The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Committee on Education and Workforce released a report on Sept. 11 on joint institute partnerships between U.S. universities and Chinese entities—often ones with open ties to the CCP and Chinese military.
The committees found more than 100 academic partnerships they deemed a national security risk, including 50 such examples in the report.
Reports like this highlight a national security risk, the lawmakers say, as the partnerships provide a channel with which the CCP obtains major advancements in nuclear technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and other science and technology fields that have military applications.
While American academic culture is an open one that values research sharing for purposes of information integrity and advancement for the common good, the Chinese regime dictates a “military-civil fusion” strategy wherein all advancements are subject to the purpose of developing Chinese military capabilities.
Almost all of the Chinese institutions partnering with U.S. universities had direct ties to China’s defense industry or defense agencies, or both, according to the report. Under China’s laws, any work at these campuses could be co-opted by the regime for military use.
“These partnerships must end,” the lawmakers said in their recommendation.
A number of other universities have ended their partnerships with CCP-affiliated institutions as a result of the committees’ reporting. They include the University of California, Berkeley; Georgia Institute of Technology; University of Michigan; University of Pittsburgh; Oakland University; University of Detroit Mercy; Eastern Michigan University; and University of Illinois.
Among the universities named in the report are several that the committee has previously called on to end their joint partnerships. They include Duke University, University of Arizona, University of Delaware, Drake University, University of Houston, Kean University, University of Miami, New York University, University of North Alabama, Northeastern State University (Tahlequah), Portland State University, State University of New York–Stony Brook, and Trine University.
A University of Arizona spokesperson told The Epoch Times that their partnership had been terminated in December 2023.
Meanwhile, the University of Houston disputed the report. Other universities did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Epoch Times.
“The UH-Dalian Maritime University International Institute is an undergraduate dual-degree program focused exclusively on engineering education,” a university spokesperson said. “It does not involve research activities of any kind or the exchange of intellectual property.”
Military Ties
The Southern Illinois University Carbondale has a partnership with Shenyang Aerospace University that includes a program focused on aircraft power engineering. The report notes that Shenyang Aerospace is overseen by the developer of China’s fifth-generation stealth fighter, and a blacklisted Chinese military company.
Legislation Address Partnership Gap
The National Counterintelligence and Security Center last month issued guidelines to American higher education institutions, warning them of their exposure to CCP influence and IP theft.
The August bulletin warned universities of the myriad channels through which the CCP exerts influence or seeks to steal sensitive information, and the broad scope of technology, research, and talent that the regime has in its targets.
“American universities should never be a pipeline for the Chinese Communist Party’s military ambitions, and this report reveals alarming new details about their partnerships with CCP-controlled institutions,” said Select Committee on the CCP Chair Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) in a statement.
Committee on Education and Workforce Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said the report highlighted the ever-growing threat from the CCP in American academia.
“No American university should be helping the Chinese Communist Party through dangerous research partnerships masquerading as purely ‘academic,’” he said.
Moolenaar had authored the SAFE Research Act, which has already passed in the House, that would prohibit STEM research funding to those who partner with foreign adversary entities and block Pentagon funding to universities that participate in such partnerships.
