On Monday, September 23, the U.S. House of Representatives committee released a report warning that over the past decade, research funded by the U.S. government lacked legal safeguards and could be exploited by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to develop advanced weapons, artificial intelligence (AI), nuclear weapons technology, semiconductors, robots, and other technologies, posing a serious national security risk.
According to the report, which was conducted jointly by the U.S. House Select Committee on the CCP and the Education and Workforce Committee, lawmakers cautioned that in the event of a U.S.-China conflict, these technologies would be key for the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army to combat the U.S. military.
After a year-long investigation analyzing nearly 9,000 joint research publications funded by the U.S. Department of Defense or intelligence agencies, lawmakers found that most strategic technological research conducted by U.S.-China researchers had military applications.
The collaborative papers covered topics such as high-performance explosives, target tracking, drone networks, nuclear and high-energy physics, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, and hypersonic technology, all of which could be translated into military capabilities.
Lawmakers wrote in the report: “We focus on research funded by the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies, where the purpose of funding such research is to generate advanced outcomes that can eventually be used for combat and intelligence capabilities to protect the United States from hostile nations.”
“However, research funded by the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies is providing a backdoor for foreign adversarial nations, which are necessary for preventing their aggression,” the report stated.
Lawmakers further warned that collaborative educational institutions between the U.S. and China, such as the University of California, Berkeley’s partnership with Tsinghua University, and the University of Pittsburgh’s partnership with Sichuan University, served as channels for transferring crucial U.S. technology and expertise to China.
The report mentioned: “These institutions pair prestigious U.S. universities with Chinese counterparts under the guise of academic cooperation, but in reality, they conceal a complex system that transfers critical U.S. technology and expertise to China, including entities linked to Chinese defense and security organizations.”
Following the investigation, after months of contact between the Georgia Institute of Technology and the House committee, they decided to terminate the jointly operated Guangdong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) with Tianjin University and reduce their collaboration with Tianjin University.
“This is an important step for national security, and we encourage other universities to follow suit,” said lawmakers.
Lawmakers noted that shortly before the release of the report, the University of California, Berkeley also announced its preparations to end the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI), in the “early stages of dissolving the joint legal entity.”
Chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP, John Moolenaar, stated: “Our joint investigation results are shocking. The CCP is advancing military technology development through research funded by U.S. taxpayers and U.S.-China joint research domestically.”
Moolenaar emphasized the need to prohibit U.S. universities from conducting research cooperation with entities on the blacklist, establish stricter safeguards for research on emerging technologies, and impose legislation to hold U.S. universities accountable.
Chairwoman of the Education and Workforce Committee, Virginia Foxx, said: “For years, the Education and Workforce Committee has been pushing for increased transparency in foreign investment in U.S. universities, and this investigation further underscores the need for doing so.”
She added, “Our research universities have a responsibility to avoid involvement in the CCP’s brutal human rights violations or actions that attempt to undermine our national security.”
This month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed over twenty bills related to the CCP. Lawmakers stressed that one significant objective of these bills is to curb the CCP’s technological advancements and prevent them from stealing U.S. technological achievements.
These bills include prohibiting Chinese-made drones, restricting market access for biotech companies with ties to China, preventing foreign adversaries from purchasing agricultural land near U.S. military bases, and establishing a “CCP Action Plan” within the U.S. Department of Justice to counter CCP espionage activities targeting U.S. intellectual property and academic institutions.
These bills still need to pass in the Senate before having the opportunity to be sent to the President for signing into law.