Freddy Gray Harvard’s intricate China ties There are a number of allegations that Chinese funding has excessively influenced the university’s research and academic output
https://thespectator.com/topic/harvard-intricate-china-ties/
Scratch almost any major US political story and sooner or later you’ll hit a big red nerve that belongs to the Chinese Communist party (CCP). Tariffs, energy, TikTok, the border, Fentanyl, Greenland, Panama, the Gulf of America – on all these subjects the Trump administration is, one way or another, trying to limit Beijing’s power in the West. And Donald Trump’s “war on Harvard,” it turns out, is no exception. It’s clear that the President is pushing against anti-Semitism and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion madness on America’s most famous campus, as well as in countless other colleges and universities. But the drive against woke insanity is often also a push back against the increasing influence of China in western life, especially in the many educational institutions into which the CCP has been pouring billions of dollars over the past two decades.
When Joe Biden was exposed for hoarding classified files, it soon emerged that some of the sensitive documents had been stored in the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, at the University of Pennsylvania, which just so happened to have received $30 million from Chinese donors. But that’s small fry compared to the money Harvard has been harvesting from the world’s second superpower in recent years. In the 2010s, the massively indebted Chinese real-estate behemoth Evergrande pledged $115 million to Harvard Medical School, which may or may not have had something to do with the way America’s scientific elite, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, pivoted against the Covid lab-leak theory in 2020. In the end, it donated $12 million, according to reports.
Now it seems that Harvard’s China ties may be even more intricate than previously believed. These connections may have given the Trump administration precisely the legal cudgel it needs in its bid to force Harvard to play by its rules on DEI and other issues. The new Secretary of Education Linda McMahon has already declared that Harvard has not been “fully transparent or complete in its disclosures” concerning foreign donations. There are a number of allegations that Chinese funding – more than $1 billion worth of donations in total – has excessively influenced Harvard’s research and academic output.
According to the consulting firm Strategy Risks, the university may have committed serious violations by hosting and providing training sessions for XPCC, a Chinese paramilitary organization that is subject to sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act. The US State Department has accused XPCC of being involved in the brutal Chinese suppression of the Uyghurs. The extent and nature of Harvard’s dealings with XPCC in recent years remain unclear.
The White House is taking steps to pressure Harvard to disengage with China when it comes to funding and admitting Chinese students, and the Department of Justice is understood to be investigating the various ways in which Harvard may or may not have broken the law. There’s a lot more to come – and we’ll be covering it extensively in The Spectator World. Our upcoming June issue focuses, in fact, on reviving the American mind and the various ways in which Team Trump is trying to liberate US academia from intellectually suffocating progressivism – and China’s increasing grip.
The above is taken from Freddy Gray’s weekly Americano newsletter. To subscribe click here.
Comments are closed.
