Eastern Michigan ending partnerships with two Chinese universities after security concerns from Congress

CBS News

a day ago

Eastern Michigan University said Wednesday it is severing partnerships with two Chinese universities after concerns from Congress.
The university, located in Ypsilanti, said it received a letter in February from U.S. Reps. Tim Walberg and John Moolenaar, urging EMU to cut engineering teaching partnerships with Beibu Gulf University and Guangxi University. The congressmen claimed the partnerships present a national security risk.
"The PRC (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 congressmen said in the letter.
EMU said it provided Moolenaar and Wahlberg with plans to terminate the partnerships.
In a statement on Wednesday, EMU President James Smith said:
"EMU takes seriously the importance of protecting U.S. national security. We are proud of our longstanding designation by the U.S. National Security Agency as a Center of Academic Excellence in Information Assurance and Cyber Defense education. EMU fully complies with U.S. foreign disclosure requirements.
"Neither the BGU nor the GU partnership involves any research or technology transfer. These are exclusively teaching programs that do not teach cyber security. The course content for all offered classes is widely available in the public domain."
Smith added, "EMU's teaching partnership with GU does not currently enroll any students and we are working with our partner to dissolve the program. After careful review, we have also elected to terminate our teaching partnership with BGU. We are working with BGU to ensure that the students who are currently enrolled in the program are able to complete their academic studies in an orderly manner."
The congressmen also sent a letter to Oakland University and the University of Detroit Mercy to end programs with Chinese universities. CBS News Detroit contacted Oakland University. A Detroit Mercy spokesperson said they have "nothing to announce at this point."
In January, the University of Michigan announced it was ending a program with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley, also said they were terminating their partnerships in China.
In the letter to EMU, Walberg and Moolenaar also pointed to the specific partnership with Beibu Gulf University and the GameAbove College of Engineering and Technology, in which faculty spend a year in the People's Republic of China for research. The lawmakers claimed the 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."
They also pointed to the university hiring Yifei Chu, who was previously charged with making false statements to obtain a security clearance for work within the United States Embassy in Singapore. Chu pleaded guilty in 2023.
"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," the congressmen said.