Imperial College London has established multiple ties with Chinese military specialists besides forging relationships with Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the Daily Mail reported.

The report said the university debating whether to ‘cancel’ a 19th Century scientist over his theories on race has close links with some of the world’s most sinister regimes.

The Daily Mail on Sunday uncovered more than a dozen projects that show Imperial scientists working on potential military technologies.

UK Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, co-chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: “Imperial is seeking to ‘cancel’ a world-famous scientist but it has no qualms about forging close links with a Chinese regime guilty of genocide.”

The Imperial said on Saturday night: “This bizarre attempt to connect Imperial’s open dialogue about its history with international scientific research is totally misleading and baseless. Imperial is not ‘cancelling’ anyone.”

Imperial is considering a proposal to rename a campus building honouring biologist Thomas Huxley and removing a bust of him. It follows an independent report that claimed an essay by Huxley on the link between race and intelligence ‘fed the dangerous and false ideology of eugenics’, the report said.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)