The College Fix

Georgia Tech terminated the partnership, but concerns about foreign influence remain

The Georgia Institute of Technology received millions of dollars in unreported funds from China, some of which paid for a joint venture with the foreign nation.

However, Georgia Tech officials quickly took action to end the partnership upon hearing about an upcoming report from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, a recent watchdog report found.

The university received at least $32.3 million from China, with $18.3 million going toward the now-terminated Georgia Tech-Shenzhen Institute, Open The Books reported.

University spokesperson Blair Meeks told The College Fix the sole focus of the initiative with China was “educating students.” Meeks said GTSI did not focus its efforts on technological research.

Georgia Tech opened the joint venture, located in Shenzhen, China, in 2014, offering “computer science, industrial design, environmental engineering and analytics” degrees, Global Atlanta reported.

GTSI Vice Provost Yves Berthelot told Global Atlanta the Chinese government was “paying for everything”: the land, funding, and operational subsidies to get the program up and running.

Georgia Tech announced the end of the partnership in September, “[j]ust days before the House report was made public,” Open The Books reported.

The House committee report concluded that such joint institutes “serve as conduits for transferring critical U.S. technologies and expertise to China, including to entities linked to China’s defense machine and the security apparatus it uses to facilitate human rights abuses.”

Committee Chairman John Moolenaar commended “Georgia Tech’s decision to prioritize U.S. national security and take the responsible step of shutting down the Georgia Tech-Shenzhen Institute,” in a news release.

MORE: ‘Alarming’: House report warns of China’s tie to U.S. universities

“It is my hope that other American institutions of higher learning who have similar arrangements with Chinese institutions will pay close attention here and likewise think hard about the impact their pursuits in China are having on America’s long-term national security,” he wrote.

The Fix reached out to Rep. Moolenaar and the House committee via email in the last week for further information regarding the report, but received no response.

Other experts agree that China’s involvement in American institutions poses a serious national security threat.

“The Chinese Communist Party is an existential threat to the U.S.,” Liberty University Professor Tony Cothron, a former director of intelligence for the chief of naval operations, told The College Fix. 

The CCP’s “goal is to eliminate US technological, economic and military superiority to allow China to dominate the world,” Cothron said, adding that “all commercial and educational efforts [in Communist China] are fused with military/security interests.”

“The CCP has no respect or practice of respect for intellectual property or patents,” he said.

What’s more, Christopher Neefus, communication director of Open The Books, told The Fix that Georgia Tech has also received funding from Saudi Arabia.

The university’s “contracts with Saudi Arabia have covered information security training, solar gas turbine systems, partnerships with the state-owned gas company Saudi Aramco and payments from King Saud University to use technology invented by Georgia Tech,” Neefus said.

Further, the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2019 sparked controversy over Saudi Arabian funding going to American universities, he said.

Neefus told The Fix that Georgia Tech issued a statement after Khashoggi’s death saying the school “places a high value on ethical and moral conduct and participates in research collaborations that adhere to those values.” Shortly after, Georgia Tech accepted an additional $2.4 million from Saudi Arabia.

“Foreign influence becomes even more concerning when it’s happening in plain sight without the federal government’s knowledge,” Neefus said.

MORE: Contracts between U.S. universities, China total more than $2 billion

IMAGE: ChinaUs.R_Rice/Shutterstock

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