Press Releases

Today, Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg (R-MI) and Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI)  are calling on the leaders of Eastern Michigan University, Oakland University, and the University of Detroit Mercy to end their schools’ partnerships with Chinese universities. In these partnerships, the Michigan universities are directly interacting with Chinese institutions that support the Chinese military and its efforts to gain a technological advantage over the United States. The universities’ partnerships also jeopardize the security of research that is funded by the American people through the Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and other agencies.

In letters to each university president, Walberg and Moolenaar write: “The research at your university is funded by the American people and it must be protected. The [People’s Republic of China] systematically exploits the open research environment in the United States--actively engaging in theft, espionage, and other hostile actions against U.S. universities perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

…“The university's 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. You must immediately terminate these collaborations to prevent further PRC exploitation of U.S. research capabilities and taxpayer investments.”

The letters to Eastern Michigan, Oakland, and Detroit Mercy are here, here, and here, respectively.

The letters follow the committees’ research security report released last September, which detailed the risks of U.S. universities collaborating with PRC researchers on emerging technologies.

In response to previous letters, the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of California Berkeley, and the University of Michigan have already announced terminations of their joint institutes.

Background

Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University has partnerships with Beibu Gulf University and Guangxi University.

Beibu’s Maritime College trains students as wartime reserve forces under semi-military management, operating a $2.5 million simulation complex that has prepared over 20,000 personnel at the China-ASEAN Waterborne Training Base. This training directly supports the CCP's aggressive attempts to claim the territory of U.S. partners in the South China Sea.

Guangxi is part of China's prestigious "211 Project," which aims to develop elite universities to support key national priorities, including "economic and social development, technological progress, and national defense construction."

EMU's GameAbove College is designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense by the National Security Agency. It receives privileged federal funding to advance U.S. cybersecurity programs. However, EMU deploys GameAbove faculty on year-long appointments to the PRC, where they collaborate with Chinese counterparts while training 300 students. This arrangement effectively transfers U.S. national security resources and expertise to an adversary nation, directly contradicting the intended purpose of EMU's federal cybersecurity funding.

Guangxi has openly stated its intention to leverage EMU's status as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Information Security funded by the NSA while positioning itself as a critical hub to "export advanced cybersecurity expertise" to the PRC's allies and cultivate "world-class IT professionals."

EMU hired Yifei Chu, who previously pleaded guilty to lying to U.S. officials about working on a classified naval project. This raises serious concerns about EMU's vetting procedures and the potential for the transfer of dangerous technology that could be used against the United States by the PRC.

Oakland University
Oakland University has partnerships with Changchun University of Science and Technology, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, and Beijing Information Science and Technology University.

Changchun University openly declares its mission as "becoming a cradle for China's optical science talents, with a mission deeply rooted in advancing national defense technologies."

Beijing Information Science and Technology University plays an important role in the country's military research. The university proudly states it has "made indelible contributions to national defense science and technology,"

Zhengzhou University of Light Industry is recognized by its municipal government as an "Advanced Unit in National Defense Education.”

Since 2015, Oakland has secured over $2.5 million in U.S. Department of Defense grants to advance military capabilities in GPS-denied navigation, target tracking sensors, electronic systems, and secure communications. During the same period, the university has also received over $13 million in National Science Foundation funding.

Oakland is also designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-C) by the National Security Agency.

Oakland's NSA-designated cybersecurity programs and its Joint Institute with Zhengzhou University have at least six key personnel involved in both operations—effectively channeling U.S. taxpayer dollars into programs that could help the PRC develop cyber tools to use against the United States.

University of Detroit Mercy
The University of Detroit Mercy has dual-degree programs with Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Yancheng Institute of Technology, and Anhui Polytechnic University.

Through these programs, Chinese students spend three years studying in the PRC before transferring to Detroit Mercy for their senior year and master's degrees. At UDM they have direct access to UDM’s Center for Automotive Systems Engineering Education where they are exposed to advanced technologies with potential civilian and military technological uses.

Additionally, UDM faculty, including some who receive federal funding, have been traveling to China to teach courses, further increasing the possibility of sensitive knowledge transfer.

In 2019, UDM launched the Detroit Green Technology Institute at Hubei University of Technology, where a CCP committee oversees the Joint Institute's research direction and faculty appointments.

Since 2020, the Department of Defense has invested over $1.6 million in Detroit Mercy's Metro Detroit Regional Vehicle Cybersecurity Institute. The university also received $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation.

Detroit Mercy also has the designation of a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (NCAE-CD) from the National Security Agency.