The majority staff of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party recently published a report alleging that China has been exploiting U.S. federally funded research and education partnerships with American universities to advance its technology sector, particularly in areas with military applications.
According to the report, hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. federal research funding have contributed to helping the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s objectives of advancing dual-use and emerging technologies, including hypersonic and nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors.
The committee stated that China is seeking to obtain advanced U.S. technology in its quest to become a global power in the technology and military sectors.
“Since the 1980s, the PRC has encouraged Chinese scholars to study abroad and return with their acquired expertise to ‘serve the motherland’ by advancing national defense-related technologies,” the report said.
“The PRC also exploits America’s cutting-edge research ecosystem by fostering collaborations between PRC universities and American research institutions to acquire dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies.”
The release of the congressional report follows Georgia Tech's decision to end its partnership with a Chinese university that has ties to the PRC military, which the report highlights as “the increasing recognition of the dangers these collaborations pose to U.S. national security.” The decision came after a congressional inquiry requested more information about Georgia Tech’s partnership with Tianjin University’s International Research Center for Nanoparticles and Nanosystems.
Key takeaways from the report include:
DOD-Funded Publications Included Co-Authors With Concerning Ties
The report identified nearly 9,000 research publications co-authored by researchers affiliated with PRC institutions, despite being funded by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. intelligence community (IC).
Most of these DOD-funded publications contain advanced research related to dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies, covering topics such as hypersonics, directed energy, nuclear and high-energy physics, and artificial intelligence.
The report also noted that over 2,000 of those DOD-funded papers included co-authors with direct ties to China’s defense research and industrial base.
“The research that the DOD and the IC are funding is providing back-door access to the very foreign adversary nation whose aggression these capabilities are necessary to protect against,” the report said.
“The troubling conclusion then is that DOD funded research—intended to allow the U.S. military to maintain a technological edge over its adversaries—has likely been used to enable and strengthen the PLA [People's Liberation Army].”
Educational Partnerships Advance China’s Military Modernization
In the past 10 years, Chinese universities have aggressively sought to partner with American universities, including establishing joint educational institutes between the two countries.
The report argues that these academic partnerships “serve as sophisticated conduits for transferring critical U.S. technologies and expertise to the PRC, including to entities linked to China’s defense and security apparatus.”
To illustrate this dynamic, the report examined three joint U.S.-China research institutes: Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI), Georgia Tech Shenzhen Institute (GTSI), and Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute (SCUPI).
“These joint institutes create a sophisticated mechanism for transferring sensitive research and technologies and the expertise that undergirds both to the PRC,” the report said.
The report explained that, in most of these cases, U.S. academics travel to China and spend significant time at the joint institute, where they “conduct research, advise PRC scholars, teach and train students, and collaborate with PRC companies on their areas of expertise—frequently, critical and emerging technologies with national security implications.”
Some of these American academics receive DOD research funding and typically maintain their U.S. institutional affiliations. “This creates a direct pipeline for the transfer of sensitive research, applied knowledge, and technologies to the PRC,” the report noted.
Improve Guardrails Surrounding Critical Tech Research
The committee provided several recommendations in the report to help the U.S. government minimize the risk of critical technologies ending up in the wrong hands.
One recommendation is for Congress to strengthen the guardrails around research collaborations on critical technologies with foreign adversaries.
It suggested that Congress restrict federally funded researchers from participating in partnerships with entities considered high-risk, including individuals and companies affiliated with the Chinese defense industrial base. The same restrictions would apply to research collaborations related to dual-use, critical, or emerging technologies.
The committee also recommended that the DOD update its list of malign foreign talent recruitment—which refers to efforts by foreign nations to attract skilled individuals for purposes that could undermine U.S. national security—to include several additional Chinese talent plans “designed to facilitate the transfer of dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies to the PRC.”
“Stronger reporting requirements, greater diligence on researchers and their collaborators, and improved information sharing continue to be sorely needed,” the committee said in the report.
According to the report, hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. federal research funding have contributed to helping the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s objectives of advancing dual-use and emerging technologies, including hypersonic and nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence, and semiconductors.
The committee stated that China is seeking to obtain advanced U.S. technology in its quest to become a global power in the technology and military sectors.
“Since the 1980s, the PRC has encouraged Chinese scholars to study abroad and return with their acquired expertise to ‘serve the motherland’ by advancing national defense-related technologies,” the report said.
“The PRC also exploits America’s cutting-edge research ecosystem by fostering collaborations between PRC universities and American research institutions to acquire dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies.”
The release of the congressional report follows Georgia Tech's decision to end its partnership with a Chinese university that has ties to the PRC military, which the report highlights as “the increasing recognition of the dangers these collaborations pose to U.S. national security.” The decision came after a congressional inquiry requested more information about Georgia Tech’s partnership with Tianjin University’s International Research Center for Nanoparticles and Nanosystems.
Key takeaways from the report include:
DOD-Funded Publications Included Co-Authors With Concerning Ties
The report identified nearly 9,000 research publications co-authored by researchers affiliated with PRC institutions, despite being funded by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the U.S. intelligence community (IC).
Most of these DOD-funded publications contain advanced research related to dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies, covering topics such as hypersonics, directed energy, nuclear and high-energy physics, and artificial intelligence.
The report also noted that over 2,000 of those DOD-funded papers included co-authors with direct ties to China’s defense research and industrial base.
“The research that the DOD and the IC are funding is providing back-door access to the very foreign adversary nation whose aggression these capabilities are necessary to protect against,” the report said.
“The troubling conclusion then is that DOD funded research—intended to allow the U.S. military to maintain a technological edge over its adversaries—has likely been used to enable and strengthen the PLA [People's Liberation Army].”
Educational Partnerships Advance China’s Military Modernization
In the past 10 years, Chinese universities have aggressively sought to partner with American universities, including establishing joint educational institutes between the two countries.
The report argues that these academic partnerships “serve as sophisticated conduits for transferring critical U.S. technologies and expertise to the PRC, including to entities linked to China’s defense and security apparatus.”
To illustrate this dynamic, the report examined three joint U.S.-China research institutes: Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI), Georgia Tech Shenzhen Institute (GTSI), and Sichuan University-Pittsburgh Institute (SCUPI).
“These joint institutes create a sophisticated mechanism for transferring sensitive research and technologies and the expertise that undergirds both to the PRC,” the report said.
The report explained that, in most of these cases, U.S. academics travel to China and spend significant time at the joint institute, where they “conduct research, advise PRC scholars, teach and train students, and collaborate with PRC companies on their areas of expertise—frequently, critical and emerging technologies with national security implications.”
Some of these American academics receive DOD research funding and typically maintain their U.S. institutional affiliations. “This creates a direct pipeline for the transfer of sensitive research, applied knowledge, and technologies to the PRC,” the report noted.
Improve Guardrails Surrounding Critical Tech Research
The committee provided several recommendations in the report to help the U.S. government minimize the risk of critical technologies ending up in the wrong hands.
One recommendation is for Congress to strengthen the guardrails around research collaborations on critical technologies with foreign adversaries.
It suggested that Congress restrict federally funded researchers from participating in partnerships with entities considered high-risk, including individuals and companies affiliated with the Chinese defense industrial base. The same restrictions would apply to research collaborations related to dual-use, critical, or emerging technologies.
The committee also recommended that the DOD update its list of malign foreign talent recruitment—which refers to efforts by foreign nations to attract skilled individuals for purposes that could undermine U.S. national security—to include several additional Chinese talent plans “designed to facilitate the transfer of dual-use, critical, and emerging technologies to the PRC.”
“Stronger reporting requirements, greater diligence on researchers and their collaborators, and improved information sharing continue to be sorely needed,” the committee said in the report.
