China exploits US-funded research on nuclear technology, a congressional report says

WASHINGTON – China is exploiting partnerships with U.S. researchers funded by the Department of Energy to supply the Chinese navy with entry to delicate nuclear expertise and different improvements with financial and nationwide safety functions, based on a congressional report printed Wednesday.

The authors of the report say the U.S. should do extra to guard high-tech research and be sure that the outcomes of taxpayer-funded work do not find yourself benefiting Beijing. They really helpful a number of adjustments to higher shield scientific research within the U.S., together with new insurance policies for the Department of Energy to make use of when deciding whether or not to fund work that entails Chinese partnerships.

The investigation is a part of a congressional push to boost a firewall blocking U.S. research from boosting China’s military buildup when the 2 nations are locked in a tech and arms rivalry that may form the longer term international order.

Investigators from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce recognized greater than 4,300 educational papers printed between June 2023 and June of this yr that concerned collaborations between DOE-funded scientists and Chinese researchers. About half of the papers concerned Chinese researchers affiliated with China’s navy or industrial base.

Particularly regarding, investigators discovered that federal funds went to research collaborations with Chinese state-owned laboratories and universities that work instantly for China’s navy, together with some listed in a Pentagon database of Chinese navy corporations with operations within the U.S. The report additionally detailed collaborations between U.S. researchers and teams blamed for cyberattacks in addition to human rights abuses in China.

The Energy Department routinely funds superior research into nuclear vitality and the event and disposal of nuclear weaponry, together with a lengthy listing of different high-tech fields like quantum computing, supplies science and physics. It doles out a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} annually for research. The division oversees 17 nationwide laboratories which have led the event in lots of applied sciences.

The report adopted a variety of congressional investigations into federally funded research involving Chinese scientists and researchers. Last yr, a report launched by Republicans discovered that partnerships between U.S. and Chinese universities over the previous decade had allowed a whole lot of thousands and thousands of {dollars} in federal funding to assist Beijing develop crucial expertise that might assist strengthen its navy. Another investigation this yr revealed that the Pentagon in a latest two-year interval funded a whole lot of tasks in collaboration with Chinese entities linked to China’s protection trade.

The Energy Department has failed for many years to take steps to make sure the research it funds does not profit China, the report’s authors discovered. They made a number of suggestions to tighten the principles, together with a new standardized strategy to assessing the nationwide safety dangers of research, in addition to necessities that the division share details about research ties with China with different U.S. authorities companies to make it simpler to identify issues.

“These longstanding policy failures and inaction have left taxpayer-funded research vulnerable to exploitation by China’s defense research and industrial base and state-directed technology transfer activities,” the authors concluded.

The Department of Energy didn’t instantly reply to questions concerning the report and its suggestions. A message in search of remark was left with the Chinese Embassy in Washington.

Rep. John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican who chairs the choose committee, stated in a assertion that the “investigation reveals a deeply alarming problem: The Department of Energy failed to ensure the security of its research and it put American taxpayers on the hook for funding the military rise of our nation’s foremost adversary.”

Moolenaar this yr launched laws geared toward stopping research funding in science and expertise and protection from going to collaborations or partnerships with “foreign adversary-controlled” entities that pose a nationwide safety threat.

The laws cleared the House however did not advance to develop into a part of the annual sweeping defense policy bill. It was met with robust opposition from scientists and researchers, who argued that the measures have been too broad and will chill collaboration and undermine America’s aggressive edge in science and expertise.

In an October letter, a group of greater than 750 college members and senior staffers from American universities informed congressional leaders overseeing the armed companies that the U.S. is in a international competitors for expertise. They known as for “very cautious and focused measures for threat administration” to handle safety considerations.