Michigan is at the center of a debate over how the United States should counter China’s reach into U.S. research labs, farmlands, and sea lanes. Joseph Cella, a Michigan resident and former U.S. ambassador, advocates a whole-of-society, whole-of-state strategy that tightens university rules and strengthens allied deterrence.
Cella served as U.S. ambassador to island nations in Melanesia and Polynesia from 2019 to 2021. He is founder and principal of the Pontifex Group, founder of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, and co-founder of the Michigan China Economic Security Review Group.
According to Cella, Michigan’s recent wake-up call came through university research channels. He recounts cases involving “Chinese nationals who are scholars, researchers, doctoral students,” including incidents of attempted smuggling of biological materials. The details point to a larger pattern. “These individuals have to fulfill the charge of the national intelligence law that requires them to survey, collect, and report,” he says. “When you’re dealing with pathogens that could really spread into livestock and farmland, you can’t play around for too long.”
Agriculture heightens the stakes for his state, he says. “The threat can’t be understated, and we need to get on a footing that is commensurate with the threat.” He blames academic partnerships that blur lines between research and risk. “American universities have co-mingled in an unhealthy way, jeopardizing our national security,” he says. “Sadly… for the cause of money.”
Public pressure followed, according to him, when legislative leaders began pushing oversight and policy changes. “Eyes really become wide open,” Cella says, crediting committee work, hearings, and coordination with federal authorities. He emphasizes bipartisan traction. “This should not be a partisan matter,” he says. “It should be a bipartisan community.”
He says the principle at stake is with foreign students and research access. “If you are a visitor in our country, that is a privilege, not a right… we should know the purpose for which you come,” he says, adding that generosity must not extend to training people “who might use the opportunity against us.”
Universities across Michigan, he says, must audit and reset relationships with entities tied to the Communist Party in China. “The mask has slipped,” Cella says. “This is a culture thing where for too long they have seen short-sighted largesse… the long-term pain cannot be overstated.” He calls for coordination at every level. “There’s more underway… that really needs to be tracked and countered nimbly by the local, county, even city level, state, and with our federal partners.”
Cella widens the aperture to the Indo-Pacific, where Beijing’s pressure campaign targets shipping lanes and democratic partners. He points to recent confrontations around Scarborough Shoal as emblematic of “predatory behavior.” He says that “China remains on the hunt across the Indo-Pacific.” He encourages allied cooperation through groupings like the AUKUS alliance between Australia, the US and others, and endorses visible U.S. engagement with Pacific Island nations. “Our presence, through soft power to a reasonable degree… and vigilance through our military with our allies and partners, is wise,” he says.
Momentum in Washington, in his view, must translate into consistent practice. “We are on the right track,” Cella says. “We have to be very careful and not underestimate the nature of China… remain vigilant, and provide our friends, allies, and partners the support that they need.” He cites practical steps such as reopening diplomatic posts and increasing personnel in key embassies as signs of progress. “The table is being set,” he says. “Diplomacy first, but hard power if necessary.”
