House Committee Presses Universities for Information on Chinese Students, Citing National Security

‘America’s student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing,’ the committee chairman warned.

The University of Southern California in Los Angeles on March 11, 2020. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) asked six leading universities on March 19 for detailed information on Chinese students enrolled in their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs.

Committee chairman Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) penned the letter, addressed to Carnegie Mellon University, Purdue University, Stanford University, the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland, and the University of Southern California. Moolenaar quizzed the presidents of the schools on their policies surrounding enrolled Chinese students and the students’ participation in U.S. government-funded research.

Growing bipartisan hawkishness toward China has resulted in congressional groups, Senate coalitions, and governors calling for a stronger stance against the communist regime in the name of national security—and in the face of increasing cyber intrusions, privacy concerns, and an intensifying technological, military, and economic rivalry.

Warning that American universities were soft targets for China as they provide a means for the CCP to exploit “technological and military advancements,” the letter put forward a string of 20 questions.

In the first six-point request for information, Moolenaar asked for sources of Chinese students’ tuition fees, the type of research they are conducting, and the programs they are involved in.

He also called for a list of universities attended by the students prior to their current enrollment, the laboratories and research initiatives they were part of, and a “country-by-country breakdown of applicants, admittances, and enrollments.”

In a second 14-point questionnaire, the letter asked university presidents to indicate the percentage of Chinese nationals enrolled at their institutions, the percentage of them engaged in federally funded programs, and whether the institutions in question barred foreigners from working on “Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, [and] National Science Foundation funded research.”

The questionnaire also inquired whether there were measures in place to track students working in these programs.

“What collaborations exist between university faculty and China-based institutions or research laboratories?” the letter also asked. “Have any Chinese graduate students disclosed participation in China-backed recruitment and talent programs, government grants, or corporate-backed funding initiatives?”

In the context of U.S. restrictions on technology sales to China, Moolenaar’s letter questioned whether Chinese students were allowed to participate in “export-controlled coursework” such as artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace, quantum computing, and semiconductor engineering.

“What percentage of Chinese graduates from your university remain in the United States, and what percentage return to China?” the letter probed, before asking whether there were disproportionate concentrations of Chinese students in high-tech fields such as AI, quantum computing, robotics, aerospace, and semiconductors.

Moolenaar asked whether universities conducted background checks on Chinese students wishing to enroll in “sensitive research programs,” whether faculty members kept ties with Chinese institutions for the purposes of research, and if so, which Chinese institutions these were.

“America’s student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing, providing unrestricted access to our top research institutions and posing a direct threat to our national security,” he said.

The last question in the letter queried the number of STEM graduates returning to China and asked what industries and companies they joined there.

The letter highlighted the economic incentive for universities to admit “large numbers of Chinese nationals into critical research programs” because many of them pay full tuition.

Moolenaar warned that universities are prioritizing finances over national security and the education of American students in critical fields and becoming financially dependent on foreign tuition.

“If left unaddressed,” Moolenaar wrote, “this trend will continue to displace American talent, compromise research integrity, and fuel China’s technological ambitions at our expense.”

A Trojan Horse

In a statement on March 19, Moolenaar said: “The Chinese Communist Party has established a well-documented, systematic pipeline to embed researchers in leading U.S. institutions, providing them direct exposure to sensitive technologies with dual-use military applications.

“America’s student visa system has become a Trojan horse for Beijing, providing unrestricted access to our top research institutions and posing a direct threat to our national security.”

Congress has for years been aware of China’s purported influence on American campuses. Among a raft of bills passed by the House last September was the DHS Restrictions on Confucius Institutes and Chinese Entities of Concern Act.

The bill would restrict Department of Homeland Security funding to “an institution of higher education that has a relationship with a Chinese entity of concern or Confucius Institute.”

Confucius Institutes are cultural centers on campuses known for their ties to the CCP.

The bill is currently with the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Severing Ties

The University of Michigan also took action recently when it severed ties with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China, ending a two-decadelong academic collaboration. The action was made after “discussions with U.S. congressional leadership and internal U-M stakeholders,” according to the university’s campus newspaper.

In August 2023, five University of Michigan students were discovered outside remote Camp Grayling, an Army National Guard training facility in northern Michigan. The students were allegedly taking photos of military vehicles and equipment.

The students, who were all participants in the joint program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, graduated in May 2024. In October 2024, they were charged with conspiracy, making false statements, and destroying records.

The Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California–Berkeley are among schools that have followed in the University of Michigan’s footsteps and recently severed ties with their China-based counterparts.