By Laurence F. Sanford

American universities openly welcome the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). After all, many universities are controlled by Marxist professors who welcome fellow comrades. Also welcome are the millions of dollars the CCP funnels to the universities to gain influence and access to elite American leaders.

Chinese entities (all organizations in China are controlled by the CCP) entered into $120 million worth of contracts with American universities in 2021. The University of Houston, with its engineering programs, led the pack with $32 million, followed by the University of Illinois, MIT, and Harvard. The contracts were in the fields of engineering or science.

The CCP is waging “unrestricted warfare” on the U.S. and conducts gray zone influencing operations in universities.

• The University of Pennsylvania received $54.6 million in donations from Chinese entities, many anonymous, through 2019. Most of the donations were received after the Penn Biden Center was established in 2017 in Washington, DC, after Joe Biden left office as U.S. vice president. Biden was paid $911,000 for an occasional speech; he never taught a class.

  • Classified documents were discovered in Biden’s office closet in November 2022 by his lawyers. The documents contained intelligence information on Iran, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom from 2013 to 2016.
  • Kathy Chung, born in South Korea with a Chinese surname, was executive assistant for Biden when he was vice president. She was responsible for the transfer of documents when vacating his White House office in January 2017. Hunter Biden had recommended her for the job after his many sojourns to China consorting with CCP leaders. She is now deputy director of protocol for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
  • Secretary of State Antony Blinken and nine other Penn Biden Center employees are prominent officials in the Biden administration.
  • The then-president of Penn, Amy Guttman, is now the U.S. ambassador to Germany.

• Harvard received $75 million and Yale $43 million from Chinese sources in the period 2014 through 2019.

• Morgan State University, a prominent historically black university, issued a student report sponsored by the China-U.S. Exchange, a CCP think tank, to spin the CCP’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The report is filled with analysis that treats the Chinese and American responses to coronavirus as equal, ignoring evidence that Beijing lied about the virus leaking from a lab.

Over 290,000 Chinese students studied in American universities in the academic year 2021/22. This is down from 372,000 students in the academic year 2019/20. The majority study math, science, and engineering. Many of the students already have degrees in these subjects, but they come as former employees of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and other CCP organizations to gather (steal) the latest technology and support CCP policies.

Joe Rogan recently interviewed former CIA officer Mike Baker and warned that Chinese students are infiltrating U.S. universities to siphon data and information. Often, they are caught stealing confidential data, but nothing seems to happen to them. Neither does anything seem to happen to students caught laundering money for the Mexican and Chinese drug cartels from the sale of opioids such as fentanyl.

American universities are leaders in “fundamentally transforming” the U.S. into a Marxist dystopia ruled by the elite. Marxism is basically a creed of grievances. Initially, it was grievances against capitalism, but that did not gain much traction until recently. Now, the grievance is racism.

The classroom Marxist theories of race grievance have permeated throughout society. DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion), the 1619 Project, wokeness, and reparations theories have followed. All the grievances aim to bring down American civilization.

E Pluribus Unum, or “Out of many, one,” the traditional motto of the United States, is now becoming “Ex Uno Multis,” or “Out of one, many.” See my position paper.

Action

1. Recognize the CCP for what it is — a totalitarian dictatorship whose goal is to dominate the world. Individual freedoms and life are meaningless, as witnessed by the ongoing Uyghur genocide, organ harvesting, and religious suppression.
2. Never trust a communist — truth means nothing; power matters.
3. Reciprocate CCP actions — if no American media or social networks can operate in China, then no Chinese social media, such as TikTok, should operate in America.
4. Rebuild and strengthen the U.S. military — more missiles, drones, and submarines.
5. Alumni should stop donating to “woke” universities.
6. The U.S. government should scrutinize the funding of universities. If universities receive CCP donations or funding, then no more U.S. taxpayer monies.

Laurence F. Sanford is a senior analyst at the American Security Council Foundation.