A German minister warns of the risk of espionage by Chinese students

The German Minister of Education, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, has warned of the risk that Chinese students studying at German universities thanks to scholarships from Beijing carry out espionage work in the scientific field.

“In science and research, China is increasingly becoming a competitor and a systemic rival,” the Liberal minister told the Bayern media group this weekend.

The Minister of Education welcomed a decision by the Friedrich Alexander University (FAU) of Erlangen-Nürnberg (south) to exclude all those doctoral students who finance their studies exclusively through the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) scholarships ).

Said institution, which depends on the Ministry of Education of Beijing, grants aid to students of scientific careers to study their doctorates abroad, according to Stark-Watzinger, with the strategic objective of acquiring technological knowledge that favors their country.

“The FAU's decision should also encourage other institutions to review their cooperation relations with the CSC,” said the minister, who has urged universities, research institutes and mediating organizations to take the same step.

The FAU's decision to exclude Chinese students receiving scholarships from the CSC has been in force since June 1 and has affected several dozen people, the university center announced this week.

The University of Erlangen-Nürnberg has not indicated that possible cases of espionage have been detected, but justified the decision with the desire that certain research projects now comply with export control regulations for dual-use civil and military.

Several German investigative media recently published the information that, in order to qualify for a CSC scholarship, Chinese doctoral students must sign contracts pledging to be loyal to their country and follow the instructions of Chinese embassies.