FARRELL: China Is Exploiting America’s Universities To Steal Vital Research

From Chris Farrell’s Op-Ed for The Daily Caller:

Communist China has been engaging in a systematic program to co-opt American higher education institutions and steal U.S. intellectual property. And many schools have been less than forthcoming about the vast sums they have received from Beijing. A study published in June found that over 70 American universities receiving major funding from the Chinese government failed to report these grants, as required by law. Section 117 of the Higher Education Act mandates that schools report “any gifts from, or contracts with, foreign sources with a value of $250,000 or more in a twelve-month period.” Judicial Watch has filed a FOIA lawsuit against the Department of Education (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Education) for records between the Department and any schools being investigated for violations of Section 117 for false or misleading reporting of foreign gifts.

The millions being lavished on American universities is part of a multi-pronged, coordinated Chinese effort. The PRC has adopted a national strategy of Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) under which select Chinese institutions seek collaboration with foreign universities to gain access to high-end research and technology. Under the MCF strategy, all research and technology thus acquired must be diverted to the Chinese military. The PRC’s China Scholarship Council underwrites 30,000 Chinese scholars, professors, and other researchers to travel abroad to obtain advanced research and technology that is sent back for use by the People’s Liberation Army. Many Chinese researchers abroad either voluntarily cooperate with communist military or intelligence agencies or are coerced into cooperation through threats to their families back home. Sometimes they are actual members of the Chinese military. For example, last week the FBI arrested University of California, Davis researcher Juan Tang, for concealing on her J1 visa application that she was a uniformed officer of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.

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