Pentagon-funded research at colleges has aided the Chinese military, a House GOP report says
Washington – During a recent period of two years, the Pentagon financed hundreds of projects carried out in collaboration with universities in China and institutes linked to the defense industry of this nation, including many black lists by the American government to work with the Chinese army, revealed an investigation by Congress.
The report, published on Friday by the Republicans of the Chamber within the restricted committee of the Chinese Communist Party, argues that the projects have enabled China to exploit American research partnerships for military gains while the two countries are locked in a technological and weapons rivalry.
“US taxpayers’ dollars should be used to defend the nation – and not to strengthen its first strategic competitor,” wrote the Republicans in the report.
“Not protecting American research from hostile foreign exploitation will continue to erode American technological domination and place our national defense capacities in danger,” he said.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for associated comments. Beijing has in the past said that science and technological cooperation between the two countries are mutually beneficial and help both parties to face the global challenges.
The Congress report said that some officials from the Ministry of Defense have argued that research should remain open as long as it is “neither controlled nor classified”.
The report makes several recommendations to reduce the collaboration of American research with China. He also supports the new legislation proposed by the chairman of the committee, representative John Moolenaar, R-Michigan. The bill would prohibit any funding from the Ministry of Defense to go to projects carried out in collaboration with researchers affiliated with Chinese entities that the United States government identifies as security risks.
The 80 -page report is based on the conclusions of the Committee last year that partnerships between American and Chinese universities in the last decade have granted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to help develop Beijing. In the midst of the pressure of the Republicans, several American universities have ended their joint programs with Chinese schools in recent years.
The new report focuses more closely on the Ministry of Defense and its billions of dollars in annual research funding.
The committee’s survey identified 1,400 research articles published between June 2023 and June 2025 which recognized the support of the Pentagon and were carried out in collaboration with Chinese partners. The publications were funded by some 700 defense subsidies worth more than $ 2.5 billion. Of the 1,400 publications, more than half involved organizations affiliated with research and the industrial basis of Chinese defense.
Dozens of these organizations have been reported for potential security problems on the Lists of the United States government, although federal law does not prohibit research collaborations with them. The money from the Ministry of Defense supported research in fields such as hypersonic technology, semiconductors, artificial intelligence, advanced materials and new generation propulsion.
Many projects have clear military applications, according to the report.
In a case, a nuclear scientist from Carnegie Science, a research institution in Washington, worked a lot on the research supported by the Pentagon while organizing appointments at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and at the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences.
The scientist, who has done research on high -energy materials, nitrogen and high pressure physics – which are all relevant to the development of nuclear weapons – has been honored in China for his work to advance the country’s national development objectives, according to the report. He described the case “a deeply disturbing example” of the way Beijing can take advantage of the research funded by taxpayers to continue its development of weapons.
In another project supported by the Pentagon, the Arizona State University and the University of Texas have joined forces with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Beihang University to study decision-making in high issues in uncertain environments, which has direct applications for electronic warfare and cyber-defense, according to the report. The money came from the naval research office, the army research office and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The University of Shanghai is under the supervision of a Central Chinese agency responsible for developing defense technology, and the University of Beihang, in the capital of Beijing, is linked to the army of Popular Liberation and known for its aerospace programs.
The report disputes the policies of the Ministry of Defense who do not explicitly interrupt research partnerships with foreign institutions that appear on the black lists of the United States government.
It makes more than a dozen recommendations, including a ban on any Pentagon research collaboration with entities that are on American black lists or “known for being part of the search for defense and the industrial base of China”.
Moolenaar’s legislation includes a similar provision and proposes a ban on funding from the Ministry of Defense for American Universities who operate joint institutes with Chinese universities.
A senior official of the Department of Education said that the report “highlights the vulnerability of research funded by the federal government to foreign infiltration on American campuses”. Subsecretary to education, Nicholas Kent, said that the results strengthen the need for greater transparency towards international links of American universities, as well as “approach throughout the government to safeguard the malignant influence of hostile foreign actors”.
House investigators said they were not trying to put an end to all academic and research collaborations with China, but those who have links with the Chinese army and its research and its industrial base.
