The Chinese Communist Party has turned America’s college campuses into hunting grounds for our most sensitive secrets. While we welcome the world’s brightest minds to study here, Beijing has weaponized our openness against us. The threat is real and it’s happening right now at universities across our nation.
Currently, there are over 600,000 Chinese students studying in American universities, many in critical science and technology programs. These aren’t just random numbers – this represents the largest foreign student population on our campuses. The sheer scale gives China countless opportunities to steal our research and technology.
China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law makes every Chinese citizen a potential spy whether they want to be or not. The law forces all Chinese nationals to “support, assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work” no matter where they live. This means Chinese students have no choice but to follow Beijing’s orders when asked.
A Stanford expert confirmed that Chinese students on campus are actively reporting back to Communist Party handlers. One Chinese student admitted that “many Chinese nationals have handlers” and “they want to know everything that’s going on at Stanford”. Another student told a professor they couldn’t meet because they had to see their CCP handler instead.
Our universities have become sitting ducks for Chinese espionage operations. Congressional investigators found that campuses are “soft targets” for stealing secrets and technology. These schools care more about tuition money than protecting America’s national security interests.
The FBI has been sounding the alarm for years about this growing threat. Chinese intelligence services specifically target American students and professors to gain access to sensitive research. They use innocent-looking programs like internships and exchanges to recruit spies and steal our secrets.
House Republicans are finally taking action by demanding answers from six major universities about their Chinese students. Committee Chair John Moolenaar warns that our student visa system has become a “Trojan Horse for Beijing”. He’s right to call out these schools for putting profit over patriotism.
America must wake up before it’s too late. We can’t keep letting China use our own educational system to steal the technology that keeps us safe and competitive. It’s time to put strict limits on Chinese students in sensitive programs and make universities choose between Chinese money and American security.
