China’s Military Blacklists Elite Defense Universities
Udumbara
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The Chinese military has banned some of the country’s top defense-linked universities from participating in its procurement program, citing allegations of bid-rigging in military research projects.
The bans were announced on Nov. 9 through the official People’s Liberation Army (PLA) procurement website. According to notices reviewed by The Epoch Times, the affected institutions were accused of “manipulating bids” and “transferring improper benefits” in connection with research and development projects.
They were blacklisted by the PLA’s Central Theater Command, which oversees forces across China’s central heartland, including the capital, Beijing.
Targets Among “Seven Sons of National Defense”
BIT, HIT, and HEU belong to China’s so-called Seven Sons of National Defense, a group of elite universities directly subordinate to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which regulates China’s defense sector.BIT has long been a cornerstone of China’s missile and rocket development, credited with designing the nation’s first generations of anti-tank missiles, large field rockets, and air defense systems.
HIT, the oldest of the group, has played a critical role in advancing China’s space ambition, contributing key components to the lunar and Martian rovers and the Tiangong-2 space lab. Its research portfolio also involves other strategic technologies, such as nuclear power and nuclear engineering.
HEU, meanwhile, maintains deep ties to the Chinese military’s naval research and shipbuilding sectors, with many of its graduates involved in designing and constructing China’s warships, as well as developing sonar systems, submarine technologies, and unmanned underwater vehicles.
The PLA General Staff Department’s Work Bureau, which enacted the Nov. 9 suspensions, said the alleged misconduct occurred during the bidding for projects involving the development of simulation analysis modules and data-intelligence correlation algorithms. Both areas are critical to the military’s ongoing modernization efforts.
Also sanctioned on Nov. 9 was the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which received a three-year ban from the Central Theater Command for similar misconduct.
As of Nov. 12, all five disciplinary announcements had been taken down from a PLA procurement webpage listing such public notices. The deletions may have been prompted by concern over negative public reception, as three of the prestigious Seven Sons were involved.
PLA Anti-Corruption Campaign Continues
The blacklisting comes amid an ongoing anti-corruption drive within the PLA, which has already ensnared numerous senior commanders from the Rocket Force, the now-dismantled Strategic Support Force, and other key branches.The campaign intensified following the 2023 downfall of Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who spent many years in the PLA’s former General Armaments Department before assuming the top military office. In a final judgment handed down in June 2024 by the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, Li was accused of “seriously polluting the political environment of the military equipment sector and the ethos of the industry.”
In August 2024, the Rocket Force banned Xi‘an Technological University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, and Southwest Jiaotong University from its procurement activities for three years because of alleged collusive bidding and bid-rigging.
All three are public universities with strong military-industrial research ties.
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