University of Michigan Union, Oct. 3, 2022 | Ken Coleman
With U.S.-China tensions continuing to rise in advance of a second Trump administration, the University of Michigan announced last week that it plans to terminate its two-decade academic collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.
The decision, confirmed Friday by university President Santa Ono, followed an Oct. 31 letter from U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Caledonia), chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), in which he asserted that a number of the joint institute’s projects had advanced China’s defense and intelligence capabilities.
“International academic partnerships have deeply enriched our academic offerings and strengthened the global education of our students, and we will continue to pursue partnerships around the world as part of our academic mission,” said Ono. “As we do so, we must also prioritize our commitment to national security.”
Moolenaar cheered the announcement, saying U of M had made the right decision and he hoped to see more universities follow that lead.
“My committee has put a spotlight on the fact that too many American universities are collaborating with CCP researchers on critical technologies including weapons, artificial intelligence, and nuclear physics. The results of these collaborations could one day be turned against our country, and we cannot allow that to happen,” said Moolenaar.
Moolenaar also noted that five students who came to Michigan from China through the joint institute ended up “spying on Camp Grayling.”
That incident, which occurred in August 2023, involved five Chinese nationals, who were University of Michigan students at the time through the joint partnership, being confronted by a guard near the camp and saying they were members of the media. While the five were later charged by federal authorities, it was not for their presence around Camp Grayling, but instead for allegedly misleading investigators and conspiring to delete photos from their phones.
“American universities should end these types of joint institutes and protect the security of our nation’s research,” Moolenaar concluded.
U of M is at least the second American university to end a joint institute partnership with a Chinese university in the past five months, following Georgia Tech saying in September it would terminate the Georgia Tech Shenzhen Joint Institute. The University of California-Berkeley, meanwhile, has reportedly begun the process of shuttering its partnership with Tsinghua University.
All three university partnerships were among 21 named by Moolenaar’s committee last fall in a report that determined the partnerships helped China “achieve advancements in fourth- generation nuclear weapons technology, artificial intelligence, advanced lasers, graphene semiconductors, and robotics.”
Established in 2005, U of M’s partnership with SJTU involved a joint institute that has placed American and Chinese students at U of M and in China offering accredited engineering degree programs taught in English.
U of M officials said current students enrolled in the program will be allowed to complete their degrees without disruptions related to the separation.
Ono said despite the termination of the joint venture, the university still placed great emphasis on the importance of international education.
“International experiences are vital for our students in this interconnected world,” he said. “We remain committed to supporting U-M’s international students and will continue to foster international partnerships that advance knowledge and cross-cultural understanding and ensure our campus remains a vibrant community where scholars from around the world can thrive.”
2024-10-31 – Letter to U-M re Research Security House Select Cmte CCP
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