After the U.S., British Intelligence Also Warns Universities to Be Alert to Interference from the CCP

The Chinese Communist Party uses American college campuses to control students who exercise freedom of speech at universities. (Dajiyuan, Getty Images)

[People News] Following repeated U.S. warnings about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) interference in American universities, Britain’s domestic intelligence agency, MI5, also warned UK universities last week that threats from the CCP are increasing and asked them to report incidents of foreign interference to the government and security agencies.

According to VOA, MI5 convened a meeting with more than 70 British university vice-chancellors last week, urging them to strengthen defenses against intimidation and censorship by “hostile states.”

MI5 Director Ken McCallum warned that China and other countries are attempting to influence university research and teaching. He said common tactics used by hostile actors include intimidating faculty, making contact through professional networking sites, and offering financial incentives.

UK Minister for Skills and Higher Education Jacqui Smith said British universities have become “key targets for foreign governments and hostile actors.”

She announced that the government would allocate £3 million for a series of measures, including the creation of a secure platform where university leaders and designated security officials can report suspicious contacts or interference.

Earlier, the UK law firm Leigh Day alleged in November last year that Sheffield Hallam University halted research by Professor Laura Murphy into forced labor in China after pressure from Chinese external intelligence agencies. However, Sheffield Hallam University said the decision was not made due to “commercial interests in China.”

In August 2025, the British think tank UK-China Transparency reported that surveys of scholars in China-related studies showed that CCP officials had warned lecturers to avoid discussing certain topics in class. Chinese students studying in UK universities were also reportedly asked to monitor classmates in order to suppress discussion of issues sensitive to the CCP government.

Before the UK issued its warning, the United States had already sounded similar alarms.

In 2019, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a report titled China: The Threat to Academia, stating that foreign adversaries exploit the long-standing culture of collaboration and openness on American campuses, and that the Chinese government poses a particular threat to U.S. academia for multiple reasons.

In May 2025, a publication at Stanford University, the Stanford Review, released an in-depth report saying the CCP was conducting intelligence collection at Stanford through various means. The report said the CCP has designed a comprehensive intelligence-gathering system covering Stanford and other top academic institutions. This system allegedly requires Chinese students to follow directives, steer them toward research in sensitive fields, and report regularly on their research progress. The investigation concluded that U.S. universities and the federal government must work together to protect academic freedom and security.

In September 2025, the U.S. House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party released a report titled From PhD to PLA, highlighting that some Chinese students with ties to the CCP military or defense research institutions had entered U.S. universities and received higher education and research training funded by American taxpayers.

In addition, the U.S. nonprofit watchdog Accountability Foundation recently released a report saying that some of America’s top universities and laboratories — including Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University — have been “infiltrated” by Chinese scholars linked to the CCP’s “Thousand Talents Program,” and that their concerning backgrounds may pose risks to U.S. national security.