- its own ends, at the most basic level—i.e. what it is they are trying to steal. There was still no comprehensive list of the areas of UK research that need protecting from China.
- The broad areas would appear to be self-evident—those which the Chinese have themselves identified—as the NCSC told the Committee in 2019:
if you look at 'Made in China 2025', there are a set of technologies in there that the Chinese wish to dominate where currently the vast majority of academic research is in the UK.[1]
Yet, in October 2020, the Acting National Security Adviser (NSA) and GCHQ suggested that work was still being done by the Government to identify these areas of sensitivity—or at least to agree a comprehensive list amongst departments. The Acting NSA told the Committee: "We are looking at what more we can do ***, so that we can be clear about where we think the areas of greatest sensitivity are for research."[2]
- Director GCHQ clearly recognised this lack of clarity and the need for action: {{quote|we don't have a joined-up view on the things that we most need to protect ***. So, you know, a particular area of technology that the UK might find or think is very important, linking that to where we are academically the most strong, linking that to how we encourage inward investment, including in research, and then linking that back to our knowledge and understanding of ***, it has to be a whole of system approach and I can see some real positive developments in that, but we are coming from a situation where Chinese involvement at student level and investment level has been welcomed for a number of years ***.[3]
UU. At present, HMG still seems to be trying to understand the threat from Chinese students stealing Intellectual Property from UK Academia, or the Chinese subverting UK research to its own ends, at the most basic level—i.e. what it is they are trying to steal. There is still no comprehensive list of the areas of sensitive UK research that need protecting from China. Identifying these key areas of research must be a priority, and they must be communicated to Academia as a matter of urgency so that protective action can be taken. Unless and until this is done, then the UK is handing China a clear economic advantage over the UK, and indeed the rest of the world.
- In terms of tackling the manipulation of Academia for economic advantage, we were told that the Government was now talking to Academia about the threat. Director GCHQ noted in July 2019 that part of the reason for its new Manchester office "is because of the preponderance of big academic institutions that need to get closer proximity to some of our advice".[4] NCSC later noted that it was now "talking to those universities to say, as a priority, to make sure that they understand what the risks are".[5] In May 2021, a new
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