Chairs of two Congressional committees want to know what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might be getting out of a California University's partnership with a Beijing University.
Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wisconsin) and Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-North Carolina) said in their news release issued Monday that they have "grave research security concerns" about University of California, Berkeley's joint institute with Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The two said they voiced their concerns in a letter sent last week to Berkeley's president and chancellor about what Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute might be handing over to the People's Republic of China (PRC).
"The PRC abuses seemingly innocuous research collaborations like the one between Berkeley and Tsinghua to advance PRC science and technology goals at the expense of the United States. Under the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) strategy of military-civil fusion, seemingly civilian technologies—such as those developed through university collaborations—are mobilized to support the People’s Liberation Army (PLA)," the letter said. "The PRC has sent thousands of military scientists abroad to gather scientific-military know-how, obtain sensitive details regarding research projects and emerging technologies, and to gain access to American, academics, their research, and their networks."
One cause for concern in Gallagher and Foxx's letter is the partnership's research into semiconductor chips, vibration sensors and a soft robot, as well as the joint venture's apparent prioritazation of the PRC's goals. The committee chairs said they worry that these research projects could be used by the PRC for their own objectives.
In the letter, Gallagher and Foxx state that faculty affiliated with both schools have had research projects funded heavily by the U.S Navy and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The source of this funding, according to the letter, raises concerns about what kind of access the PRC has through these projects.
The letter also raised Gallagher and Foxx's concern that the partnership looks like the PRC is simply paying for research access. Berkeley brings expertise and services to the table while their "PRC counterparts" seem to provide only funding.
Gallagher and Foxx also provided a substantial list of questions and demands, pressing Berkeley to provide detailed information about what exactly the partnership with Tsinghua entails.
