Covid-Modelling Imperial College to Close Chinese Military Connected Research Labs

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 21: Prince Andrew, Duke of York (second left), Chancellor George
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Kurt Zindulka

Imperial College London will be closing down two of its research facilities funded by firms tied to the military of Communist China after the government blocked the college from exporting the work conducted to foreign actors.

Imperial College, which rose to international attention over its doomsday death toll predictions from the outset of the Chinese coronavirus crisis, which in turn was credited with prompting governments throughout the world to impose lockdowns, has been forced to shut down two laboratories that were funded by Chinese defence contractors with ties to Beijing’s military.

One of the labs was sponsored by a partnership with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, which has been sanctioned by the United States for being one of the chief suppliers of fighter jets to the Chinese air force, while the second was funded in part by the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, which is a subsidiary of another Chinese air force-tied firm to be sanctioned by the American government, The Times of London reported.

According to an investigation from the British paper of record earlier this year, the college had accepted £5 million to conduct aerospace research since 2015 from three Chinese defence contractors that have been sanctioned by the U.S.

While the British government’s export control unit, which is run by the Department for International Trade, did not divulge the reason for blocking the export licences for the two laboratories, it is believed that they failed to meet the standards for divulging sensitive research or technology to foreign powers.

The ties between Imperial and Communist China run deep, with the college leading all members of the Russel Group of elite UK universities in producing research papers with Chinese institutions or firms tied to the Chinese military, producing 945 such papers from 2015 to 2021.

Though the college will be shutting down two of its China-tied labs, the director of the Civitas think tank, Robert Clark noted that its other Chinese connections should be reviewed, saying: “Imperial still operates a jointly funded lab with Shougang Group, a Chinese state-owned steel conglomerate which has an active role in the . . . military industry in China.”

An Imperial spokesman said: “All partnerships and collaborations undergo thorough scrutiny and are regularly reviewed… in line with our commitments to UK national security.”

Since 2016, Imperial also reportedly took at least £10 million from the Chinese government’s petroleum and chemicals corporation Sinopec and in 2020 it secured £5 million from Chinese telecom giant Huawei to sponsor research projects, the construction of new tech facilities, as well as an internal 5G network for the college. While Huawei has claimed independence from the communist state, it has been “effectively state-owned” and the Trump administration warned that it allows for the CCP to have backdoor access into its networks.

One possible reason for the cozy relationship with China and Imperial College is perhaps the money it secures from Chinese student tuition. A joint investigation conducted by the UK government’s Foreign Office, Special Branch, and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) last year found that there was a “correlation” between the reliance on tuition from Chinese students and technology transfers to China from British universities, with the report pointing to Imperial College as a prime example.

Imperial College also has another grim connection to Peking (Beijing), with disgraced ‘Professor Pantsdown’ Neil Fergusson, whose alarmist death toll predictions for the Wuhan virus spurred lockdowns to be imposed around the world, admitting in late 2020 that the lockdown strategy he advocated for was inspired by the cruel and draconian measures imposed by the Chinese Communsit Party.

“It’s a communist one party state, we said. We couldn’t get away with it in Europe, we thought… And then Italy did it. And we realised we could,” he said.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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