Huawei’s funding of British and Chinese universities raises security fears

Huawei is facing a fresh row over its influence in the UK, after a Daily Telegraph investigation found that it backed a string of technology projects linking British universities with Chinese universities that are heavily involved in military research.

This newspaper can reveal that the controversial Chinese telecoms giant funded or co-authored at least 17 scientific papers with UK universities about cutting-edge “dual use” technologies – which can have civilian applications but can also be used in military technology.

Some of the technology could be used to communicate with swarms of drones or on highly advanced image recognition software that could potentially be used for extreme levels of surveillance, according to analysis by three experts commissioned by this newspaper.

The revelations come as China faces growing international hostility amid concerns that Chinese authorities attempted to cover-up the coronavirus crisis in its very early stages and intense criticism over its treatment of citizens in Hong Kong.

Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong before it passed to China, said last week that a new security law imposed on the British territory marked "a comprehensive assault on the city's autonomy, rule of law, and fundamental freedoms".

Read more: Revealed: the worrying links between Huawei, our universities and China

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo branded the Chinese Communist Party’s global ambitions as a “risk” to “freedom-loving countries”.

In Britain, as revealed by the Telegraph last week, ministers are reconsidering their relationship with China in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, and drawing up plans to reduce Huawei’s involvement in UK infrastructure to zero by 2023.

The Telegraph’s findings today will raise concerns over Huawei’s other forms of influence in Britain.

Experts fear that UK universities may inadvertently sign up to projects whose work – published and unpublished - could compromise national security, or support an oppressive regime. They have also warned that Beijing may be using Huawei and UK universities to advance China’s defence programme.

Tom Tugendhat, Conservative MP and chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said: “This investigation points to another worrying front in a soft war that China has been waging against us. We need to defend ourselves.”

“The UK cannot be an unwitting partner with a regime that does not share our values and works against our interests.”

Huawei has strongly disputed analysis of the papers by academics with specialisms in military technology and artificial intelligence. It said that it is a private company, and that the papers identified by the Telegraph focused on “common areas of research for telecoms equipment suppliers” 

It also has “strict rules” in place specifying that the research and development it funds at universities is for civilian use, a spokesman said. “We do not conduct military research either directly, or indirectly, nor do we work on military or intelligence projects for the Chinese government or any other government”.

However,  experts have raised concerns over the potential for Beijing to influence Huawei's research funding decisions to enhance the Chinese Communist Party’s “military-civil fusion” policy.

The policy was written into the constitution in 2017, on the order of by President Xi Jinping, and demands that all new technologies developed by China’s civilian sector – including technology companies and universities - are made available to the military.

Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith said: “China’s target is that in 2049 they are militarily more powerful than any other nation in the world. If they take technology as part of a market position, they can then use it for other things.”

investigations@telegraph.co.uk