MI5 tells UK universities to cut CGTRI ties over MSS links

MI5 has publicly named the China General Technology Research Institute as a vehicle used to fund research for China's Ministry of State Security, saying more than 100 UK-based academics have contributed to CGTRI-funded projects covering AI, cybersecurity, covert communications and steganography. The Security Service says this is the first espionage alert it has ever issued to the public.

The alert, reported by Bloomberg, says CGTRI has "very strong ties" to the MSS and that its primary purpose is to fund academic research that "directly improves MSS technical capability for espionage." MI5 also said many academics "would have engaged in good faith with the CGTRI... without knowing of its close ties to the MSS."

Security Minister Dan Jarvis has written to all UK university Vice-Chancellors. The alert, he said, exposes Chinese intelligence efforts to "covertly benefit from the expertise and research of our academics, undermining our national security, and that of our allies." MI5's own guidance to universities is blunter: "UK academic institutions are strongly advised to immediately review any ongoing or planned collaboration with CGTRI... to ensure MSS derives no further benefit from UK universities or research institutions."

The legal edge comes from the National Security Act 2023. MI5 tells staff and researchers to familiarise themselves with the Act, warning that conduct which materially assists a foreign intelligence service can constitute a criminal offence, though whether any offence has been committed would depend on the circumstances of the individual case. Jarvis has told British academics they should "end all arrangements" with the institute. The alert lands into a busy stretch of state-linked activity we've been tracking on the China AI page.