US Lawmakers Raise Serious Concern On Michigan University's Partnership With Shanghai Jiao Tong University

The lawmakers have urged Michigan University to review its ties with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University China as it poses threats to the national security of the US.

Study in US: The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the US works to build consensus on the national threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party. In its latest letter to Michigan University, the Committee has urged the university to review its partnership with the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) of the House Select Committee on the CCP has revealed the findings of a probe into America's educational institutes' tie-ups with China. The investigation is named -  ‘CCP on the Quad: How American Taxpayers and Universities Fund the CCP's Advanced Military and Technological Research.’ Based on the findings of this investigation, US universities like UC Berkeley and Georgia Tech have started closing their ties with Chinese schools. However, Michigan University has not started any such process.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University is responsible for helping China’s military intelligence capabilities and modernization. It contributed to the development of carrier rockets, nuclear weapons, fighter jets, and nuclear submarines.

Michigan University's Partnership With Shanghai Jiao Tong University Details

In its letter to the university, Chairman Moolenaar writes, “Through its extensive military-aligned departments and laboratories, advanced dual-use research programs, and large-scale operational training platforms, Shanghai Jiao Tong drives the [People’s Republic of China] PRC’s military modernization and intelligence capabilities…This military-academic integration enables Shanghai Jiao Tong to make significant contributions to the PRC’s most sensitive defense programs, including nuclear weapons, carrier rockets, satellites, nuclear submarines, and fighter jets…The [U-M] Joint Institute has also operated as a sophisticated military-academic-intelligence nexus for over a decade. In 2017, Shanghai Jiao Tong entered into an agreement with the PLA's Strategic Support Force to train ‘high-end new combat forces.’ The Joint Institute appears to play a role in achieving this goal. Each year's freshmen are organized into regimented companies for mandatory military training that combines physical drills with ideological education.”

“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," added Chairman Moolenaar.

The Partnership Poses National Security Threat To USA

The joint institute facilitates undergraduate and graduate studies on emerging technologies which are critical in nature. It also gets funding from China from the same program which also supports the PRC's military technology development.

The researchers at the joint institute are helping China in advancing defence technologies from solid rocket fuel research to anti-corrosion technology and propellant combustion modelling. Also, the students who came out of this collaboration joined China's military aerospace sector.

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