A congressional report released Monday said hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. federal government funding has unintentionally contributed to China's technological advances and military capabilities.
According to reports released by the House Committees on China and Education and Labor, the funds in question funded thousands of research programs on strategic technologies conducted jointly by U.S. and Chinese entities over the past decade. The lack of “legal guardrails” on the research allowed China to gain advantages in key technology areas that ultimately helped strengthen China's military, which is rapidly catching up to U.S. defense capabilities. (Related: House investigation finds US “dangerously dependent” on Chinese cranes deeply embedded in major US ports)
“The findings of our joint investigation are alarming,” Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the House China Communist Party Committee, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement. “The Chinese Communist Party is promoting military advances through U.S. taxpayer-funded research and joint U.S.-PRC laboratories within China.”
Tonight — Chairman Moulnar & Translator chairman @VirginiaFox I will give a lecture Hamilton Socks Panel focuses on malign foreign efforts to influence the American higher education system. ⬇️ https://t.co/deNilDUtqW
— Special Committee of the Communist Party of China (@committeeonccp) September 23, 2024
According to the report, the committees identified more than 8,800 research papers funded by the Department of Defense and U.S. intelligence agencies and co-authored with China-based entities, most of which involved advanced research into “dual-use” technologies that have both civilian and military applications.
More than 2,000 of the research papers were written by Chinese co-authors “with direct ties to China's defense research and industrial base,” the report said.
In some cases, China has used the research to advance “fourth generation nuclear weapons technology, artificial intelligence, advanced lasers, graphene semiconductors, and robotics,” according to the report.
The report also focuses on collaboration between U.S. and China-based joint research institutes, such as branches of the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley, which the report says have partnered for the purposes of “academic collaboration” but in reality hide a sophisticated system for transferring critical U.S. technology and expertise to China, including to blacklisted entities with ties to China's defense and security agencies.
Similarly, there are separate concerns that Confucius Institutes, which offer Chinese language and culture programs at American universities, are running competing influence campaigns in the United States, the Government Accountability Office said. Report From 2023. As of 2023, the number of Confucius Institutes at U.S. universities has plummeted from about 100 to five since 2019 due to these concerns and pressure from U.S. state and federal governments.
According to the report, Georgia Tech ultimately decided to cut ties with its Chinese partner during the months of the House committee's investigation. UC Berkeley told the committee it had “begun the process of discharging all ownership interests” with its Chinese partner and was “in the early stages of dissolving our joint legal entity.”
“Georgia Tech did the right thing for U.S. national security by closing its China-based collaborative lab, and UC Berkeley and other universities should follow suit,” Moolenaar told DCNF, adding that the “STOP Act” should be passed quickly to establish stricter restrictions on U.S. universities' collaboration with foreign labs.
Although China denies it, it has attempted to undermine or exploit the United States in a variety of ways, including the theft or acquisition of advanced technology, cyberwarfare against U.S. critical infrastructure, domestic espionage, drug trafficking, and election interference. China-linked entities have also attempted to acquire land across the United States, despite concerns that they are obligated to act at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party, which the DCNF has thoroughly investigated.
In August, it was revealed that U.S.-funded research had contributed to the creation of more than 1,000 patents by China-based companies in key fields such as semiconductors, chemical engineering, nanotechnology and biotechnology.
Relations between the United States and China have become more tense under the Biden administration. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in November 2023 to try to improve diplomatic ties between the two countries, but this appears to have done little to deter Beijing from engaging in hostile or confrontational behavior.
The deterioration of relations between the two countries was also an issue under the Trump administration, which imposed tough tariffs on China and fined it for allegedly espionage on U.S. soil.
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