From AI to quantum, Germany claims Europe supports China's military tech

Led by Dutch media Follow the Money and German investigative nonprofit CORRECTIV, Deutsche Welle (DW) and 10 European newsrooms conducted a survey of Chinese science and found nearly 3,000 scientific papers from Europe Collaboration between university researchers and Chinese military-related institutions, most notably the National University of Defense Technology.

The papers cover emerging technology areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics and quantum research. According to DW, these technologies will reshape the way humans communicate, socialize, drive and, more importantly, the way humans direct and win wars. Its conclusion is that Europe has supported China's military technology over the past two decades.

DW pointed out that in the future, the country with the most powerful algorithms and computers will dominate the world order, so it is not surprising that China, in its quest to become a global superpower, is actively seeking this expertise abroad. This includes funding Top Chinese researchers conduct international research.

Military personnel were among them, said independent researcher Alex Joske. "For every few papers you publish, you're likely to see a Chinese military officer working and studying at a European university and he develops a relationship that leads to these collaborations and research papers," he said.

Because many Chinese students are funded by government scholarships, they are particularly attractive to European institutions and research groups that are often cash-strapped. Such joint research may essentially represent a knowledge transfer from European scientists to the Chinese military, DW said.

According to the DW survey, nearly half of these scientific papers were published by scientists and researchers from UK universities, followed by the Netherlands and Germany. In Germany, from 2000 to early 2022, at least 230 papers were published, some of which were conducted by researchers from the Universities of Bonn and Stuttgart and the prestigious Fraunhofer Institute in quantum research, artificial intelligence and computer vision, etc. carried out in the field. Several independent researchers confirmed that "the research described in the paper may indeed be potentially dual-use to varying degrees. In other words, the research could serve civil as well as defense or security purposes."

DW said they decided not to release the papers and scientists' names to protect the individuals involved. Furthermore, given the scale of the collaboration across Europe, they also do not list individuals individually, as more potential so-called "problematic papers" may not have been identified.

DW cited two examples, one published in 2021 and the other within the past five years. The former is a study on tracking populations, "which was published with a researcher from the National Defense University of Science and Technology, who has won many military awards before this."

Another paper delves into encrypted quantum communication. Several experts agreed that although the field is still very early, the research could eventually have potential dual uses, such as shielding military communications from eavesdropping.

China's "Mozi" quantum communication satellite

Alex Joske says the line between basic and applied research can be "grey and unclear: for example, one year you're working on artificial intelligence and algorithms for coordinating target groups, and the next year the same research might be applied to Military drone swarms."

DW recommends that Germany introduce a "dual-use export regulation". In Germany, it is up to the individual researchers to decide whether their research is indeed dual-use. If so, they need to apply to the Federal Agency for Economic Affairs and Export Control (BAFA) for an export license for joint publications with scientists outside the EU or for guest lectures abroad. Universities are required to provide a certificate of end-use proving purely civil.

DW and its partners have sent a list of papers they deem problematic to BAFA and relevant universities to determine if they have been granted an export license. But BAFA declined to comment on individual papers, and the defense secretary did not respond.

German research institutes say their collaborations with Chinese researchers do not involve military use, for example, a spokesman for a German university said that given the paper was the result of basic research, the university "sees no reason" to apply for export license.

Another university stressed that the paper was written without the "direct involvement of the National Defense University of Science and Technology" and that it was also based on basic research that did not meet any "dual-use concerns." The logic is that placing too many restrictions on basic research and collaboration stifles scientific progress.

Didi Kirsten Tatlow, an expert who has studied China for many years, cautioned against cooperating with China in certain fields, but she also acknowledged that all such scientific collaborations cannot — and should not — be limited. She therefore calls for stricter controls and background checks on all Chinese researchers, rather than treating all Chinese researchers with suspicion, when studying potential dual-use technologies.

China expert Didi Kirsten Tatlow

From the Photon Box's point of view, DW's exclusive behavior will undoubtedly hinder the communication between Chinese and European academic circles. Taking quantum information technology as an example, Chinese researchers have a lot of origins in Europe and Germany. As early as 2003, quantum physicist Pan Jianwei came to the Institute of Physics at the University of Heidelberg in Germany to recruit postgraduates and postdoctoral fellows from China as the Marie Curie Chair Professor to cultivate domestic research forces in quantum information technology. In 2008, Pan Jianwei resigned from the position of Heidelberg University, and at the same time moved the experimental equipment back to the University of Science and Technology of China.

In fact, it is purely academic exchange for both the supervisor and the university.

Talk about an episode that happened during the investigation of a DW. A German professor who had mentored a Chinese student from the National University of Defense Technology was interviewed by DW, but the way they asked the professor was very surprised.

He said the international scientists he met were purely in the pursuit of knowledge, and "I've never seen any foreign researchers behaving weirdly." They were essentially good people, he stressed.

After returning home, the student worked at the National University of Defense Technology. His favorite student returned to China, although the professor expressed regret, but that was all.

Deutsche Welle reports:

https://www.dw.com/en/are-european-academics-helping-chinas-military/a-61834716