U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) urged the University of Michigan (U-M) to conduct a comprehensive national security review of its partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Shanghai Jiao Tong Joint Institute established under that collaboration.
Among several cited national security risks, the congressman noted that Shanghai Jiao Tong plays a critical role in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military civil fusion strategy and drives the PRC’s military modernization and intelligence capabilities, according to an Oct. 31 letter he sent to U-M President Santa Ono.
Rep. Moolenaar pointed to a report published in September by the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, which he chairs, that documented numerous cases in which PRC defense affiliated institutions leveraged the expertise and capabilities of American researchers — often developed with federal research funding — to enable the PRC to achieve significant technological advancements in critical and emerging technologies with defense applications.
The report specifically identifies 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, the lawmaker wrote.
“Following the report’s publication, both Georgia Institute of Technology and University of California Berkeley have decided to shutter their joint institutes with PRC academic institutions as a result of the risks those institutes pose,” he wrote. “I encourage U-M likewise to end its partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong.”
U-M also hosts students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University on its campus as part of the ongoing joint institute, posing an espionage risk, wrote Rep. Moolenaar, noting that this past month, five of these students were charged for lying to federal investigators after they trespassed onto a U.S. National Guard installation.
Additionally, the U-M joint institute has operated as a military-academic-intelligence nexus for over a decade, and also funnels the results of its advanced technological research to the PRC’s defense industry through strategic corporate partnerships, according to his letter.
Since 2021, for instance, the Joint Institute has facilitated graduate and undergraduate study in numerous critical and emerging technologies, and received funding through China’s 863 Program, which supports the PRC’s military technology development, the congressman wrote.
“Given these concerning developments, 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,” he wrote.