Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) have urged Duke University President Vincent Price to end its ties to the Chinese Duke Kunshan University (DKU).
By partnering with Chinese groups, DKU allowed the CCP to access U.S. technology, including that used for surveillance, and enabled American students to be exploited.
The school, established in 2018, now has more than 3,000 students with specialties in “high-technology fields with direct military applications, including data science, artificial intelligence, and materials science,” the congressmen wrote in a letter. “As part of these programs, many DKU students spend time at Duke University, gaining access to federally funded U.S. research. Given the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) well-documented efforts to exploit U.S. academic openness, this partnership creates a direct pipeline between U.S. innovation and China’s military-industrial complex.”
“Duke’s partnership with Wuhan University has already enabled American taxpayer-funded military technology transfer to China,” the letter warns, listing research projects developed with Pentagon funding.
“Given your university’s federal funding, your partnerships with PRC military-linked institutions represent a national security risk. These PRC collaborations jeopardize the integrity of U.S. research, risk the exploitation of sensitive technologies, and undermine taxpayer investments intended to strengthen America’s technological and defense capabilities,” the letter states. “The security of America’s technological edge cannot be compromised. Therefore, you should end your PRC collaborations to prevent further PRC exploitation of U.S. research capabilities and taxpayer investments.”
The letter comes as the Department of Education has similarly opened an investigation into the University of California, Berkeley, after it failed to disclose its foreign gifts and contracts.
Donor records reveal that the University of Science and Technology of China contributed $60,000 in 2023 before being sanctioned by the U.S. for efforts to acquire sensitive quantum technology. Another donor, Vincent Cheung Sai Sing, gave $336,000 for research. Syngenta, a state-owned chemical company, donated $21,000, while its origin was misreported as Switzerland.
