Jonathan Pidluzny, director of the Higher Education Reform Initiative at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), is calling for a closer look at collaboration between American academic programs and Chinese students and scholars.
Pidluzny argues such scrutiny is necessary to protect the national security interests of the United States, telling State Newswire that the "Chinese Communist Party (CCP) knows that its surest pathway to global scientific, industrial, and military dominance runs through the American academy."
"For too long, American universities have allowed Chinese scholars and students virtually unfettered access to U.S. campuses," he said. "The result has been theft of American intellectual property, including government-funded research, on an unprecedented scale. Common sense scrutiny of scientific collaboration with Chinese scientists, many of whom are tied to CCP talent programs, is not hurt[ing] American science, it is a first step toward protecting a vital national security interest — necessary and long overdue.”
In "How U.S.-China Tensions Have Hurt American Science," the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) states the Chinese government's Thousand Talents Program (TTP), ostensibly to recruit global talent to help China's scientific development, has used practices that contribute to the concern the CCP is leveraging this program to steal sensitive technologies from the U.S. The report also states that reducing China's access to key technologies is important to the national security. For that to happen, however, colleges and universities will need to create clear guidelines if they play to continue collaborations with China while protecting themselves from espionage, the report stated.
Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Counterintelligence Director Frank Figliuzzi said the PRC has a “shopping list” of technologies that they seek to obtain, most often from university research labs, he told the AFPI. The number of U.S. graduate students who are admitted from overseas is estimated to be approximately 50%, with 37% of those of STEM graduates coming from the PRC, according to the article.
AFPI reports the National Association of Scholars keeps a list of graduate students, researchers, visiting scholars, and professors who have been charged with espionage and selling secrets, among other accusations, AFPI reported. A more strict student visa policy would place a more stringent vetting process on students who come from "from countries with adversarial governments and work to ensure that those governments do not gain unfettered access to our educational resources, economy, and research—especially that of a sensitive nature," AFPI states in its report.
