Congressional panel urges University of Michigan to cut ties with Chinese institute

The House’s China Select Committee is calling on the University of Michigan to cease its partnership with a Chinese institute that they claim is sending sensitive technological expertise back to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). 

“I urge you to conduct a comprehensive national security review of this partnership in light of the facts below,” the letter, penned by committee Chair Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., read. 

“I strongly encourage you to shutter the partnership between U-M and Shanghai Jiao Tong and take the necessary steps to safeguard the integrity of federally funded research at U-M and carefully vet international students studying on U-M’s campus.”

A recent GOP-led report by the committee found “U.S.-PRC academic joint institutes as a core channel leveraged by the PRC government and its affiliated entities through which sensitive U.S. technologies and research know-how are transferred to the PRC’s defense and research industrial base.”

After the report came out, a number of other universities, including Georgia Tech and the University of Berkeley, dissolved their partnerships with Chinese institutes. Michigan kept its partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong Institute.

HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF US RESEARCH DOLLARS MAY HAVE AIDED CHINESE MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, GOP-LED REPORT SAYS

The letter says the institute plays a “critical role” in the CCP’s military-civil fusion strategy. The university has been under the supervision of China’s State Administration of Science, Technology, and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) since 2016, according to a select committee report from last year. 

The federal government heavily invests in military research at the University of Michigan. In 2023, the university received $77 million for research from the Department of Defense (DOD). Its researchers have boasted of developing what they described as an “unhackable” computer chip known as MORPHEUS.

The joint Michigan-Jiao Tong partnership now features 35 specialized labs. It has received funding from China’s 863 Program, which supports the PRC’s military technology development.

“Institute researchers have helped the PRC achieve advancements in defense technologies from propellant combustion modeling and solid rocket fuel research to anti-corrosion technology for military aircraft developed with People’s Liberation Army (PLA) researchers,” the letter said.  

It also said projects that included DOD-funded research improved CT technology to detect flaws in advanced military equipment. 

Shanghai Jiao Tong also agreed in 2017 to train combat forces for the PLA. Freshman at the Joint Institute are required to undergo military training when they enroll. 

BIDEN FINALIZES CRACKDOWN ON US MILITARY TECH INVESTMENTS IN CHINA WITH ONE WEEK TO LAME DUCK SESSION

“Through its extensive military-aligned departments and laboratories, advanced dual-use research programs, and large-scale operational training platforms, Shanghai supervises universities like Shanghai Jiao Tong specifically to “strengthen military forces with additional personnel and more advanced equipment” through leveraging their research and resources,” the letter read. 

“This military-academic integration enables Shanghai Jiao Tong to make significant contributions to the PRC’s most sensitive defense programs, including nuclear weapons, carrier rockets, satellites, nuclear submarines, and fighter jets.” 

Earlier this month, U.S. authorities charged five Chinese nationals who were enrolled in the joint institute at the University of Michigan with lying and trying to cover up their visit to a remote Michigan military site where they took photos. 

In the summer of 2023, the five were confronted after midnight at Camp Grayling, near a lake, by a member of the Utah National Guard. 

In 2020, two Chinese nationals who were pursuing master’s degrees at the University of Michigan were sentenced to prison for illegally photographing sites at a Naval Air Station Key West in Florida.

Under the guise of academic cooperation, the committee’s report from last month said China has orchestrated a campaign to pair with prestigious U.S. universities to transfer U.S. technologies and expertise back to China and circumvent government blacklists. 

The House Select Committee on China Competition, together with the Education and Workforce Committee, found some 9,000 joint research publications that were funded either through the DOD or the intelligence community published by co-authors with ties to China’s “defense and security apparatus,” including entities that are on a Commerce Department blacklist. 

More than 2,000 DOD-funded papers included Chinese co-authors who were directly affiliated with China’s defense research and industrial base, according to the report. 

The report recommends stricter guidelines around federally funded research, including cutting back on the ability of researchers who receive U.S. grants to work with Chinese universities and companies that have military ties.