Does the Chinese military use German research for its rearmament?

Study reveals explosive university partnerships

Created: 05/19/2022, 12:44 p.m

By: Christiane Kuehl

Military parade in China.

(Archive image): Does China use scientific cooperation with the West to modernize its own army © Pang Xinglei/dpa

According to a report, China's military uses the results of research cooperation with German and Western universities for its modernization.

That's what journalists from several countries found out.

Essen/Munich – China apparently uses the knowledge from joint research with German universities to upgrade its military.

This is suggested by research published on Thursday by eleven European media outlets, including the Correctiv research association and Deutsche Welle.

Accordingly, German universities cooperate with military universities in the People's Republic.

"Germany is making itself a willing helper to China's rulers," says Correctiv.

According to the media companies involved, 30 journalists from several countries evaluated more than 350,000 scientific papers published since 2000.

They came across 3,000 cases of cooperation with military universities in China, 349 of them involving German universities.

This puts Germany in second place, ahead of the Netherlands.

According to the report, the most intensive cooperation by far is Great Britain: The reporters found 1,389 cooperations between British universities and China.

According to the report, at least 48 universities are involved in projects where there is a risk of proximity to the military on the Chinese side.

Among other things, the universities of Bonn and Stuttgart are working together with the Chinese National University of Defense Technology in the metropolis of Changsha.

China: University cooperation for civil and military use

The studies also include papers that deal with so-called "dual use".

This means that they bring insights that can be used for both civilian and military purposes.

The government of head of state Xi Jinping wants to “use civilian technologies such as artificial intelligence for the military,” Correctiv describes it.

"And also systematically import know-how from abroad." It is well known that China wants to modernize the People's Liberation Army: Instead of a huge number of foot soldiers, it is increasingly relying on artillery, navy or cyber warfare.

For all these things she needs modern technologies and know-how.

In some cases, China develops these technologies itself. However, according to Correctiv, the research also showed:

“The Chinese military is cooperating en masse with European scientists to expand its army with their knowledge.

Some of the researchers and universities in this country deliberately ignore this.”

In his report, Correctiv cites the example of a Chinese researcher who came to the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn in 2011.

He did his doctorate there and worked, among other things, on better resolution for 3D maps and the 3D capture of facial expressions.

"He's very interested in making 3D out of 2D," Correctiv quotes his doctoral supervisor at the time.

The network deliberately does not name names so as not to endanger anyone, as it writes.

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At the time, the doctoral supervisor from Bonn did not know that his protégé had a close connection to the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), a top military university whose guidelines were written by Mao Zedong personally in 1953.

"However, as early as 2015, the Chinese researcher published a paper with a professor from there." At that time, the doctoral advisor from Bonn was also involved.

After his time in Bonn, the Chinese researcher switched to NUDT as a professor, according to Correctiv.

"Nobody could have guessed that," Correctiv quotes the supervisor as saying.

"He's doing more of a military thing now." According to Correctiv, the doctoral supervisor cannot rule out the possibility that the knowledge from the joint research in Bonn could also be used for military purposes.

China finances cooperation with international institutes and universities

According to the results of the research, the researchers and universities in Germany even ignore the possible military benefits of cooperation with Chinese institutions.

The report quotes the universities of Bonn and Stuttgart as saying that there is no risk of "dual use" of the German-Chinese research results.

The advantage of cooperation from the point of view of European institutes is usually simply the money.

According to the report, the money for the researcher in Bonn from the example came from a Chinese funding program for doctoral students.

"German researchers openly enter into such collaborations, often lured by prestige, money and better career opportunities," writes Correctiv.

China's military budget has been rising sharply for years.

In 2022, for example, according to official figures, spending rose by 7.1 percent to the equivalent of around 230 billion US dollars.

Only the USA spends much more on its armed forces (2022: 770 billion US dollars).

However, experts regard it as certain that the military also receives funds that do not even appear in the defense budget.

According to research by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), this includes money for the paramilitary armed police, construction projects or pensions - as well as for military-related research.

According to the report, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) insisted on the independence of the universities at the request of the media involved and replied that it was limited to "raising awareness".

State Secretary Jens Brandenburg (FDP) replied that the increasing restrictions on freedom of research in China were being observed "with great concern", especially with regard to use for military purposes.