LR 请教L1999-12-2-20

20. Scientist:Some critics of public funding for this research project have maintaned that only if it can be indicated how the public will benefit from the project is continued pubic funding for it justified. If the critics were right about this, then there would not be the tremendous pubic support for the project that even its critics acknowledge.

正确项：E）That a public benefit can be indicated is not a requirement for the justification of the research project's contiued public funding.

看出来最后一句话是虚拟语气，说明critics 是不对的，但是怎么解释“....that even its critics acknowledge" 是什么意思？

谢谢！