US-China research boosted Beijing’s army tech – report

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Partnerships between the United States and China at universities over the past decade have allowed hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to aid Beijing in developing critical technology that could be used for military purposes, congressional Republicans asserted in a new report.

The report said US tax dollars have contributed to China’s technological advancement and military modernization when American researchers worked with their Chinese peers in areas such as hypersonic weapons, artificial intelligence, nuclear technology and semiconductor technology.

The report, released by Republicans on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Education and Workforce Committee on Monday, raised concerns over the national security risks of scientific collaborations that were once celebrated. It urged stronger safeguards and more robust enforcement.

The committees conducted a yearlong investigation into higher education’s role in the economic rivalry with China, especially when it comes to technology. While American universities don’t engage in secret research projects, their work — often among the best in the world — has the potential to be turned into military capabilities.

The US House of Representatives approved this month about two dozen China-related bills, with a clear goal to compete with Beijing in the tech field. The bills, which still need to be approved by the Senate, seek to ban Chinese-made drones, restrict China-linked biotechnology companies in the American market and cut off remote Chinese access to advanced US computer chips.

Other measures include those to curb Beijing’s influence on US college campuses and to revive a Trump-era program meant to root out China’s spying and theft of intellectual property at American universities and research institutes. That’s despite such efforts raising concerns about racial profiling and the ability to keep up exchange programs that boost tolerance between the two countries.

Collaboration among US-based scholars and China also declined as a result of the Trump administration’s anti-spying program, which ended in 2022, researchers say.

Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell told a forum by the Council on Foreign Relations earlier this year that he would welcome more Chinese students studying humanities and social sciences but “not particle physics” in American schools.

Abigail Coplin, an assistant professor of sociology and science, technology and society at Vassar College, expressed concerns about the potential harm to academic exchange and scientific engagement, which she said promoted understanding and helped stabilize relations.

“Clearly, American federal funding should not be used to advance China’s military capabilities, but there also needs to be more conversation about what is not an issue of national security and the negative ramifications of over-securitization,” Coplin said.

“Decreased person-to-person engagement is contributing to the rapidly fraying US-China relationship at the moment,” she added.

Monday’s report identified about 8,800 publications that involved US researchers who received funding from the Department of Defense or the US intelligence community working with Chinese researchers. Many of them were affiliated with China’s defense research and industrial base. Such research is “providing backdoor access to the very foreign adversary nation whose aggression these capabilities are necessary to protect against,” the report said.

The House investigation also flagged what it described as problematic joint institutes between US and Chinese universities, which the report said “conceal a sophisticated system for transferring critical US technologies and expertise” to China.

Through those institutes, American researchers and scientists, including those who conduct federally funded research, have traveled to China to work with and advise Chinese scholars and train Chinese students, the report said.

“This creates a direct pipeline for the transfer of the benefit of their research expertise” to China, the report said.