Could search for corona vaccine be targeted by infiltrators?

AQUIET corner of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London is home to scientists working on a piece of research with the potential to transform the world. As soon as it became apparent that the only way to free us from the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic was an effective vaccine, academics at this London campus began toiling away.

By early June, Imperial had become one of only a handful of institutions in the world to progress to human trials of a potential vaccine. The stakes are high — and the rewards likely to be enormous. Yet intelligence agencies have already warned of foreign cyber-spies trying to penetrate vaccine research centres.

Bill Evanina, director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Centre, said in May: ‘We have every expectation that foreign intelligence services, to include the Chinese Communist Party, will attempt to obtain what we are making.

‘In today’s world there is nothing more valuable or worth stealing than any kind of biomedical research that is going to help with a coronavirus vaccine.’

His words seemed even more apposite on Thursday evening, when the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) announced that Russian spies had hacked British, American and Canadian coronavirus research facilities. Russia denies the claims.

Similar attempts had been made in May, which security sources linked to Russia, China and Iran, and which led to GCHQ implementing measures to guard another vaccine trial taking place in Oxford.

The Mail understands that Imperial is working closely with the Government on security matters relating to the trial: the campus is considered to be at particular risk.

Academics from a Chinese institution deemed a ‘High Risk’ to British interests in the ASPI report are based just a few yards from the laboratory where Imperial’s coronavirus vaccine is being developed.

The Harbin Institute of Technology in North-Eastern China is one of the country’s most prestigious universities, and one with inextricable links to the Chinese military — in particular satellite and nuclear technology — and funding arrangements with China’s civilian intelligence agency.

In 2013, Imperial College London held a recruitment drive on Harbin’s campus for PhD students. The Mail has identified at least three academics who studied at Imperial and have since returned to the Harbin Institute of Technology.

One who spent three years as a research associate, another who was a visiting research engineering student before returning to Harbin as a PhD candidate, and a third who was a visiting researcher at Imperial while still an academic at Harbin. Several students who arrived at Imperial from Harbin are now based on the Kensington campus.

As far back as 2012, Imperial College London collaborated with the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the primary suppliers of aviation technology to the People’s Liberation Army, on a lab based on aircraft design. The conglomerate is regarded as a ‘Very High Risk’ institution by ASPI, which writes that ‘AVIC has a long history of

Sino-Russian defence cooperation and is a regular attendee at international arms expositions.

‘In August 2018, AVIC attended the Russia International Military Technology Forum at the Patriot Expocenter in Moscow ... Russia continues to cooperate with China on the development of armaments.’

When approached for comment, Imperial College London emphasised the academic reputations of the Chinese institutions it is involved with.

An Imperial spokesman said the ASPI report ‘references collaborations that support research into technologies which could help develop lighter, safer and more efficient commercial aircraft worldwide.

‘We are open about this work and conduct no classified research. All of the centre’s scientific outputs are in the public domain and are routinely published in leading international journals.’ The spokesman added: ‘All relationships with third parties are subject to prior and continued review.’

Imperial denied there was any threat or connection between these academic collaborations and the work it is undertaking to develop a Covid-19 vaccine.

Let’s hope they are not mistaken. A breakthrough here could lead to the most significant scientific innovation for generations.