This paper is part of a larger program of study into the aerospace industrial base of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). As part of the CASI report, “An exploratory Analysis of the Chinese Hypersonics Research Landscape”, done by BluePath Labs, a number of research connections were uncovered.
This article is not intended to point fingers at any particular person or institution, and really uses Sweden in general as simply a test case. The intent is rather to show the depth and breadth of the PRC’s systematic targeting of top quality programs and personnel across the globe in order to further their national security agenda and to strengthen the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This is often, as this report highlights, done publicly or through overt means. Nations, governments, institutions, scientists, and academics around the world need to be aware of this systematic effort, and its combination, through the Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) national level strategy of China, of the Party-State-Research apparatus. There is no such thing as simply “science for science sake” when it comes to advanced technologies and China, there is always a military component.
This report uses Sweden as a test case, but there are plenty of examples from around the world. In this case, Sweden proves useful to demonstrate the scope of the challenge. Indeed, the intuitions listed in table one, “Top Collaborating Swedish Institutions”, are in fact really just the “Top Swedish Institutions” when it comes to hypersonics research. No one is beyond China’s gaze.
This paper is intended to inform, and to highlight, so that future collaboration with the PRC on these types of leading-edge technologies are done so in the full light of realization of the scope, scale, and ultimate purpose and beneficiary- strengthening the PLA.
Click here for the full CASI article.
For their own part, Sweden is already looking into these types of connections. Reporters Jani P Sallinen and Amanda Lindholm from the paper Svenska Dagbladet have started a series of articles related to this work:
The first article in their series: https://www.svd.se/a/O8WALV/militarforskare-fran-kina-pa-svenska-universitet
An article looking into patents: https://www.svd.se/a/69Wna3/forskade-i-sverige-tog-patent-med-kinas-militar
The ongoing investigation series called The Military Scientists: https://www.svd.se/story/kinesiska-militarforskare-pa-svenska-universitet
And another article to follow, later this week.