China Electronics Technology Group Corporation

China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) is designated very high risk for being China’s leading military electronics manufacturer.

CETC is a state-owned defence conglomerate that specialises in dual-use electronics.https://web.archive.org/web/20190428010333/http://www.cetc.com.cn/zgdzkj/_300891/_300895/index.html The company was established in 2002 by bringing dozens of research institutes administered by the Ministry of Information Industry, the predecessor to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, under one umbrella.

CETC is one of the world’s largest defence companies. It claims to have 523 subordinate units and companies and 160,000 employees.https://web.archive.org/web/20190428010333/http://www.cetc.com.cn/zgdzkj/_300891/_300895/index.html

CETC divides its defence electronics products into seven categories: air base early warning, integrated electronic information systems, radar, communication and navigation, electronic warfare, UAVs and integrated IFF (identification, friend or foe).https://web.archive.org/web/20190401061410/http://en.cetc.com.cn/enzgdzkj/about_us/introduction29/index.html CETC also provides technology used for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, where approximately 1.5m are held in re-education camps.https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/05/01/chinas-algorithms-repression/reverse-engineering-xinjiang-police-mass-surveillance ; https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-16/australian-unis-to-review-links-to-chinese-surveillance-tech/11309598

Several CETC research institutes and subsidiaries have been added to the US Government’s entity list, restricting exports to them on national security grounds. CETC has been implicated by the US Department of Justice in at least three cases of illegal exports.https://web.archive.org/web/20190802040629/https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2010/bs051710-1.htm ; https://web.archive.org/web/20190408035234/https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/losangeles/press-releases/2010/la101510-1.htm ; https://web.archive.org/web/20190802041102/https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.699035/gov.uscourts.cacd.699035.1.0.pdf ； https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/electrical-engineer-convicted-conspiring-illegally-export-china-semiconductor-chips-missile

CETC has a large international market and has also expanded its international research collaboration in recent years. It has a European headquarters in Graz, Austria, and has invested in the University of Technology Sydney.https://chinatechmap.aspi.org.au/#/company/china-electronics-technology-group-(cetc)

Economic espionage and misconduct

• In May 2010, two Chinese nationals were convicted of illegally exporting military electronics used in radar and electronic warfare. Some of their main customers were research institutes of CETC.https://web.archive.org/web/20190802040629/https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2010/bs051710-1.htm
• In October 2010, two individuals – one a US citizen, one a PRC citizen – were charged with conspiring to export sensitive technology to China. The pair ran a company that entered a contract with CETC’s 24^th Research Institute to design and transfer to China technology for high-performance analog-to-digital converters that would match those produced by US manufacturers. Such technology has military applications and is subject to export controls.https://web.archive.org/web/20190408035234/https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/losangeles/press-releases/2010/la101510-1.htm The pair settled with the US Bureau of Industry and Security in 2012 and agreed to accept audits of its export compliance program and attend export compliance training.https://web.archive.org/web/20190802062241/http://www.wttlonline.com/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/49245
• In 2019, electrical engineer Yi-Chi Shih was convicted of conspiring to illegally export to China semiconductor chips with applications in missile guidance systems. Shih ran a company called Chengdu GaStone Technology Company (CGTC), which was placed on the Entity List in 2014 because ‘it had been involved in the illicit procurement of commodities and items for unauthorized military end used in China’.https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/electrical-engineer-convicted-conspiring-illegally-export-china-semiconductor-chips-missile A company co-located and affiliated with CGTC was a joint venture between one of CGTC’s partner companies and CETC’s 29^th Research Institute.https://web.archive.org/web/20190802041102/https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.699035/gov.uscourts.cacd.699035.1.0.pdf

Noteworthy international collaborations

ASPI ICPC’s Mapping China’s Tech Giants project mapped out much of CETC’s overseas presence.

In April 2017, a joint centre for advanced science and technology research funded by CETC was launched at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-engineering-and-information-technology/news/joint-iet-research-centre-china CETC is providing the centre with up to AUD 20 million over 5 years and the centre is managed by representatives of both UTS and CETC.https://www.uts.edu.au/about/faculty-engineering-and-information-technology/news/new-joint-iet-research-centre-cetc The UTS research centre may be funded by CETC’s 54th research institute, which is involved in research on telecommunications, underwater acoustic sensors, satellite tracking, jamming military communications, intelligence and reconnaissance technology, and unmanned systems.https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/03/csiro-cooperation-with-chinese-defence-contractor-should-raise-questions CETC’s 54^th Research Institute has been a funder of UTS’s Global Big Data Technology Centre since 2015. In 2018 CETC funded a research project at UTS on public security online video retrieval systems.https://web.archive.org/web/20180324134212/https:/web-tools.uts.edu.au/projects/detail.cfm?ProjectId=PRO18-5157

The controversial UTS-CETC partnership has attracted continuous media attention.https://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/inquirer/australian-taxes-may-help-finance-chinese-military-capability/news-story/6aa9780c6a907b24993d006ef25f9654 ; https://www.afr.com/news/world/asia/australian-universities-helping-china-to-modernise-its-military-20180627-h11y4s ; https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/dec/16/calls-for-regulation-of-universities-partnering-with-military-linked-foreign-companies ; https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/03/csiro-cooperation-with-chinese-defence-contractor-should-raise-questions ; https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/19/faustian-bargain-defence-fears-over-australian-universitys-100m-china-partnership A 2019 investigation by the Australian Broadcasting Company’s Four Corners program drew attention to CETC’s role in monitoring Uyghurs in China. This led UTS to announce an internal review into its partnership with CETC.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-16/australian-unis-to-review-links-to-chinese-surveillance-tech/11309598
CETC is actively building a presence in Austria. In 2015, CETC and Technical University Graz (TU Graz) established the Sino-Austrian Electronic Technology Innovation Centre (SAETIC).https://web.archive.org/web/20181107004217/http:/www.jiaxing.gov.cn/wzbjb/zyxx_36070/201505/t20150523_494436.html The year after SAETIC was established, CETC set up an R&D centre and its European headquarters in Graz — reportedly its first office outside Asia.https://austria-forum.org/af/Wissenssammlungen/Essays/Berichte_von_Unternehmen/CETC An Austrian media report on CETC’s European headquarters states that its cooperation with companies and universities in Graz focuses on “security technology and business intelligence.”https://derstandard.at/2000046840868/Chinesischer-IT-Konzern-richtet-Europazentrale-in-Graz-ein

End-user lists

CETC research institutes and companies feature in at least nine entries in the US BIS Entity List:

• CETC 10^th Research Institute
  • Aka Southwest Institute of Electronic Technology (中国西南电子技术研究所)
• CETC 11^th Research Institute
  • Aka North China Research Institute of Electro-optics (华北光电技术研究所)https://web.archive.org/web/20130112041707/http://www.coema.org.cn/news/article/1/2/5/2006/20060816002.html
• Beijing Opto-Electronics Technology Company (北京奥依特科技有限责任公司)
  • Part of CETC 11th Research Institutehttps://web.archive.org/web/20130112041707/http://www.coema.org.cn/news/article/1/2/5/2006/20060816002.html
• CETC 13^th Research Institute
  • Aka Hebei Semiconductor Research Institute (河北半导体研究所)
• CETC 14^th Research Institute
  • Aka Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology (南京电子技术研究所)
• CETC 20^th Research Institute
  • Aka Xi’an Research Institute of Navigation Technology (西安导航技术研究所)
• CETC 29^th Research Institute
  • Aka Southwest Electronic Equipment Research Institute (西南电子设备研究所)
• CETC 38^th Research Institute
  • Aka East China Research Institute of Electronic Engineering (华东电子工程研究所)
• CETC 54^th Research Institute
  • Aka 54th Research Institute of China https://web.archive.org/web/20190802045758/https://jobs.51job.com/all/co3921029.html
  • Aka Communication, Telemetry and Telecontrol Research Institute or Shijiazhuang Communications Laboratory (石家庄通信测控技术研究所)
• Hebei Far East Communication System Engineering (河北远东通信系统工程有限公司)
  • part of CETC 54^th Research Institutehttps://web.archive.org/web/20190802043024/http://www.yingjiesheng.com/job-000-682-302.html
• CETC 55^th Research Institute
  • Aka Nanjing Electronics Devices Institute or Nanjing Electronic Instruments Research Institute (南京电子器件研究所)

Three CETC research institutes are in Japan’s End-user List for their roles in the development of missiles:

• CETC 10^th Research Institute
  • Aka Southwest Institute of Electronic Technology (中国西南电子技术研究所)
• CETC 20^th Research Institute
  • Aka Xi’an Research Institute of Navigation Technology (西安导航技术研究所)
• CETC 54^th Research Institute
  • Aka Communication, Telemetry and Telecontrol Research Institute or Shijiazhuang Communication Observation and Control Technology Institute (石家庄通信测控研究所)

Last updated 29 October 2019. Unclear about any wording? Visit the terminology page.