Congressional panel urges University of Michigan to cut ties with Chinese institute

The House’s China Select Committee is calling on the University of Michigan to cease its partnership with a Chinese institute that they claim is sending sensitive technological expertise back to the CCP.

"I strongly encourage you to shutter the partnership between U-M and Shanghai Jiao Tong and take the necessary steps to safeguard the integrity of federally funded research at U-M and carefully vet international students studying on U-M’s campus."

A recent GOP-led report by the committee found "U.S.-PRC academic joint institutes as a core channel leveraged by the PRC government and its affiliated entities through which sensitive U.S. technologies and research know-how are transferred to the PRC’s defense and research industrial base."

After the report came out, a number of other universities, including Georgia Tech and the University of Berkeley, dissolved their partnerships with Chinese institutes. Michigan kept its partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong Institute.