Chinese hackers belonging to a specialist military unit known cryptically as the People’s Liberation Army Unit 61398 were found to have collaborated with one of the country’s top universities on security research and networking papers.

The revelations were uncovered following an investigation by Reuters, which said that the hackers worked together with experts at the Shanghai Jiaotong School of Information Security Engineering (SISE) on at least three academic papers in recent years. The news comes just weeks after the security firm Mandiant blew the lid on PLA Unit 61398’s existence, identifying its nondescript Shanghai office block-cum-headquarters as the nerve center for an “overwhelming” number of cyberattacks on western companies and organizations.

According to Reuters, the co-authors of several academic papers, which include research on computer security systems and cyberattack detection, are linked to both PLA Unit 61398 and SISE. One of the paper’s seen by Reuters dates back to 2007, and is co-authored by one Xue Zhi, which SISE credits with developing China’s premium hacking software, and a man named Chen Yigun, who is believed to be a researcher at PLA Unit 61398. Other papers show that individuals from the two organization carried out research on “intrusion monitoring systems” and “attack graphs”, which illustrate how it’s possible to hack into computer systems.

Reuters attempted to contact both Xue and Chen to no avail, however they did manage to speak with Fan Lei, an associate professor at SISE who previously worked with Chen on computer security research. According to Fan, the research was completed while Chen was a graduate student, and has no links with the PLA. For its part, Shanghai Jiaotong University has refused to comment on the story.

Chinese officials have been steadfast in their denial of the hacking allegations, consistently dismissing them as “groundless” and constantly reminding us that cybercrime is illegal in China. Yet as SiliconANGLE’s contributing editor John Casaretto argues, there is a wall of evidence suggesting that China is anything but the innocent party in this, no matter how much their officials continue to bluster.

Today’s revelations might not be conclusive evidence of China’s involvement in cybercrime, but it will do little to ease diplomatic tensions following President Obama’s recent statement that cybersecurity will be a key part of any future negotiations between the two countries.