UC Berkeley under Congressional scrutiny for China connections.
Congressional Committee Raises Concerns Over UC Berkeley’s Partnership with Chinese University
A congressional committee has formally requested the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) to provide information regarding its partnership with a Chinese state-controlled university, citing grave research security concerns.
In a letter to UC Berkeley’s president and chancellor on July 13, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) said the Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute (TBSI) gives Beijing access to research that might be leveraged for China’s military purposes.
TBSI was established in 2014 as a joint institute between UC Berkeley, Tsinghua University in China, and the Shenzhen government. Its research efforts mainly focus on information technology and data science.
The letter—signed by Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chairman of the Select Committee on the CCP, and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), chairwoman of the Education and the Workforce Committee—stated that the CCP-backed collaboration “raises many red flags.”
According to the letter, TSBI’s research on “dual-use technologies,” such as semiconductor chips and imaging technology, could contribute to China’s intelligence and military goals.
It also stated that TBSI students were employed by entities linked with the People’s Liberation Army—the military wing of the CCP—including the China National Space Administration.
In addition, the committee said that UC Berkeley faculty serving at the institute had received funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Defense Department and the U.S. Navy, among other entities, raising concerns about China’s access to those experts.
“While TBSI is billed as a joint technology venture among educational institutions, in practice, it appears to be a program through which the PRC [People’s Republic of China] pays for access to research and expertise from Berkeley experts, researchers, and students,” the letter reads.
The committee said that UC Berkeley had failed to disclose the contracts or gifts received from Chinese partners, notwithstanding a reported agreement by the Shenzhen government to provide $220 million for the construction of a campus in Shenzhen.
In the letter, the committee requested that the university provide by July 27 all documents and information regarding its funding, technical collaboration, compliance mechanisms, non-disclosure agreements imposed by TBSI, as well as past and current affiliations of TBSI alumni.
They also questioned whether TSBI’s winning contest to optimize 7-nanometer chip technology in April violated the U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductor manufacturing items to China, which was imposed in October 2022.
“The PRC abuses seemingly innocuous research collaborations like the one between Berkeley and Tsinghua to advance PRC science and technology goals at the expense of the United States,” the committee stated.
“The PRC has sent thousands of military scientists abroad to gather scientific-military know-how, obtain sensitive details regarding research projects and emerging technologies, and to gain access to American academics, their research, and their networks,” they added.
Failure to Disclose China Funds
It comes a month after the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee sent a letter to the National Science Foundation regarding UC Berkeley’s failure to disclose $240 million in funds from China.
The letter, signed by committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and Research and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Bill Foster (D-Ill.), expressed concerns over the potential influence of foreign funding on U.S. research and called for increased transparency and accountability.
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