The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Committee on Education and the 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 report builds on the committees’ ongoing review of how U.S. research is being used by the CCP, including taxpayer-funded projects that have received Pentagon funding and other government grants.
The committees found more than 100 academic partnerships they deemed a national security risk, including 50 such examples in the report.
Reports such as this highlight a national security risk, according to the lawmakers, as the partnerships provide a channel through which the CCP obtains major advancements in nuclear technology, artificial intelligence, robotics, and other science and technology fields that have military applications.
While U.S. academic culture is an open one that values research sharing for purposes of information integrity and advancement of 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 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, the University of Michigan, the University of Pittsburgh, Oakland University, the University of Detroit Mercy, Eastern Michigan University, and the 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, the University of Arizona, the University of Delaware, Drake University, the University of Houston, Kean University, the University of Miami, New York University, the 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 its joint partnership had been terminated in December 2023.
The University of Houston disputed the report. Other universities did not respond to requests for comment.
The University of Houston and the Dalian Maritime University jointly run the Dalian Maritime University International Institute, which offers degrees in mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and electrical engineering. The report states that the partnership has included submarine research, but according to the University of Houston, this is “inaccurate.”
“The [University of Houston–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, a blacklisted Chinese military company.
Saint Martin’s University has a partnership with North China Institute of Aerospace Engineering that offers a program in mechanical design, manufacturing, and automation. North China Institute is supervised by various Chinese defense conglomerates, including one that produces rockets, missiles, and satellites for the Chinese military.
The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and Committee on Education and the Workforce tallied thousands of papers co-authored by China-based researchers on dual-use technologies that were funded by the Department of Defense over the past decade. (Screenshot)
Legislation to Address Partnership Gap
The National Counterintelligence and Security Center in August issued guidelines to U.S. 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, as well as 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,” Select Committee on the CCP Chairman John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) said in a statement.
Committee on Education and the Workforce Chairman Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) said the report highlighted the ever-growing threat from the CCP in U.S. academia.
“No American university should be helping the Chinese Communist Party through dangerous research partnerships masquerading as purely ‘academic,’” he said.
Moolenaar authored the SAFE Research Act, which has already passed in the House. It would prohibit science, technology, engineering, and math research funding from going to those who partner with foreign adversary entities and block Pentagon funding to universities that participate in such partnerships.
