A new report from the Defense Department’s JASON research group claims that US scientific research is threatened by the presence of Chinese nationals obtaining post-graduate degrees in the US. When these students return to China, they are often pressed to cooperate with intelligence and security services, the report states. The report found that there is a legal obligation to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party’s security and intelligence services expressed in the 2017 National Intelligence Law. This same law allows Chinese authorities to access all Huawei consumer information.
The report states that foreign-born engineers and scientists traveling to the United States have had a significant impact on the US’s scientific developments. The report also claims that foreign nationals account for a large portion of graduate students in chemical, electrical, civil, and mechanical engineering as well as contributing greatly to the level of excellence many US universities hold their standards to. However, Chinese firms can offer remuneration equivalent to US employers, and with US federal policy continuing to discriminate against immigrants, an influx of Chinese students have returned to their home country after graduating in the US, leaving them suscept to “cooperation” with the Chinese government and the US’s inner workings exposed.
Read More: China Has Increasing Sway in US Science, JASON Report Says