Secrets, US Officials Say

Related: African Union Bugged by China: Cyber Espionage as Evidence of Strategic Shifts

Related: The Specter of a Chinese Mole in America

ASPI said that this has resulted in a steady increase in the amount of peer-reviewed publications produced in foreign universities in collaboration with PLA scientists, who have worked in sensitive areas such as cryptography, autonomous driving, and navigation technology.

In a strategy described by the PLA as “picking flowers in foreign lands to make honey in China,” the Chinese military deliberately obscures the connections of those it sends to study overseas, which are different from transparent military-to-military exchanges that also take place between China and other countries.

For example, ASPI said that such students have actively sought to disguise their military links by claiming to be from fake academic institutions or by fudging the names of existing institutions—some scientists from the PLA Rocket Force Engineering University in Xian, for example, claimed to be from the non-existent Xian Research Institute of High Technology.

Another institution that doesn’t exist that has been frequently used as a cover is Zhengzhou Information Science and Technology Institute, with over 1,300 peer-reviewed publications naming individuals from the school as authors. Of the two dozen individuals ASPI found to be using cover to travel abroad, 17 of them went to Australia. Some even created LinkedIn profiles containing the false information in a bid to make their covers seem more believable.

In one case, Norwegian authorities expelled a Chinese scientist and his supervisor in 2015 on the grounds that their research conducted at a local institute, the University of Agder, could be used to develop hypersonic cruise missiles. The scientist, Hu Xiaoxiang, published five papers at the university, all of which listed the non-existent Xian institute as his affiliation. He was later found out to have won an award for a doctoral thesis on hypersonic aircraft at the PLA university in Xian.

China’s government quickly retaliated against Norway for Hu’s expulsion, at a time when diplomatic relations between the two countries were already in deep freeze after the Nobel committee awarded the peace prize to the late Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo in 2010 in Norway.

ASPI estimates that about 500 PLA-linked scientists were sent each to the UK and the US since 2007, about 300 to both Australia and Canada, and more than 100 each to Germany and Singapore.

Among individual universities, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University saw the most collaboration with the PLA in terms of peer-reviewed publications, followed by Australia’s University of New South Wales (UNSW) and then the University of Southampton in the UK. One of the PLA researchers who collaborated with UNSW is general Yang Xuejun, who was involved in the development of supercomputers in China and was last year promoted to a powerful role in the Communist Party, according to ASPI.

Another Australian university, the University of Sydney, was last year found to have been in a research partnership with a Chinese defense company.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.