Harvard-China Research Ties Face New Scrutiny

Harvard-China research ties are under fresh scrutiny after a House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party report said Harvard co-authored more than 140 publications with researchers from Chinese universities tied to Beijing’s military and defense-industrial system. The report, reviewed by Fox News Digital before its release, says the university’s handling of those partnerships left room for national-security risks that went beyond ordinary academic exchange.

The committee says the schools involved belong to the group known as the Seven Sons of National Defense, universities identified by the Pentagon and other U.S. officials as central to China’s defense research and military modernization. It argues Harvard’s research security posture was too weak and that its financial relationship with China underscored the need for closer oversight. The report cites Education Department dashboard data showing Harvard reported more than $600 million from China under the federal Section 117 foreign-gift disclosure system, the most of any American university.

Committee chairman Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., said the school should use the investigation as a turning point. “From allowing violence against anti-China protestors to collaborating with entities linked to the PLA, Harvard has made serious mistakes and must act now to prevent more,” he said in a statement. He called for reforms that would end Chinese Communist Party influence on campus and put secure American research first.

The report points to specific examples it says illustrate the problem. One 2023 paper on bio-inspired soft robots for deep-sea exploration was co-authored by a Harvard-affiliated researcher and a researcher from Beihang University, also known as Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. That school has been on the Commerce Department’s Entity List since 2001. The committee says the work could have military uses, including underwater detection, while Harvard’s research-compliance office described the project as nonmilitary research.

Another 2023 paper involved Harvard researchers and a researcher at China’s National University of Defense Technology, which the report says is on a U.S. restricted list. That study focused on magnetic materials and included partial support from the U.S. Army Research Office. The committee said it reviewed publications across dozens of fields and found engineering accounted for the largest share of Harvard-affiliated research involving the Seven Sons institutions.