MI5 issues chilling warning over China threat with operatives operating in UK
The security services held a rare briefing to warn against foreign interference in UK universities.
MI5 has told UK universities to protect themselves against Chinese interference and coercion in a rare intervention. The security service briefed more than 70 vice-chancellors last week to help them identify and mitigate the threat posed by “hostile states".
Sir Ken McCallum, the director-general of MI5, highlighted the dangers of foreign states attempting to influence teaching and research projects around sensitive subjects. The spy boss identified Beijing as the main threat, with the Chinese Government known to be “uncomfortable” about teaching on subjects such as the Tiananmen Square massacre, Uighur oppression, Tibet and Taiwan.
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According to The Times, university leaders were warned about academics receiving intimidating phone calls from people acting on behalf of foreign states and telling them to shut down research.
Those in attendance were warned about efforts by state-sanctioned operatives to establish working relationships by posing as business leaders or academic partners.
It is believed that once relationships are established, operatives employ more malicious or nefarious techniques to influence or dissuade academics from their approach.
This can include threats of expensive legal action as well as the offering of financial incentives.
Dan Jarvis, the security minister, told The Times that “foreign interference has operated in the shadows of our universities and political institutions”, as enemies “seek to undermine British interests”.
He said: “By launching a direct reporting route and drawing up plans for an advisory body, we are giving our institutions a straight line to security experts to report interference. We are making the UK the hardest possible target for those who seek to exploit our freedoms.”
Last year, documents released by the BBC showed that China had waged a campaign of harassment and intimidation directed at Sheffield Hallam University to get it to shut down sensitive research into alleged human rights abuses.
Staff at the university were threatened by individuals understood to be acting on behalf of China’s security services, who demanded that they shut down research into allegations that Uyghur Muslims in the north-western region of Xinjiang were subject to forced labour.
The country also shut down access to the university’s website in China, causing significant financial loss by limiting its ability to recruit Chinese students.
In an internal email from July 2024, university officials said "attempting to retain the business in China and publication of the research are now untenable bedfellows".
