Science thrives on exchange and lays the foundations for progress. However, in the wrong hands, scientific knowledge can become dangerous. Recent research across Europe has shown how closely European universities and researchers collaborate with Chinese military institutions. Some 3,000 scientific articles with European participation could be used by China to modernize and expand its military security and surveillance apparatus. German universities are “caught between ignorance and naivety” without clear rules, writes the non-profit research center Correctiv.
On the other hand, China is pursuing a clear strategy: by the 100th birthday of the People’s Republic of China in 2049, it wants to become a leading world power in all areas. Under President Xi Jinping, investment and cooperation in science were significantly expanded. At the same time, the Communist Party tightened its control over Chinese universities. Some of them report directly to the Central Military Commission. China focuses heavily on “dual use”, that is, the dual use of technology, both for civilian and military purposes.
“Risky Universities”
KIT is also one of the cooperation partners of some Chinese universities that report directly to the military or at least should cooperate closely with it. In recent years, nine collaborative research studies have been developed with the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT). NUDT is considered the most important university of the Chinese military. KIT researchers regularly collaborate with universities where Western think tanks confirm that there is a very high risk of transferring research results to the Chinese army. Hundreds of such publications can be found on scientific portals.
In particularly sensitive areas of IT, aviation technology, agricultural technology and artificial intelligence, KIT has also carried out four major research projects with Chinese universities over the past ten years.
One of them concerned the development of knowledge aggregation and monitoring technologies. Technology should also be used for media monitoring and monitoring. The partner is Tsinghua University, which is said to have close ties to the Chinese military. The arms research at the university is partly secret. KIT notes that cooperation with international partners is checked by its own legal department. “Potentially critical or ambiguous uncritical research topics are also considered by the KIT Senate’s ethics committee and rejected when in doubt,” he continues.
No uniform standards
In China, uninterrupted research and access to money are closely linked to the desire to conduct military research, says Andreas Seifert of the Observatory. But the main problem is in Germany. There is a lack of knowledge, sensitivity and willingness to deal with the Chinese system. Meanwhile, “general demonization and stigmatization” is inappropriate. Recalls that over the past 40 years, China has made technology transfer a condition of all economic contracts. “The fact that Chinese self-made transport planes fly for the military is due more to Airbus than to cooperation with a German university. The fact that Chinese trains run faster than the German ICE goes to Siemens and the German Federal Railways more than the PhD student. ”
Meanwhile, the state government sees no need to introduce standards in scientific collaboration. “The universities in Baden-Württemberg also operate autonomously in cooperation with international partners. It is the responsibility of universities to conscientiously choose and enter into partnerships in their own interest, ”says the Ministry of Science, Research and Arts of Baden-Württemberg. However, the current reports should be used as an opportunity to re-refer to advisory services and existing guidelines for scientific cooperation with China.
Responsibility for research therefore rests with the individual scientist. Meanwhile, the Chinese government is pursuing a clear strategy. With the help of research, the People’s Republic of Poland wants to pave the way to becoming a leading world power. It is not only local politicians who grapple with answers and binding rules to a complex problem. Few in science and society want to give up the freedom of research that applies in this country.
Criticism: arms research
Critics say KIT weapons research has a system. Christoph Marischka from the Military Information Center (IMI) has been dealing with this for years. He calls for a civil clause that basically prohibits military research. 74 universities have already introduced such a clause. KIT rejects this and cites the KIT Act, which excludes military research goals. This is true for large-scale research, but not for the university sector. “Working with authorities and industry is something of a business model at KIT. It made you want to grow up and play in an international league, ”says Marischka. Part of this is cooperation with the arms industry or the German armed forces. Marischka refers in particular to the Institute of Optonics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation named after Fraunhofer (IOSB), who works closely with KIT and is led by a professor from the university. “Research on weapons by IOSB and KIT is unrecognizable with each other,” says Marischka. KIT also cooperates with the Institute of Chemical Technology. Fraunhofer (ICT). ICT conducts research, among others in the fields of defense, aviation and chemistry in the civil and military sectors.
“Fraunhofer IOSB is closely linked to the arms industry, the Federal Ministry of Defense and NATO,” says Marischka. The Institute receives a significant share of basic and external resources from the defense budget and carries out research projects with a clear military focus. For example, intensive work is underway on swarm technology for drones. Using artificial intelligence, unmanned aerial vehicles can interact, identify new targets and replace one another without human intervention. Drones are gaining more and more importance in armed conflicts. When the Fraunhofer institutes were reorganized, “dual use” (the use of technology for civilian and military purposes) was used as “a specific strategy,” says Marischka. Previously, the IOSB operated as a “purely military research institute”. In 2007, the Federal Ministry of Defense demanded that its Fraunhofer Institutes, which were largely financed from the defense budget, “make greater use of dual-use opportunities and that their research and development results be fruitful for civilian applications. ”
“Technologically advanced update”
Bearing in mind such cooperation as with China, the IOSB speaks of “clear rules and procedures”. The institute follows a “reasonable process for assessing business policy,” says Ulrich Pontes of the IOSB with each collaboration. The decisive factors are technological development, scientific or economic added value and possible impulses for Fraunhofer. Particular attention should be paid to the “risk of an uncontrolled leakage of know-how”. “In that sense, we are also aware of the dual-use issue,” says Pontes. Marischka becomes more fundamental in his criticism, also in the context of the ongoing wars. “Military research always blocks other scientific advances. To make matters worse, as weapons research advances, we are moving ever closer to AI-supported wars and giving back to civilian conflict management. ” Marischka is convinced that large budgets of the Ministry of Defense are therefore better outside of weapons research. “We should invest in research to prevent wars. But today, much less money is spent on civilian conflict resolution than on high-tech armaments.