UKCT Report: "One Network, Two Systems: The Research Security Risks of UK/China University Cyber Partnerships"

A comprehensive analysis of UK–China university cyber collaborations, highlighting institutional links to China's military and security ecosystem.

On July 1, Natto Thoughts published “The UK’s ‘Special Relationship’ with China’s Defense-Linked Universities,” a piece previewing an upcoming report written by this author for UK-China Transparency (UKCT), a UK-based research and advocacy organization focused on issues related to transparency, governance, and national security in UK–China relations. The report, “One Network, Two Systems: The Research Security Risks of UK/China University Cyber Partnerships,” was released on July 29, 2026, and is available here.

Image used on the cover of the UKCT report “One Network, Two Systems”. Image courtesy of UKCT

The UKCT report, also covered by The Telegraph here, maps the full landscape of UK/China academic partnerships in cyber-related fields and examines, through detailed case studies of two high-risk Chinese universities – Beihang University (北京航空航天大学) and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (北京邮电大学) – how institutional design, funding structures, and personnel linkages conn…