A Chinese state-owned company was seeking to partner with a top British university to gain access to AI technology for use in “smart military bases”, according to information seen by the Guardian.
The emails show that China's Jiangsu Institute of Automation (Jari) was in discussions about using software developed by scientists at Imperial College London for military purposes.
The company, a leading Chinese designer of drone warships, shared this goal with two Imperial employees before signing a £3m contract with the university in 2019.
Ministers have stepped up warnings over the past year about potential security risks posed by academic collaboration with China, with MI5 telling university presidents in April that hostile countries were targeting sensitive research that “can deliver their authoritarian, military and commercial priorities”.
Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative leader, said: “Our universities are like sheep to the slaughter. They want to have faith in independent scientific research but that's not the case in China. They are taking a huge risk in what they're doing.”
The Future Digital Ocean Innovation Centre was to be based at Imperial's Institute of Data Science, headed by Professor Yike Guo, who is leaving Imperial in late 2022 to take up the post of Chancellor of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
The center's stated goal is to develop maritime forecasting, computer vision and intelligent manufacturing for “civilian applications,” but documents sent before the partnership was formalized suggest that Jali was also considering military applications.
The emails were obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the charity UK China Transparency.
A November 2018 email in Chinese from Jari's research director to an Imperial College professor (who was not named) and another Imperial employee said Jari's main goal at the center was to test whether software developed by Imperial's data science lab could be integrated into the company's “JariPilot” technology to “form a more powerful product.”
Proposed applications are listed as “smart laboratories, smart military bases, smart oceans.”
“Our investigation provides evidence of attempts to link the expertise and resources of Imperial College London to China's national military maritime combat drone research program,” said Sam Dunning, director of the UK-China Transparency Institute, which conducted the investigation.
“Such partnerships have taken place across universities. Taken together they raise questions about whether UK science faculties understand that China has become increasingly authoritarian and militaristic under the Xi Jinping regime, and that any dealings with the country require proper due diligence.”
An opening event for the joint centre appears to have taken place in September 2019, and the funding from Jari is listed in Imperial's 2021 annual overview in the section of prestigious industry grants won by the company.
However, the partnership was ultimately terminated in 2021. Imperial said the research would not go ahead and the £500,000 in funding it had received was returned in October 2021 after discussions with government officials.
“Imperial's policy is that any partnerships or collaborations are subject to due diligence and regular review,” an Imperial spokesman said. “The decision to end the partnership was taken having regard to UK export control laws, in consultation with the government and taking into account national security concerns.”
Charles Parton, a China expert at the Royal Institute for Security Studies (RUSI), said the partnership was “clearly highly inappropriate” and should never have been approved.
“How much effort does it take to find out that Jali is manufacturing military weapons that could be used against the Navy in the future?” Parton said. “They should have done proper due diligence long before this. Getting permission from the government so late after they've only just signed the contract is not enough.” [government]. “
At the time of the deal, Imperial's Data Science Laboratory was led by Professor Guo, an internationally recognized AI researcher. A Channel 4 documentary last year revealed that Professor Guo had co-authored eight papers with Chinese researchers at Shanghai University on missile design and using AI to control fleets of maritime combat drones. Professor Guo is no longer associated with Imperial.
Imperial received more than £18 million in funding from institutes and companies with links to the Chinese military between 2017 and 2022, but has since been forced to close several joint ventures due to tougher government policy on scientific collaboration.
“Governments took a long time to understand what the threat from China was and universities got away with it for a long time,” said Duncan Smith, who has been sanctioned by China for criticizing the Chinese government. “There's been a gradual tightening up but it's not enough. Universities need to get in line with security agencies.”
A spokesman for Imperial College London said: “Imperial takes its national security responsibilities very seriously. We regularly review our policies in line with government guidance and changes in the law, and in line with the UK's commitment to national security.”
“Imperial College's research is open and regularly published in leading international journals and no classified research is carried out on campus.”
Guo declined to comment on the collaboration with Jali, citing his retirement from Imperial at the end of 2022. Regarding their previous collaborations, he said the papers were classified as “fundamental research” and written to advance scientific knowledge in broad areas, rather than to solve specific real-world problems.
