By Michael Martina
Washington (Reuters) -Harvard University’s links with China, a long asset to the school, have become a responsibility, as accusations in the Trump administration that its campus is struck by Beijing -backed influence operations.
On Thursday, the administration moved to cancel Harvard’s ability to enroll in foreign students, saying it promoted anti -Semitism and coordinates with the Chinese Communist Party. These include Chinese citizens who make up about the fifth of the admission of foreign students to Harvard in 2024, the university said.
A US judge on Friday temporarily blocked the administration’s order after Cambridge, Massachusetts, the university filed a lawsuit.
Concerns about the influence of the Chinese government in Harvard are not new. Some US legislators, many Republicans, have expressed concern that China is manipulating Harvard to gain access to advanced technology in the United States, to bypass US security laws and to suffocate the criticism of it in the United States.
“For a long time, Harvard has left the Chinese Communist Party to exploit it,” a White House official told Reuters on Friday, adding that the school “closed his eyes to the vigilant harassment aimed at CCP in the campus.”
Harvard did not immediately answer requests for comment.
The school stated that the cancellation was a punishment for the “Harvard’s perceived point of view”, which called a violation of the right to freedom of expression, as guaranteed by the first amendment to the US Constitution.
Harvard’s connections with China, which include research partnerships and academic centers aimed at China, are long -standing. The links gave great financial gifts, influence in international issues and the global prestige for the school.
Former Harvard President Larry Summers, who is sometimes critical of the university, called the Trump Administration to block foreign students the most serious attack on the university so far.
“It is difficult to imagine a greater strategic gift for China than to the United States to sacrifice its role as a beacon in the world,” he said in an interview with Politico.
Health training
In a statement, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said: “Educational exchange and cooperation between China and the United States are mutually beneficial and should not be branded.”
The presence of Chinese students at Harvard and the school’s relations with the country is not evidence of misconduct. But the complexity and overlap of the nature of the relationships were opaque enough to attract attention and criticism.
The issues related to China, cited by the Trump administration, sound the work of the Republican Committee on the Chamber of China’s House of Representatives.
For example, Harvard provided training related to the public health of Syndzian employees for production and construction building (XPCC) after 2020. This year, the United States imposed sanctions on the Chinese paramilitary organization in his alleged human rights violations against Uighurs and other Muslim ethnic groups.
The Ministry of Interior Security said these engagements with XPCC continue “recently in 2024”
China categorically denies accusations of misconduct in Syndzian, but both Trump and Biden’s administrations have identified Beijing’s policies in the region as a “genocide”.
In another episode that has asked questions, the risks of the US business intelligence strategy said Ronnie Chan, who facilitated a $ 350 million donation to Harvard in 2014, which led to the public health school, which is a member of the Government Developer, is a member of the China Foundation in the exchanges of the exchanges of the exchanges of the exchanges of the exchanges of the exchanges in the exchanges of countries in the exchanges of the exchanges of countries in the exchanges of the exchanges of the countries of the exchanges of the countries of the exchanges of the exchanges of the countries of the exchanges of the countries of the exchanges of countries in countries’ exchanges in the exchanges of the exchanges in the exchanges of countries in the exchanges of countries in the exchanges of countries in the exchanges of countries in the exchanges of the exchanges of countries in the exchanges of the exchanges.
The Hong Kong -based organization that says its aim is to encourage dialogue between the two countries is classified as a foreign director under US law, requiring US lobbyists working to disclose this work to the US government.
Former professor condemned
Former Harvard Professor Charles Lieber was examined by a Trump program, launched in 2018, called an initiative of China, which focused on combating Chinese espionage and intellectual property thefts and investigated researchers and universities whether they reveal financial ties with Beijing.
He was condemned in 2021 for lying to his relationships with China in connection with Federal Studies funded. In April, he became a full -time professor at a Chinese university.
The initiative was suspended with the Biden administration after critics said it led to racial profiling and culture of fear that chilled scientific cooperation.
US legislators on both sides have expressed concerns about the efforts of Beijing -related Student Associations to monitor political activities. In April 2024, the Harvard student activist was physically thrown out of an event by a Chinese exchange student – not teachers or security staff – to interrupt the speech of Chinese Ambassador CI Fun.
The pressure on Harvard in Trump’s second term, in April, the educational department requesting the university to provide records for its foreign funding after he stated that the review of the necessary reporting of large gifts and contracts for foreign sources revealed incomplete and inaccurate programs.
The Trump administration’s moves against Harvard have still worked out some experts in China.
Yaqiu Wang, based in the US researcher on human rights who came to the United States from China as a student, said the Trump administration from banning foreign students in Harvard was “completely counterproductive”.
“Concerns about the transnational attempts at the Chinese government to silence critics are very legal, and the spying fears are legal.” Wang said. “But let’s try to deal with this through a ban, not only Chinese students, but also foreign students, is right out of understanding.”
(Report by Michael Martina; additional reporting by Trevor Huninut and David Brunstrom; Editing by Don Drafi, Cynthia Osterman and Diane Kraft)