Top British universities may be unwittingly assisting China’s military forces in their development of weapons of mass destruction by allowing them access to cutting-edge research, a social policy think tank has said. In research published on Monday (pdf), Civitas, the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, said that the “pervasive presence of Chinese military-linked conglomerates and universities in the sponsorship of high-technology research centres in many leading UK universities” is being largely overlooked. The report’s authors found that top research centres based at at least 15 universities, including Cambridge University, Imperial College London, and Manchester University, are generating “dual-use” research unintentionally, unaware that it could be deployed in China’s development of its military, such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, advanced weapons and military vehicles, and metals and other materials. Radomir Tylecote, a former Treasury official, and Robert Clark warned that Britain’s oversight of research that may be vulnerable to Chinese …