House Republicans are urging seven US universities to cut ties with a Chinese scholarship program that lawmakers call a "nefarious mechanism" to steal technology for the Chinese government. In letters to Dartmouth College, the University of Notre Dame, and five other universities, leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party raise concerns about the schools' partnerships with the China Scholarship Council, a study abroad program funded by China, the AP reports. The program sponsors hundreds of Chinese graduate students every year at US universities.
The students are required to return to China for two years after graduating. In the letters sent Tuesday, Republicans described the program as a threat to national security. "CSC purports to be a joint scholarship program between US and Chinese institutions; however, in reality it is a CCP-managed technology transfer effort that exploits US institutions and directly supports China's military and scientific growth," wrote Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the committee. Among other records, lawmakers are demanding documents showing whether scholarship recipients worked on research funded by the US government. The Chinese Embassy didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dartmouth said Wednesday it has had fewer than 10 participants in the program over the last decade and already decided to end its participation. Notre Dame said it began the process of terminating its association earlier this year. The University of Tennessee said it was reviewing the committee's request. Letters were also sent to Temple University and the University of California campuses in Davis, Irvine, and Riverside. The committee said it's opening a review into the program's "infiltration" of US universities. China is the second-largest country of origin for foreign students in the US, trailing only India. For a majority of Chinese students, tuition is paid by their families rather than their government. Many stay to work in the US.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
