Federal Research Funding May Aid China’s Military Technological Advancements

Federal Research Funding May Aid China’s Military Technological Advancements

In a comprehensive report, House Republicans allege that hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding over the past decade have inadvertently contributed to China’s military technological advancements. The report raises concerns about collaborations between U.S. and Chinese academics leading to research publications that could be weaponized against the United States in the event of war with China.

Collaborative Research Raises Security Concerns

The House Select Committee on China Competition and the Education and Workforce Committee identified over 9,000 joint research publications funded by the Department of Defense (DOD) or the Intelligence Community (IC) that were published by co-authors with ties to China’s “defense and security apparatus.” Over 2,000 DOD-funded papers included Chinese co-authors who were directly affiliated with China’s defense research and industrial base. The research identified in the report encompasses advanced areas such as hypersonics, directed energy, nuclear and high energy physics, and artificial intelligence and autonomy. Republicans argue that this information could be used to develop military applications, such as high-performance explosives, target tracking, and drone operation networks.

China’s Academic Cooperation Campaign

The committees report that under the guise of academic cooperation, China has orchestrated a campaign to partner with prestigious U.S. universities. These partnerships allow Chinese researchers to transfer U.S. technologies and expertise back to China and circumvent government blacklists. Six case studies presented in the report examine research institutions, including Carnegie Institution’s Earth & Planets Laboratory, UCLA, and U.C. Berkeley. Lawmakers found Chinese researchers who collaborated with U.S. academia and later utilized the acquired knowledge to assist China in advancements such as fourth-generation nuclear weapons technology, artificial intelligence, advanced lasers, graphene semiconductors, and robotics.

Joint Institutes and Research Collaboration

The report highlights three prominent joint institutes: the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Georgia Tech Shenzhen Institute, and Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute. These institutes enable American academics, many of whom conduct federally funded research, to travel to China to collaborate, advise scholars, and teach students.

University Failures and Enforcement Lapses

The committees uncovered significant failures in the reporting of foreign funding by Georgia Tech and Berkeley. The Biden administration’s enforcement of foreign gift reporting has been labeled an “abject failure.” The report notes that the Department of Education has not initiated any enforcement actions under Section 117 of the Higher Education Act in the past four years, despite evidence of widespread non-reporting. These undisclosed foreign gifts, estimated to be in the hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, grant Chinese entities undue influence without transparency, contributing to partnerships that pose risks to national security.

Recommendations and Legislative Action

The report recommends stricter guidelines for federally funded research, including limiting collaborations between U.S. researchers and Chinese universities and companies with military ties. It also advocates for passing the Deterrent Act, which would expand government oversight and reporting requirements for foreign institutes in education. “We must ban research collaboration with blacklisted entities, enact stricter guardrails on emerging technology research, and hold American universities accountable through passing the Deterrent Act,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the China subcommittee. Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., chair of the committee on Education and Workforce, emphasized the need for greater transparency in foreign investment in U.S. universities. “This investigation proves why it’s necessary,” she said. “Our research universities have a responsibility to avoid complicity in the CCP’s atrocious human rights abuses or attempts to undermine our national security.”